Dive into the technical aspects of audio on your device, including codecs, format support, and customization options.

Audio Documentation

Posts under Audio subtopic

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How to detect when iOS Camera app starts video recording (with Allow Audio Playback ON)?
Since iOS 18, the system setting “Allow Audio Playback” (enabled by default) allows third-party app audio to continue playing while the user is recording video with the Camera app. This has created a problem for the app I’m developing. ➡️ The problem: My app plays continuous audio in both foreground and background states. If the user starts recording video using the iOS Camera app, the app’s audio — still playing in the background — gets captured in the video — obviously an unintended behavior. Yes, the user could stop the app manually before starting the video recording, but that can’t be guaranteed. As a developer, I need a way to stop the app’s audio before the video recording begins. So far, I haven’t found a reliable way to detect when video recording starts if ‘Allow Audio Playback’ is ON. ➡️ What I’ve tried: — AVAudioSession.interruptionNotification → doesn’t fire — devicesChangedEventStream → not triggered I don’t want to request mic permission (app doesn’t use mic). also, disabling the app from playing audio in the background isn’t an option as it is a crucial part of the user experience ➡️ What I need: A reliable, supported way to detect when the Camera app begins video recording, without requiring mic access — so I can stop audio and avoid unintentional overlap with the user’s recordings. Any official guidance, workarounds, or AVFoundation techniques would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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227
Aug ’25
save audio file in iOS 18 instead of iOS 12
I'm able to get text to speech to audio file using the following code for iOS 12 iPhone 8 to create a car file: audioFile = try AVAudioFile( forWriting: saveToURL, settings: pcmBuffer.format.settings, commonFormat: .pcmFormatInt16, interleaved: false) where pcmBuffer.format.settings is: [AVAudioFileTypeKey: kAudioFileMP3Type, AVSampleRateKey: 48000, AVEncoderBitRateKey: 128000, AVNumberOfChannelsKey: 2, AVFormatIDKey: kAudioFormatLinearPCM] However, this code does not work when I run the app in iOS 18 on iPhone 13 Pro Max. The audio file is created, but it doesn't sound right. It has a lot of static and it seems the speech is very low pitch. Can anyone give me a hint or an answer?
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104
Mar ’25
Live Translations on VOIP on iOS26
Hi team, With regards to Call (Live) Translations on VOIP: Is it possible to invoke live translations within the app? (without going into the Call System UI) Is it possible to navigate users from app to Call System UI via an API? (and also invoking the new live translations directly) Will Apple support more languages apart from the current ones? (Currently I see 4 supported languages)
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154
Aug ’25
AVQueuePlayer/AVPlayer rate property is not being changed everytime I assign a new value to it.
I have used AVQueuePlayer in my music app to play sequence of audios from a remote server, this how I have defined things my player in my ViewModel Variables private var cancellables = Set() private let audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() private var avQueuePlayer: AVQueuePlayer? @Published var playbackSpeed: Float = 1.0 before starting playback, I am making sure that audio session is set properly, the code snippet used for that is do { try audioSession.setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, options: []) try audioSession.setActive(true, options: []) } catch { return } and this is the function I am using to update playback speed func updatePlaybackSpeed(_ newSpeed: Float){ if newSpeed > 0.0, newSpeed <= 2.0{ playbackSpeed = newSpeed avQueuePlayer?.rate = newSpeed print("requested speed is (newSpeed) and actual speed is (String(describing: avQueuePlayer?.rate))") } } sometimes whatever speed is set, player seems to play at the same speed as it was set, e.g. Once I got "requested speed is 1.5 and actual speed is 1.5", and player also seemed to play at the speed of 1.5 but another time I got "requested speed is 2.0 and actual speed is 2.0", but player still seemed to play at the speed of 1.0 to observe changes in rate, I used this **private func observeRateChanges() { guard let avQueuePlayer = self.avQueuePlayer else { return } NotificationCenter.default.publisher(for: AVQueuePlayer.rateDidChangeNotification, object: avQueuePlayer) .compactMap { $0.userInfo?[AVPlayer.rateDidChangeReasonKey] as? AVPlayer.RateDidChangeReason } .sink { reason in switch reason { case .appBackgrounded: print("The app transitioned to the background.") case .audioSessionInterrupted: print("The system interrupts the app’s audio session.") case .setRateCalled: print("The app set the player’s rate.") case .setRateFailed: print("An attempt to change the player’s rate failed.") default: break } } .store(in: &cancellables) }** when rate was set properly, I got this "The app set the player’s rate." from the above function, but when it wasn't, I got this "An attempt to change the player’s rate failed.," now I am not able to understand why rate is not being set, and if it gave "requested speed is 2.0 and actual speed is 2.0" from updatePlaybackSpeed function, why does the player seems to play with the speed of 1.0?
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396
Feb ’25
AirPods with H2 and studio-quality recording - how to replicate Camera video capture
Using an iPhone Pro 12 running iOS 26.0.1, with AirPods Pro 3. Camera app does capture video with what seems to be "Studio Quality Recording". Am trying to replicate that SQR with my own Camera like app, and while I can pull audio in from the APP3 mic, and my video capture app is recording a 48,000Hz high-bitrate video, the audio still sounds non-SQR. I'm seeing bluetoothA2DP , bluetoothLE , bluetoothHFP as portType, and not sure if SQR depends on one of those? Is there sample code demonstrating a SQR capture? Nevermind video and camera, just audio even? Also, I don't understand what SQR is doing between the APP3 and the iPhone. What codec is that? What bitrate is that? If I capture video using Capture and inspect the audio stream I see mono 74.14 kbit/s MPEG-4 AAC, 48000 Hz. But I assume that's been recompressed and not really giving me any insight into the APP3 H2 transmission?
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116
Oct ’25
MusicKit - Skipping Forwards or Backwards does not update
Hello everyone, I am working on an app that allows you to review your own music using Apple Music. Currently I am running into an issue with the skipping forwards and backwards outside of the app. How it should work: When skipping forward or backwards on the lock or home screen of an iPhone, the next or previous song on an album should play and the information should change to reflect that in the app. If you play a song in Apple Music, you can see a Now Playing view in the lock screen. When you skip forward or backwards, it will do either action and it would reflect that when you see a little frequency icon on artwork image of a song. What it's doing: When skipping forward or backwards on the lock or home screen of an iPhone, the next or previous song is reflected outside of the app, but not in the app. When skipping a song outside of the app, it works correctly to head to the next song. But when I return to the app, it is not reflected NOTE: I am not using MusicKit variables such as Track, Album to display the songs. Since I want to grab the songs and review them I need a rating so I created my own that grabs the MusicItemID, name, artist(s), etc. NOTE: I am using ApplicationMusicPlayer.shared Is there a way to get the song to reflect in my app? (If its easier, a simple example of it would be nice. No need to create an entire xprod file)
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86
Apr ’25
AVAudioSession automatically sets the tablet audio volume to 50% when recording audio.
Environment→ ・Device: iPad 10th generation ・OS:**iOS18.3.2 I'm using AVAudioSession to record sound in my application. But I recently came to realize that when the app starts a recording session on a tablet, OS automatically sets the tablet volume to 50% and when after recording ends, it doesn't change back to the previous volume level before starting the recording. So I would like to know whether this is an OS default behavior or a bug? If it's a default behavior, I much appreciate if I can get a link to the documentation.
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98
Apr ’25
MATCH_ATTEMPT_FAILED error on Android Studio Java+Kotlin
Getting MatchError "MATCH_ATTEMPT_FAILED" everytime when matchstream on Android Studio Java+Kotlin project. My project reads the samples from the mic input using audioRecord class and sents them to the Shazamkit to matchstream. I created a kotlin class to handle to Shazamkit. The audioRecord is build to be mono and 16 bit. My Kotlin Class class ShazamKitHelper { val shazamScope = CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO + SupervisorJob()) lateinit var streaming_session: StreamingSession lateinit var signature: Signature lateinit var catalog: ShazamCatalog fun createStreamingSessionAsync(developerTokenProvider: DeveloperTokenProvider, readBufferSize: Int, sampleRate: AudioSampleRateInHz ): CompletableFuture<Unit>{ return CompletableFuture.supplyAsync { runBlocking { runCatching { shazamScope.launch { createStreamingSession(developerTokenProvider,readBufferSize,sampleRate) }.join() }.onFailure { throwable -> }.getOrThrow() } } } private suspend fun createStreamingSession(developerTokenProvider:DeveloperTokenProvider,readBufferSize: Int,sampleRateInHz: AudioSampleRateInHz) { catalog = ShazamKit.createShazamCatalog(developerTokenProvider) streaming_session = (ShazamKit.createStreamingSession( catalog, sampleRateInHz, readBufferSize ) as ShazamKitResult.Success).data } fun startMatching() { val audioData = sharedAudioData ?: return // Return if sharedAudioData is null CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO).launch { runCatching { streaming_session.matchStream(audioData.data, audioData.meaningfulLengthInBytes, audioData.timestampInMs) }.onFailure { throwable -> Log.e("ShazamKitHelper", "Error during matchStream", throwable) } } } @JvmField var sharedAudioData: AudioData? = null; data class AudioData(val data: ByteArray, val meaningfulLengthInBytes: Int, val timestampInMs: Long) fun startListeningForMatches() { CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO).launch { streaming_session.recognitionResults().collect { matchResult -> when (matchResult) { is MatchResult.Match -> { val match = matchResult.matchedMediaItems println("Match found: ${match.get(0).title} by ${match.get(0).artist}") } is MatchResult.NoMatch -> { println("No match found") } is MatchResult.Error -> { val error = matchResult.exception println("Match error: ${error.message}") } } } } } } My code in java reads the samples from a thread: shazam_create_session(); while (audioRecord.getRecordingState() == AudioRecord.RECORDSTATE_RECORDING){ if (shazam_session_created){ byte[] buffer = new byte[288000];//max_shazam_seconds * sampleRate * 2]; audioRecord.read(buffer,0,buffer.length,AudioRecord.READ_BLOCKING); helper.sharedAudioData = new ShazamKitHelper.AudioData(buffer,buffer.length,System.currentTimeMillis()); helper.startMatching(); if (!listener_called){ listener_called = true; helper.startListeningForMatches(); } } else{ SystemClock.sleep(100); } } private void shazam_create_session() { MyDeveloperTokenProvider provider = new MyDeveloperTokenProvider(); AudioSampleRateInHz sample_rate = AudioSampleRateInHz.SAMPLE_RATE_48000; if (sampleRate == 44100) sample_rate = AudioSampleRateInHz.SAMPLE_RATE_44100; CompletableFuture<Unit> future = helper.createStreamingSessionAsync(provider, 288000, sample_rate); future.thenAccept(result -> { shazam_session_created = true; }); future.exceptionally(throwable -> { Toast.makeText(mine, "Failure", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); return null; }); } I Implemented the developer token in java as follows public static class MyDeveloperTokenProvider implements DeveloperTokenProvider { DeveloperToken the_token = null; @NonNull @Override public DeveloperToken provideDeveloperToken() { if (the_token == null){ try { the_token = generateDeveloperToken(); return the_token; } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException | InvalidKeySpecException e) { throw new RuntimeException(e); } } else{ return the_token; } } @NonNull private DeveloperToken generateDeveloperToken() throws NoSuchAlgorithmException, InvalidKeySpecException { PKCS8EncodedKeySpec priPKCS8 = new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec(Decoders.BASE64.decode(p8)); PrivateKey appleKey = KeyFactory.getInstance("EC").generatePrivate(priPKCS8); Instant now = Instant.now(); Instant expiration = now.plus(Duration.ofDays(90)); String jwt = Jwts.builder() .header().add("alg", "ES256").add("kid", keyId).and() .issuer(teamId) .issuedAt(Date.from(now)) .expiration(Date.from(expiration)) .signWith(appleKey) // Specify algorithm explicitly .compact(); return new DeveloperToken(jwt); } }
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550
Dec ’24
About the built-in instrument sound of Apple devices
Does anyone know how to pronounce the sound of a specific instrument when you tap a button on the screen on your iPhone or iPad? Now, in the middle of creating a music learning app, I'm thinking of assigning monotones or chords to the button-like frames on the keyboard and fingerboard on the screen. Can it be achieved with SwiftUI chords alone? Once upon a time, MIDI level 1 I remember that there was a pronunciation function of the instrument, but I don't think about implementing the same function in the current OS. Please lend me your wisdom.
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53
May ’25
AVAudioUnitSampler Bug with Consolidated Audio Files
Hello, I've discovered a buffer initialization bug in AVAudioUnitSampler that happens when loading presets with multiple zones referencing different regions in the same audio file (monolith/concatenated samples approach). Almost all zones output silence (i.e. zeros) at the beginning of playback instead of starting with actual audio data. The Problem Setup: Single audio file (monolith) containing multiple concatenated samples Multiple zones in an .aupreset, each with different sample start and sample end values pointing to different regions of the same file All zones load successfully without errors Expected Behavior: All zones should play their respective audio regions immediately from the first sample. Actual Behavior: Last zone in the zone list: Works perfectly - plays audio immediately All other zones: Output [0, 0, 0, 0, ..., _audio_data] instead of [real_audio_data] The number of zeros varies from event to event for each zone. It can be a couple of samples (<30) up to several buffers. After the initial zeros, the correct audio plays normally, so there is no shift in audio playback, just missing samples at the beginning. Minimal Reproduction 1. Create Test Monolith Audio File Create a single Wav file with 3 concatenated 1-second samples (44.1kHz): Sample 1: frames 0-44099 (constant amplitude 0.3) Sample 2: frames 44100-88199 (constant amplitude 0.6) Sample 3: frames 88200-132299 (constant amplitude 0.9) 2. Create Test Preset Create an .aupreset with 3 zones all referencing the same file: Pseudo code <Zone array> <zone 1> start : 0, end: 44099, note: 60, waveform: ref_to_monolith.wav; <zone 2> start sample: 44100, note: 62, end sample: 88199, waveform: ref_to_monolith.wav; <zone 3> start sample: 88200, note: 64, end sample: 132299, waveform: ref_to_monolith.wav; </Zone array> 3. Load and Test // Load preset into AVAudioUnitSampler let sampler = AVAudioUnitSampler() try sampler.loadAudioFiles(from: presetURL) // Play each zone (MIDI notes C4=60, D4=62, E4=64) sampler.startNote(60, withVelocity: 64, onChannel: 0) // Zone 1 sampler.startNote(62, withVelocity: 64, onChannel: 0) // Zone 2 sampler.startNote(64, withVelocity: 64, onChannel: 0) // Zone 3 4. Observed Result Zone 1 (C4): [0, 0, 0, ..., 0.3, 0.3, 0.3] ❌ Zeros at beginning Zone 2 (D4): [0, 0, 0, ..., 0.6, 0.6, 0.6] ❌ Zeros at beginning Zone 3 (E4): [0.9, 0.9, 0.9, ...] ✅ Works correctly (last zone) What I've Extensively Tested What DOES Work Separate files per zone: Each zone references its own individual audio file All zones play correctly without zeros Problem: Not viable for iOS apps with 500+ sample libraries due to file handle limitations What DOESN'T Work (All Tested) 1. Different Audio Formats: CAF (Float32 PCM, Int16 PCM, both interleaved and non-interleaved) M4A (AAC compressed) WAV (uncompressed) SF2 (SoundFont2) Bug persists across all formats 2. CAF Region Chunks: Created CAF files with embedded region chunks defining zone boundaries Set zones with no sampleStart/sampleEnd in preset (nil values) AVAudioUnitSampler completely ignores CAF region metadata Bug persists 3. Unique Waveform IDs: Gave each zone a unique waveform ID (268435456, 268435457, 268435458) Each ID has its own file reference entry (all pointing to same physical file) Hypothesized this might trigger separate buffer initialization Bug persists - no improvement 4. Different Sample Rates: Tested: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz Bug occurs at all sample rates 5. Mono vs Stereo: Bug occurs with both mono and stereo files Environment macOS: Sonoma 14.x (tested across multiple minor versions) iOS: Tested on iOS 17.x with same results Xcode: 16.x Frameworks: AVFoundation, AudioToolbox Reproducibility: 100% reproducible with setup described above Impact & Use Case This bug severely impacts professional music applications that need: Small file sizes: Monolith files allow sharing compressed audio data (AAC/M4A) iOS file handle limits: Opening 400+ individual sample files is not viable on iOS Performance: Single file loading is much faster than hundreds of individual files Standard industry practice: Monolith/concatenated samples are used by EXS24, Kontakt, and most professional samplers Current Impact: Cannot use monolith files with AVAudioUnitSampler on iOS Forced to choose between: unusable audio (zeros at start) OR hitting iOS file limits No viable workaround exists Root Cause Hypothesis The bug appears to be in AVAudioUnitSampler's internal buffer initialization when: Multiple zones share the same source audio file Each zone specifies different sampleStart/sampleEnd offsets Key observation: The last zone in the zone array always works correctly. This is NOT related to: File permissions or security-scoped resources (separate files work fine) Audio codec issues (happens with uncompressed PCM too) Preset parsing (preset loads correctly, all zones are valid) Questions Is this a known issue? I couldn't find any documentation, bug reports, or discussions about this. Is there ANY workaround that allows monolith files to work with AVAudioUnitSampler? Alternative APIs? Is there a different API or approach for iOS that properly supports monolith sample files?
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271
1w
MusicKit playbackTime Accuracy
Hello, Has anyone else experienced variations in the accuracy of the playbackTime value? After a few seconds of playback, the reported time adjusts by a fraction of a second, making it difficult to calculate the actual playbackTime of the audio. This can be recreated by playing a song in MusicKit, recording the start time of the audio, playing for at least 10-20 seconds, and then comparing the playbackTime value to one calculated using the start time of the audio. In my experience this jump occurs after about 10 seconds of playback. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
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116
May ’25
Inquiry about Potential Core Audio Improvements
Hi everyone, I wanted to bring up a question about Core Audio and its potential for future updates or improvements, specifically regarding latency optimization. As someone who relies on Core Audio for real-time audio processing, any enhancements in this area would be incredibly beneficial for professionals in the industry. Does anyone know if Apple has shared any plans or updates regarding Core Audio’s performance, particularly for low-latency applications? I’d appreciate any insights or advice from the community! Thanks so much! Best, Michael
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495
Jan ’25
Is there an errors with SpatialAudioCLI?
Hi, everyone, I downloaded the source code EditingSpatialAudioWithAnAudioMix.zip from https://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cinematic/editing-spatial-audio-with-an-audio-mix, when I carried out one of the actions named "process" in command line the program crashed!! Form the source code, I found that the value of componentType is set to kAudioUnitType_FormatConverter: // The actual `AudioUnit`. public var auAudioMix = AVAudioUnitEffect() init() { // Generate a component description for the audio unit. let componentDescription = AudioComponentDescription( componentType: kAudioUnitType_FormatConverter, componentSubType: kAudioUnitSubType_AUAudioMix, componentManufacturer: kAudioUnitManufacturer_Apple, componentFlags: 0, componentFlagsMask: 0) auAudioMix=AVAudioUnitEffect(audioComponentDescription: componentDescription) } But in the document from https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfaudio/avaudiouniteffect/init(audiocomponentdescription:), it seems that componentType can not be set to kAudioUnitType_FormatConverter and : Has everyone encountered this problem?
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127
3w
Accessory not supported by this device
Hi, I've had a new deck installed in my car for about 1.5 weeks. I'm having compatibility issues with my 15PM. It happens both wired and wirelessly, I get the error "Accessory not supported by this device". It used to happen all the time, now it's 50/50. Sometimes it works. I've removed and added Bluetooth multiple times on phone and deck, I bought a belkin usb-c to usb-a cable today and it seems to fix it but the problem comes back. I've changed the setting "FaceID and passcode-allow access when locked-accessories." The car stereo guy reckons it's definitely an issue with the phone not the deck, I'm inclined to believe him since the error states "by this device". Any advice appreciated.
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215
Aug ’25
AudioUnit may experience silent capture issues on iPadOS 18.4.1 or 18.5.
Among the millions of users of our online product, we have identified through data metrics that the silent audio data capture rate on iPadOS 18.4.1 or 18.5 has increased abnormally. However, we are unable to reproduce the issue. Has anyone encountered a similar issue? The parameters we used are as follows: AudioSession: category:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord mode:AVAudioSessionModeDefault option:77 preferredSampleRate:48000.000000 preferredIOBufferDuration:0.010000 AudioUnit format.mFormatID = kAudioFormatLinearPCM; format.mSampleRate = 48000.0; format.mChannelsPerFrame = 2; format.mBitsPerChannel = 16; format.mFramesPerPacket = 1; format.mBytesPerFrame = format.mChannelsPerFrame * 16 / 8; format.mBytesPerPacket = format.mBytesPerFrame * format.mFramesPerPacket; format.mFormatFlags = kAudioFormatFlagsNativeEndian | kLinearPCMFormatFlagIsPacked | kLinearPCMFormatFlagIsSignedInteger; component.componentType = kAudioUnitType_Output; component.componentSubType = kAudioUnitSubType_RemoteIO; component.componentManufacturer = kAudioUnitManufacturer_Apple; component.componentFlags = 0; component.componentFlagsMask = 0;
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128
Jun ’25
Background recording app getting killed by watch dog.. how to avoid?
We have the necessary background recording entitlements, and for many users... do not run into any issues. However, there is a subset of users that routinely get recordings ending.. we have narrowed this down and believe it to be the work of the watch dog. First we removed the entire view hierarchy when app is backgrounded. There is just 'Text("Recording")' This got the CPU usage in profiler down to 0%. We saw massive improvements to recording success rate. We walked away assuming that was enough. However we are still seeing the same sort of crashes. All in the background. We're using Observation to drive audio state changes to a Live Activity. Are those Observations causing the problem? Why doesn't apple provide a better API to background audio? The internet is full of weird issues https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76010213/why-is-my-react-native-app-sometimes-terminated-in-the-background-while-tracking https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71656047/why-is-my-react-native-app-terminating-in-the-background-while-recording-ios-r https://github.com/expo/expo/issues/16807 This is such a terrible user experience. And we have very little visibility into what is happening and why. No where in apple documentation states that in order for background recording to work, the app can only be 'Text("Recording")' It does not outline a CPU or memory threshold. It just kills us.
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388
Mar ’25