While implementing the new background backup feature introduced in iOS 26.1, I create a PHAssetResourceUploadJob in an Extension. On iOS 26.1, the system successfully triggers the upload. However, on iOS 26.2, although the job is created successfully and all related configurations are correctly set, the system does not trigger the upload. Could you please help confirm the cause of this issue? Thank you.

Hello Apple Developer Support, I’m developing a virtual camera using the CMIOExtensionDevice / CMIOExtensionStreamSource APIs on macOS. While the virtual camera appears in system settings and apps like Zoom and Google Meet, the video output exhibits the following issues: Jittering frames: The first frame sometimes appears correctly, but subsequent frames flicker or jitter. Solid color fill: Eventually, the camera feed fills entirely with a solid accent color (e.g., blue), rather than the intended video content. Console logs: Repeated messages appear in Console.app: Invalid display 0x00000000 Setup details: The virtual camera is created using CMIOExtensionDevice and CMIOExtensionStream. Video frames are rendered from NSImage/CGImage using CGContext and copied into CVPixelBuffers. Frame delivery is controlled by a DispatchSourceTimer at 60 FPS. macOS version: 26.2 Xcode version: 26.1 Observations: The Invalid display 0x00000000 logs suggest that CGContext drawing or NSImage operations are failing in headless mode (i.e., there is no real display attached to the virtual camera). Using CIContext with .useSoftwareRenderer = true appears to mitigate some flicker, but not entirely. Questions / Requests: Is it expected that CoreMediaIO virtual cameras cannot reliably render CGImage / NSImage frames offscreen? Are there recommended APIs or approaches to render virtual camera frames fully headless to avoid display-dependent jitter? Is there any documentation or sample code from Apple showing stable video output from a virtual camera extension that does not rely on a physical display? Any guidance or examples would be greatly appreciated. This issue prevents the virtual camera from being used reliably in standard video apps. Thank you, Savvy

Hi, I am trying to implement a PHBackgroundResourceUploadExtension to upload backup media files to an external cloud service based on these docs: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/PhotoKit/uploading-asset-resources-in-the-background#Acknowledge-completed-jobs Creating jobs and actual uploading is working as expected, but the problem I have is in the acknowledgeCompletedJobs() function. When trying to access a job's resource, the resource is nil and thus has empty assetLocalIdentifier and originalFilename. Did anybody successfully implement this extension or knows, why this would happen? Because the resource of an acknowledgable job is empty, I can not match it back to my processed assets.

How I can get iCloud photo file size? Could I use private API like this in prod? Does anyone know another way? (without downloading the file to the device) func getFileSize(asset: PHAsset) -> Int64? { let resources = PHAssetResource.assetResources(for: asset) let resource = resources.first let size = resource?.value(forKey: "fileSize") as? Int64 return size }

I'm developing a PHBackgroundResourceUploadExtension and finding it difficult to debug because the system controls when the extension launches. Current experience: The extension starts at unpredictable times (anywhere from 1 minute to several hours after photos are added) By the time I attach the debugger, the upload may have already completed or failed Breakpoints in init() or early lifecycle methods are often missed Questions: Is there a way to force-launch the extension during development (similar to how we can manually trigger Background App Refresh in Xcode)? Are there any launch arguments or environment variables that put the extension in a debug/eager mode? I tried taking photos/videos, but this doesn't trigged app extension in all cases. Any tips for improving the debug cycle would be greatly appreciated. Environment: iOS 26, Xcode 18

Hello, I'm wondering how to capture 24MP photos. I'm currently testing on an iPhone 16 Pro Max. By default, the device's activeFormat supports 24MP (photo dimensions: {4032x3024, 5712x4284}). For the photoOutput, I'm setting the maxPhotoDimensions to videoDevice.activeFormat.supportedMaxPhotoDimensions.lastObject, and setting MaxPhotoQualityPrioritization to quality. When capturing, I'm applying the same maxPhotoDimensions and photoQualityPrioritization settings from the photoOutput directly to the AVCapturePhotoSettings. What could be the issue? // Objective-C // setup [self.photoOutput setMaxPhotoQualityPrioritization:AVCapturePhotoQualityPrioritizationQuality]; CMVideoDimensions maxPhotoDimensions = [(NSValue *)videoDevice.activeFormat.supportedMaxPhotoDimensions.lastObject CMVideoDimensionsValue]; [self.photoOutput setMaxPhotoDimensions:maxPhotoDimensions]; // capturing AVCapturePhotoSettings *photoSettings = [AVCapturePhotoSettings photoSettings]; photoSettings.maxPhotoDimensions = self.photoOutput.maxPhotoDimensions; photoSettings.photoQualityPrioritization = self.photoOutput.maxPhotoQualityPrioritization; [self.photoOutput capturePhotoWithSettings:photoSettings delegate:photoCaptureDelegate]; ...

I'm developing an iOS app using AVFoundation for real-time video capture and object detection. While implementing torch functionality with camera switching (between Wide and Ultra-Wide lenses), I encountered a critical issue where the camera freezes when toggling the torch while the Ultra-Wide camera is active. Issue If the torch is ON and I switch from Wide to Ultra-Wide, the camera freezes If the Ultra-Wide camera is active and I try to turn the torch ON, the camera freezes The iPhone Camera app allows using the torch while recording video with the Ultra-Wide lens, so this should be possible via AVFoundation as well. Code snippet DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async { [weak self] in guard let self = self else { return } let isSwitchingToUltraWide = !self.isUsingFisheyeCamera let cameraType: AVCaptureDevice.DeviceType = isSwitchingToUltraWide ? .builtInUltraWideCamera : .builtInWideAngleCamera let cameraName = isSwitchingToUltraWide ? "Ultra Wide" : "Wide" guard let selectedCamera = AVCaptureDevice.default(cameraType, for: .video, position: .back) else { DispatchQueue.main.async { self.showAlert(title: "Camera Error", message: "\(cameraName) camera is not available on this device.") } return } do { let currentInput = self.videoCapture.captureSession.inputs.first as? AVCaptureDeviceInput self.videoCapture.captureSession.beginConfiguration() if isSwitchingToUltraWide && self.isFlashlightOn { self.forceEnableTorchThroughWide() } if let currentInput = currentInput { self.videoCapture.captureSession.removeInput(currentInput) } let videoInput = try AVCaptureDeviceInput(device: selectedCamera) self.videoCapture.captureSession.addInput(videoInput) self.videoCapture.captureSession.commitConfiguration() self.videoCapture.updateVideoOrientation() DispatchQueue.main.async { if let barButton = sender as? UIBarButtonItem { barButton.title = isSwitchingToUltraWide ? "Wide" : "Ultra Wide" barButton.tintColor = isSwitchingToUltraWide ? UIColor.systemGreen : UIColor.white } print("Switched to \(cameraName) camera.") } self.isUsingFisheyeCamera.toggle() } catch { DispatchQueue.main.async { self.showAlert(title: "Camera Error", message: "Failed to switch to \(cameraName) camera: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } } } Expected Behavior Torch should be able to work when Ultra-Wide is active, just like the iPhone Camera app does. The camera should not freeze when switching between Wide and Ultra-Wide with the torch ON. AVCaptureSession should not crash when toggling the torch while Ultra-Wide is active. Questions & Help Needed Is this a known issue with AVFoundation? How does the iPhone Camera app allow using the torch while recording in Ultra-Wide? What’s the correct way to switch between Wide and Ultra-Wide cameras without freezing when the torch is active? Info Device tested: iPhone 13 Pro / iPhone 15 Pro / Iphone 15 iOS Version: iOS 17.3 / iOS 18.0 Xcode Version: 16.2

If new photo is added to library and app is not running in foreground or was not opened after the new photo was added but the app is having full access to gallery, can it access, read the new photo - If the app is not specifically a cloud syncing app, can it have this attached function, suppose it is a game app or beauty camera app?

Some users reported that their images are not loading correctly in our app. After a lot of debugging we identified the following: This only happens when the app is build for Mac Catalyst. Not on iOS, iPadOS, or “real” macOS (AppKit). The images in question have unusual color spaces. We observed the issue for uRGB and eciRGB v2. Those images are rendered correctly in Photos and Preview on all platforms. When displaying the image inside of a UIImageView or in a SwiftUI Image, they render correctly. The issue only occurs when loading the image via Core Image. When comparing the different Core Image render graphs between AppKit (working) and Catalyst (faulty) builds, they look identical—except for the result. Mac (AppKit): Catalyst: Something seems to be off when Core Image tries to load an image with foreign color space in Catalyst. We identified a workaround: By using a CGImageDestination to transcode the image using the kCGImageDestinationOptimizeColorForSharing option, Image I/O will convert the image to sRGB (or similar) and Core Image is able to load the image correctly. However, one potentially loses fidelity this way. Or might there be a better workaround?

Has Objective-C been deprecated?

Hi guys, Can I use CMIO to achieve the following feature on macOS when a USB device (Camera/Mic/Speaker) is connected: When a third-party video conferencing app is not in a meeting, ensure the app defaults to using the USB device (Camera/Mic/Speaker). When a third-party conferencing app is in a meeting, ensure the app automatically switches to the USB device (Camera/Mic/Speaker).

Does the library exists in xCode 16.4? "import WorldCaptureKit" gives error "No such module 'WorldCaptureKit'". And I do not find any information about the library in the apple documentation. But AI keeps suggesting me to use the library

Hi! I am making an app for Apple Vision pro (VisionOS 2.5) that is scanning the surroundings and recognises all the texts around you. I tried to use the AVCaptureSession library, but when I run the app from xcode on the real AVP device, the camera is not accessible. I enabled the camera access in my Info.plist: NSCameraUsageDescription Used for live text recognition and I checked camera settings in the AVP, there are no restrictions. However I have always a black square with a crossed camera icon displayed instead of the image from the camera. I tried a couple of different apps from Github using the AVCaptureSession and they all display the black square instead of the picture. What can be wrong with the camera?

I developed a driverkit extension based on overriding-the-default-usb-video-class-extension, but the link didn’t give the details of realization. I asked DTS who gave two tips: 1, Do you also have a CMIO extension to load in place of the default overriding-the-default-usb-video-class-extension 2, Your DriverKit extension’s info.plist is also missing the CameraAssistantBundleID. I want to know why a driverkit extension needs a CMIO extension, what’s the data and control flow?

Issue: After iOS 18.5 release, our app is experiencing a significant increase in AVCaptureSessionInterruptionReason.videoDeviceNotAvailableWithMultipleForegroundApps errors. Details: Our camera-related code has not been updated recently.However, we've observed that the error rate has significantly increased starting from May 2025. The error rate has risen from approximately 0.02% (2 in 10,000 users) to 0.1% (1 in 1,000 users). This represents a 5x increase in error occurrence. The frequency has increased noticeably since iOS 18.5 This is affecting our app's camera functionality and user experience Questions: Are there any known changes in iOS 18.5 regarding camera access management? What are the recommended best practices to handle this interruption reason? Are there any API changes we should be aware of? Best, Shay

AVCaptureVideoDataOutput.preparesCellularRadioForNetworkConnection requires com.apple.developer.avfoundation.video-data-output-prepares-cellular-radio-for-machine-readable-code-scanning. But I cannot acquire its entitlement. I can't find its entitlement on 'Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles'. Any solutions? Provisioning profile "iOS Team Provisioning Profile: ......" doesn't include the com.apple.developer.avfoundation.video-data-output-prepares-cellular-radio-for-machine-readable-code-scanning entitlement.

I'm developing a photo backup app. To detect newly added or edited photos since the app launched, I keep a local dictionary in the format [localIdentifier: modification_date]. However, PHAsset.modificationDate is not reliable. It often changes unexpectedly, possibly due to system operations like iCloud metadata updates. Is there a more reliable way to detect whether a photo has been modified by user since the last app launch? I'm thinking about using content hash instead, but I'm not sure how heavy this operation is in terms of performance.

Hi all, I'm working on a custom Metal-based video pipeline using AVCaptureVideoDataOutput, and I've run into an unexpected issue related to exposure. Setup: I'm capturing video frames using kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr8BiPlanarFullRange. In my Metal shader, I: Convert YCbCr (full range Rec.709) to linear Rec.709 RGB. Apply Rec.709 → sRGB gamma encoding. Output to .bgra8Unorm_srgb via MTKView. Everything renders correctly in terms of colorspace math, but the image appears significantly brighter (~+3 stops EV) compared to AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer and the native iOS Camera app under the same camera exposure settings. What I’ve verified: The color transforms are correct: YCbCr709 to RGB, then linear to sRGB. I'm not applying any tone mapping or aggressive look LUTs yet. Camera exposure is locked using: device.setExposureModeCustom(duration: ..., iso: ...) The same EV (e.g., ISO 50, 1/125s, f/5.6) on my iPhone appears visually 3 stops brighter than on my digital cameras (Sony/Canon etc). To match the look of the preview layer or camera app, I have to simulate a ~–3 EV shift in my custom pipeline. Questions: Is AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer applying extra tone mapping, digital gain, or contrast shaping (like OOTF etc)? Does the camera ISP expose "hotter" (i.e., with more light) internally for the preview layer than what we get in video frame buffers? Is there a standard way to compensate for this ISP behavior in custom pipelines using AVCaptureVideoDataOutput? Can this be accounted for using metadata (e.g., exposure bias, gain, gamma curve)?

In iOS 26 (Developer Beta), the AVCaptureMetadataOutputObjectsDelegate no longer receives callbacks when metadataOutput.metadataObjectTypes = [.face] is set. On earlier iOS versions the issue does not occur. Interestingly, face detection works if I set the sessionPreset to .medium, but not with .high — except on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, where it works regardless.

I'm working on a photo app and I want to allow the user to display, edit and delete photos. I can fetch all photos using PHAsset.fetchAssets(with: options). This works as intended. However, I can't seem to find a way to prevent the user from seeing photos from a Shared Library. The PHAssetSourceType only contains typeCloudShared to only show items from a specific album; not library. How can I filter by iCloud Shared Library?