A little background:
I am working on an iOS app which does audio recording and makes use of the audio session category AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord. The app also plays sound effects which I want to play through the device's main speaker (while the user is not recording). In order stop output audio from playing through the main speakers while recording I use the following code snippet:
UInt32 defaultRoute = 1;
AudioSessionSetProperty(kAudioSessionProperty_OverrideCategoryDefaultToSpeaker,
sizeof (defaultRoute),
&defaultRoute);
When the user starts recording I run the same code again with a defaultRoute of 0 which causes output audio to stop being played through the speakers and therefore not included in the recording. This method has been working fine on the iPhone.
The Issue:
When I run the same code on an iPod Touch (4th generation), the kAudioSessionProperty_OverrideCategoryDefaultToSpeaker property does not seem to have any affect. The result is that while a user is recording audio on their iPod Touch, sound effects will still play through the speaker and are included in the recording.
Does anyone know why this is happening, or how to fix it? I want to the behaviour on the iPod Touch to match the behaviour on the iPhone: output audio does not play through the main speakers while recording.
Note:
The closest to a solution that I have gotten is detecting if the device is an iPod Touch and if it is, mute system audio when recording starts using the following code snippet:
[MPMusicPlayerController iPodMusicPlayer].volume = 0.0;
This was not a desirable solution as when this code is executed, the volume overlay view pops up showing that the volume was turned down. This adds confusion to the UI and is not a good enough solution.
Any help would be appreciated!
Related
Building an audio streaming app using just_audio and audio_service. It uses an HLS url stream to get the audio. When audio is playing and the device is locked the controls will show on the lock screen and work properly using play/pause. However if the audio is paused for around a minute or longer the play button is tapped the lock screen controls will turn grey. I'll then open the app and try tapping play in the view and the Audio processing state will change to idle and nothing else happens.
I'm wonder if it has to do with the HLS stream at all. The amount of time that the player has to be paused before it "breaks" varies, but does seem to be consistent with the amount of audio that has buffered. So play/pause works fine if the amount of time the audio has been paused is less than the buffered amount, but if it passes then I encounter this issue.
As far as I can tell, nothing useful is logged at the time the audio player stops working, nor when tapping play/pause while in this state. I've tried to see if the OS kills the audio player maybe so I could re-init, but that doesn't seem to be the case either.
Figured this out, however, I'm not sure it's best solution.
One part is the provider for our HLS url for the live stream was able to increase the session timeout from 45 seconds to 5 minutes. There doesn't seem to be any negative behavior in doing this. It somehow prevents the background controls from breaking (greying out) when the audio has been paused for more then a minute (this varies and doesn't seem directly related to the session timeout, so maybe some magic iOS is doing too, who knows).
The other part is when a user locks their device and interacts with the background player something breaks to the point where if they go back into the app and try to switch the audio source something fails deep in the audio player. To "fix" this, when switching from the live stream to a non-HLS url I am now calling dispose on the audio player in the handler then re-initializing it.
This has solved my problem, but I think a better solution exists. For my specific case, using the SwitchAudioHandler may be that better solution, but I haven't had the time to try it.
My design calls for a video playing in the background of my login screen, exactly like 6snap has.
I would like to avoid the default behavior of stopping the user's music when the video starts to play. My video does not have sound.
I'm using:
<MediaElement Source="MyVideo.mp4" />
I tried setting IsMuted=true which didn't help. Does anyone have an idea how 6snap managed it?
Edit: currently trying the animated gif route. Using the ImageTools 3rd party library and having converted my MP4, it works fine. My 9 second 640x1136 3MB video became a 41MB GIF, so I have to reduce the quality drastically. Still trying to find a better way if possible.
You won't be able to do that with Background Audio and MediaElement, hence as MSDN says:
When a MediaElement control plays audio or video content, any background sounds or media already playing are halted. The app launches the playback experience when the user taps the control. Only one MediaElement control can operate at a time.
It's no matter you have no sound - when you start to play all background sounds/media are halted.
I'm not sure how the App you have mentioned achieved that, but maybe you can try with DirectX/XNA - thought I've not tried this and don't know if that would help.
I've noticed that when my app start, the music I'm listening is automatically stopped, and I've noticed that when I start some other apps, the music just continue... this means that I don't know how to manage the actual playing music in the device to let it plays or stop.
I'm developing a game with obj-c and cocos2d btw, I've searched but sadly I've found nothing... so here's my question, how can I let the music I'm listening with my device continue to play even if I start the app ?
edit: I'm using SimpleAudioEngine to start a background music and some sound effects in my app
Place this line in your application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method of your AppDelegate or in general before using the audio player.
[[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryAmbient error:nil];
According to the documentation, the AVAudioSessionCategoryAmbient category is
for an app in which sound playback is nonprimary—that is, your app can
be used successfully with the sound turned off.
This category is also appropriate for “play along” style apps, such as a virtual piano that a user plays over iPod audio. When you
use this category, audio from other apps mixes with your audio. Your
audio is silenced by screen locking and by the Silent switch (called
the Ring/Silent switch on iPhone).
please import AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h
Swift:
Before playing enter this line:
let audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance()
if audioSession.otherAudioPlaying {
_ = try? audioSession.setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryAmbient, withOptions: AVAudioSessionCategoryOptions.MixWithOthers)
}
For people looking to solve this within react native (iOS)
My problem was quite the opposite where some of our muted videos with no music was causing background sound to be paused from other apps for no reason.
To fix this, also pass ignoreSilentSwitch="obey" prop alongside disableFocus and muted props through your Video component.
According to the docs:
You can activate the audio session at any time after setting its category, but it’s generally preferable to defer this call until your app begins audio playback. Deferring the call ensures that you won’t prematurely interrupt any other background audio that may be in progress.
Be sure not to be starting the audio session directly via its setActive method or indirectly via AVAudioEngine or other playback engine(s) immediately after the app launches. You should set only the category at this stage if you don't want your app to interrupt others on launch. If you're using AVAudioEngine, defer setting up the engine or connecting anything to the engine's mainMixerNode or outputNode until you actually need to start playing something.
When your app starts playing music, it will pause any audio currently playing. For obvious reasons. If you want your music to carry on playing when the app launches then don't let the app play any music.
The topic may sound strange, but please keep reading on.
I am using AVPlayer to play some sound from the iPod library and everything works fine when using it with headphones plugged in, but when I want to use the app to play from the built in speakers there is no sound output. (The time counter and everything else in the application is still working like there would be sound output. Like it is just muted.)
I checked the volume and the mute lock and then found out that the ringtone was muted. But ringtone muting doesn't affect other applications like the iPod app itself or the Spotify music app.
How can I prevent my application (using AVPlayer) is muted when the ringtone is muted and behave like other music player apps?
You should set your app's audio session to AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback. From the docs:
Use this category for an
application whose audio playback is of primary importance. Your audio
plays even with the screen locked and with the Ring/Silent switch set
to silent.
I've been struggling to make video on the iPad work. I'm using an MPMoviePlayerViewController and it plays fine in the simulator. I've tried several different converters, including ones dedicated to producing iPad-formatted video, but none of the videos play on the device. The MPMoviePlayerViewController loads and the controls appear.
For most of the videos, the spinning progress indicator never goes away. For a few, the video loads but when I press play the video immediately pauses. I know that the video is there because I can scan through and see various frames.
I know the code works because it plays a different movie file perfectly. I just have no idea what I'm doing wrong that's preventing my movie from playing. Does anyone know a good step-by-step process of getting an iPad-formatted video from any .mov or .mp4?
Thanks,
Luke
Also, just for future reference, import target video into iTunes, then highlight it and from the Advanced menu choose "Create iPod or iPhone Version" or "Create iPad or AppleTV Version" depending on your target device.
This guarantees that the right codecs are used and the right bitflags set on the video file.
Fixed - the one that loaded but couldn't play eventually worked. Why? Who knows.