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

Audio Documentation

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occasional glitches and empty buffers when using AudioFileStream + AVAudioConverter
I'm streaming mp3 audio data using URLSession/AudioFileStream/AVAudioConverter and getting occasional silent buffers and glitches (little bleeps and whoops as opposed to clicks). The issues are present in an offline test, so this isn't an issue of underruns. Doing some buffering on the input coming from the URLSession (URLSessionDataTask) reduces the glitches/silent buffers to rather infrequent, but they do still happen occasionally. var bufferedData = Data() func parseBytes(data: Data) { bufferedData.append(data) // XXX: this buffering reduces glitching // to rather infrequent. But why? if bufferedData.count > 32768 { bufferedData.withUnsafeBytes { (bytes: UnsafeRawBufferPointer) in guard let baseAddress = bytes.baseAddress else { return } let result = AudioFileStreamParseBytes(audioStream!, UInt32(bufferedData.count), baseAddress, []) if result != noErr { print("❌ error parsing stream: \(result)") } } bufferedData = Data() } } No errors are returned by AudioFileStream or AVAudioConverter. func handlePackets(data: Data, packetDescriptions: [AudioStreamPacketDescription]) { guard let audioConverter else { return } var maxPacketSize: UInt32 = 0 for packetDescription in packetDescriptions { maxPacketSize = max(maxPacketSize, packetDescription.mDataByteSize) if packetDescription.mDataByteSize == 0 { print("EMPTY PACKET") } if Int(packetDescription.mStartOffset) + Int(packetDescription.mDataByteSize) > data.count { print("❌ Invalid packet: offset \(packetDescription.mStartOffset) + size \(packetDescription.mDataByteSize) > data.count \(data.count)") } } let bufferIn = AVAudioCompressedBuffer(format: inFormat!, packetCapacity: AVAudioPacketCount(packetDescriptions.count), maximumPacketSize: Int(maxPacketSize)) bufferIn.byteLength = UInt32(data.count) for i in 0 ..< Int(packetDescriptions.count) { bufferIn.packetDescriptions![i] = packetDescriptions[i] } bufferIn.packetCount = AVAudioPacketCount(packetDescriptions.count) _ = data.withUnsafeBytes { ptr in memcpy(bufferIn.data, ptr.baseAddress, data.count) } if verbose { print("handlePackets: \(data.count) bytes") } // Setup input provider closure var inputProvided = false let inputBlock: AVAudioConverterInputBlock = { packetCount, statusPtr in if !inputProvided { inputProvided = true statusPtr.pointee = .haveData return bufferIn } else { statusPtr.pointee = .noDataNow return nil } } // Loop until converter runs dry or is done while true { let bufferOut = AVAudioPCMBuffer(pcmFormat: outFormat, frameCapacity: 4096)! bufferOut.frameLength = 0 var error: NSError? let status = audioConverter.convert(to: bufferOut, error: &error, withInputFrom: inputBlock) switch status { case .haveData: if verbose { print("✅ convert returned haveData: \(bufferOut.frameLength) frames") } if bufferOut.frameLength > 0 { if bufferOut.isSilent { print("(haveData) SILENT BUFFER at frame \(totalFrames), pending: \(pendingFrames), inputPackets=\(bufferIn.packetCount), outputFrames=\(bufferOut.frameLength)") } outBuffers.append(bufferOut) totalFrames += Int(bufferOut.frameLength) } case .inputRanDry: if verbose { print("🔁 convert returned inputRanDry: \(bufferOut.frameLength) frames") } if bufferOut.frameLength > 0 { if bufferOut.isSilent { print("(inputRanDry) SILENT BUFFER at frame \(totalFrames), pending: \(pendingFrames), inputPackets=\(bufferIn.packetCount), outputFrames=\(bufferOut.frameLength)") } outBuffers.append(bufferOut) totalFrames += Int(bufferOut.frameLength) } return // wait for next handlePackets case .endOfStream: if verbose { print("✅ convert returned endOfStream") } return case .error: if verbose { print("❌ convert returned error") } if let error = error { print("error converting: \(error.localizedDescription)") } return @unknown default: fatalError() } } }
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551
Jul ’25
PTTFramework w/ AVAudioSession
Hi all, I have spent a lot of time reading the tech note and watching the WDDC video that introduce the PTTFramework on iOS. I currently have a custom setup where I am using AVAudioEngine to schedule and play buffers that are being streamed through a call. I am looking to use the PTTFramework to allow a user to trigger this push to talk behavior from the lock screen and the various places with the system UI it provides. However I am unsure what the correct behavior is regarding the handling of the audio session. Right now I am using .playback when there is no active voice transmission so that devices such as AirPods can be in AD2P mode where applicable, and then transitioning to .playbackAndRecord category only when the mic input should become active. Following this change in my AVAudioEngine manager I am then manually activating and deactivating the audio session manually when the engine is either playing/recording or idle. In the documentation it states that you should not attempt to activate or deactivate your audio session directly, but allow the framework to handle it. Does that mean that I need to either call the request to transmit delegate function or set an active participant on the channel manager first, and then wait for the didBecomeActive delegate method to trigger before I actually attempt to play or record any audio? (I am using the fullDuplex mode currently.) I noticed that that delegate method will only trigger if the audio session wasn't active before doing one of the above (setting active participant, requesting transmit). Lastly, when using the PTTFramework it also mentions that we get support for PTT devices and I notice on the didBeginTransmittingFrom property we have a handsfreeButton case. Is there any documentation or resources for what is actually supported out of the box for this? I am currently working on handling a lot of the push to talk through bluetooth LE, and wanted to make sure there wasn't overlap with what the system provides. Thank you!
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594
Feb ’25
Spatial Audio on iOS 18 don't work as inteneded
I’m facing a problem while trying to achieve spatial audio effects in my iOS 18 app. I have tried several approaches to get good 3D audio, but the effect never felt good enough or it didn’t work at all. Also what mostly troubles me is I noticed that AirPods I have doesn’t recognize my app as one having spatial audio (in audio settings it shows "Spatial Audio Not Playing"). So i guess my app doesn't use spatial audio potential. First approach uses AVAudioEnviromentNode with AVAudioEngine. Chaining position of player as well as changing listener’s doesn’t seem to change anything in how audio plays. Here's simple how i initialize AVAudioEngine import Foundation import AVFoundation class AudioManager: ObservableObject { // important class variables var audioEngine: AVAudioEngine! var environmentNode: AVAudioEnvironmentNode! var playerNode: AVAudioPlayerNode! var audioFile: AVAudioFile? ... //Sound set up func setupAudio() { do { let session = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() try session.setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, options: []) try session.setActive(true) } catch { print("Failed to configure AVAudioSession: \(error.localizedDescription)") } audioEngine = AVAudioEngine() environmentNode = AVAudioEnvironmentNode() playerNode = AVAudioPlayerNode() audioEngine.attach(environmentNode) audioEngine.attach(playerNode) audioEngine.connect(playerNode, to: environmentNode, format: nil) audioEngine.connect(environmentNode, to: audioEngine.mainMixerNode, format: nil) environmentNode.listenerPosition = AVAudio3DPoint(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0) environmentNode.listenerAngularOrientation = AVAudio3DAngularOrientation(yaw: 0, pitch: 0, roll: 0) environmentNode.distanceAttenuationParameters.referenceDistance = 1.0 environmentNode.distanceAttenuationParameters.maximumDistance = 100.0 environmentNode.distanceAttenuationParameters.rolloffFactor = 2.0 // example.mp3 is mono sound guard let audioURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "example", withExtension: "mp3") else { print("Audio file not found") return } do { audioFile = try AVAudioFile(forReading: audioURL) } catch { print("Failed to load audio file: \(error)") } } ... //Playing sound func playSpatialAudio(pan: Float ) { guard let audioFile = audioFile else { return } // left side playerNode.position = AVAudio3DPoint(x: pan, y: 0, z: 0) playerNode.scheduleFile(audioFile, at: nil, completionHandler: nil) do { try audioEngine.start() playerNode.play() } catch { print("Failed to start audio engine: \(error)") } ... } Second more complex approach using PHASE did better. I’ve made an exemplary app that allows players to move audio player in 3D space. I have added reverb, and sliders changing audio position up to 10 meters each direction from listener but audio seems to only really change left to right (x axis) - again I think it might be trouble with the app not being recognized as spatial. //Crucial class Variables: class PHASEAudioController: ObservableObject{ private var soundSourcePosition: simd_float4x4 = matrix_identity_float4x4 private var audioAsset: PHASESoundAsset! private let phaseEngine: PHASEEngine private let params = PHASEMixerParameters() private var soundSource: PHASESource private var phaseListener: PHASEListener! private var soundEventAsset: PHASESoundEventNodeAsset? // Initialization of PHASE init{ do { let session = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() try session.setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, options: []) try session.setActive(true) } catch { print("Failed to configure AVAudioSession: \(error.localizedDescription)") } // Init PHASE Engine phaseEngine = PHASEEngine(updateMode: .automatic) phaseEngine.defaultReverbPreset = .mediumHall phaseEngine.outputSpatializationMode = .automatic //nothing helps // Set listener position to (0,0,0) in World space let origin: simd_float4x4 = matrix_identity_float4x4 phaseListener = PHASEListener(engine: phaseEngine) phaseListener.transform = origin phaseListener.automaticHeadTrackingFlags = .orientation try! self.phaseEngine.rootObject.addChild(self.phaseListener) do{ try self.phaseEngine.start(); } catch { print("Could not start PHASE engine") } audioAsset = loadAudioAsset() // Create sound Source // Sphere soundSourcePosition.translate(z:3.0) let sphere = MDLMesh.newEllipsoid(withRadii: vector_float3(0.1,0.1,0.1), radialSegments: 14, verticalSegments: 14, geometryType: MDLGeometryType.triangles, inwardNormals: false, hemisphere: false, allocator: nil) let shape = PHASEShape(engine: phaseEngine, mesh: sphere) soundSource = PHASESource(engine: phaseEngine, shapes: [shape]) soundSource.transform = soundSourcePosition print(soundSourcePosition) do { try phaseEngine.rootObject.addChild(soundSource) } catch { print ("Failed to add a child object to the scene.") } let simpleModel = PHASEGeometricSpreadingDistanceModelParameters() simpleModel.rolloffFactor = rolloffFactor soundPipeline.distanceModelParameters = simpleModel let samplerNode = PHASESamplerNodeDefinition( soundAssetIdentifier: audioAsset.identifier, mixerDefinition: soundPipeline, identifier: audioAsset.identifier + "_SamplerNode") samplerNode.playbackMode = .looping do {soundEventAsset = try phaseEngine.assetRegistry.registerSoundEventAsset( rootNode: samplerNode, identifier: audioAsset.identifier + "_SoundEventAsset") } catch { print("Failed to register a sound event asset.") soundEventAsset = nil } } //Playing sound func playSound(){ // Fire new sound event with currently set properties guard let soundEventAsset else { return } params.addSpatialMixerParameters( identifier: soundPipeline.identifier, source: soundSource, listener: phaseListener) let soundEvent = try! PHASESoundEvent(engine: phaseEngine, assetIdentifier: soundEventAsset.identifier, mixerParameters: params) soundEvent.start(completion: nil) } ... } Also worth mentioning might be that I only own personal team account
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AVSpeechSynthesizer pulls words out of thin air.
Hi, I'm working on a project that uses the AVSpeechSynthesizer and AVSpeechUtterance. I discovered by chance that the AVSpeechSynthesizer automatically completes some words instead of just outputting what it's supposed to. These are abbreviations for days of the week or months, but not all of them. I don't want either of them automatically completed, but only the specified text. The completion transcends languages. I have written a short example program for demonstration purposes. import SwiftUI import AVFoundation import Foundation let synthesizer: AVSpeechSynthesizer = AVSpeechSynthesizer() struct ContentView: View { var body: some View { VStack { Button { utter("mon") } label: { Text("mon") } .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent) Button { utter("tue") } label: { Text("tue") } .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent) Button { utter("thu") } label: { Text("thu") } .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent) Button { utter("feb") } label: { Text("feb") } .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent) Button { utter("feb", lang: "de-DE") } label: { Text("feb DE") } .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent) Button { utter("wed") } label: { Text("wed") } .buttonStyle(.borderedProminent) } .padding() } private func utter(_ text: String, lang: String = "en-US") { let utterance = AVSpeechUtterance(string: text) let voice = AVSpeechSynthesisVoice(language: lang) utterance.voice = voice synthesizer.speak(utterance) } } #Preview { ContentView() } Thank you Christian
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196
Nov ’25
Some questions about musickit
We are developing an apple music app on phone, the developed web works fine on chrome, but when i load it on webivew on my phone, i can't play the first song, We doubt that the drm init, key exchange, session creation was on the music.play() function, while we trigger the play, the drm or session was not ok for play a real song, so it got an error so we may wanna know: what about the realative process of drm, key, session, etc in the play() function? are there some state detect function to show weather the drm is ok?
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111
Mar ’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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397
Feb ’25
Can a Location-Based Audio AR Experience Run in the Background on iOS?
Hi everyone! I’ve developed a location-based Audio AR app in Unity with FMOD &amp; Resonance Audio and AirPods Pro Head-Tracking to create a ubiquitous augmented soundscape experience. Think of it as an audio version of Pokémon Go, but with a more precise location requirement to ensure spatial audio is placed correctly. I want this experience to run in the background on iOS, but from what I’ve gathered, it seems Unity doesn’t support this well. So, I’m considering developing a Swift version instead. Since this is primarily for research purposes, privacy concerns are not a major issue in my case. However, I’ve come across some potential challenges: Real-time precise location updates – Can iOS provide fully instantaneous, high-accuracy location updates in the background? Continuous real-time data processing – Can an app continuously process spatial audio, head-tracking, and location data while running in the background? I’m not sure if newer iOS versions have improved in these areas or if there are workarounds to achieve this. Would this kind of experience be feasible to run in the background on iOS? Any insights or pointers would be greatly appreciated! I’m very new to iOS development, so apologies if this is a basic question. Thanks in advance!
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86
Apr ’25
Displaying and working with Favorites in iOS app
New to iOS development and I've been trying to make heads or tails of the documentation. I know there is a difference between the data fields returned from songs from the user library and from the category, but whenever I search on the apple site I can't find a list of each. For example, Im trying to get the releaseDate of a song in my library, but it seems I'll have to cross-query either the catalog entry for the using song.catalogID or the song.irsc but when I try to use them I can't find a cross reference between the two. I'm totally turned around. Also trying to determine if a song in my library has been favorited or not? isFavorited (or something similar) doesn't seem to be a thing. Using this code and trying to find a way to display a solid star if the song has been favorited or an empty one if it's not. Seems like a basic request but I can't find anything on how to do it. I've searched docs, googled, tried. Does apple want us to query the user's Favorited Songs playlist or something? How do I know which playlist that is? I know isFavorited isn't a thing, just using it here so you can see what my intension is: HStack(spacing: 10) { Image(systemName: song.isFavorited ? "star.fill" : "star") .foregroundColor(song.isFavorited ? .yellow : .gray) Image(systemName: "magnifyingglass") }
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171
Oct ’25
Track changes in the browser tab's audibility property.
Hi! I am writing a browser extension that allows you to control the playback of media content on a music service website. Unfortunately Safari does not support tracking changes to the audible property in an event tabs.onUpdated. Is there an alternative to this event? I'm looking for a way to track when the automatic inference engine interrupts playback on a music service website. That you.
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71
Apr ’25
How to disable the built-in speakers and microphone on a Mac
I need to implement a solution through an API or custom driver to completely block out the built-in speakers and microphone of Mac, because I need other apps to use specified external devices as audio input and output. Is there a way to achieve this requirement? What I mean is that even in system preferences, it should not be possible to choose the built-in microphone and speakers; only my external device can be used.
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83
Apr ’25
How to record voice, auto-transcribe, translate (auto-detect input language), and play back translated audio on same device in iOS Swift?
Hi everyone 👋 I’m building an iOS app in Swift where I want to do the following: Record the user’s voice Transcribe the spoken sentence (speech-to-text) Auto-detect the spoken language Translate it to another language selected by the user (e.g., English → Spanish or Hindi → English) Speak back (text-to-speech) the translated text on the same device Is this possible to record via phone mic and play the transcribe voice into headphone's audio?
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192
Oct ’25
How to inform Logic Pro that AU view does not have a fixed aspect ratio?
I have an AUv3 that passes all validation and can be loaded into Logic Pro without issue. The UI for the plug in can be any aspect ratio but Logic insists on presenting it in a view with a fixed aspect ratio. That is when resizing, both the height and width are resized. I have never managed to work out what it is I need to do specify to Logic to allow the user to resize width or height independently of each other. Can anyone tell me what I need to specify in the AU code that will inform Logic that the view can be resized from any side of the window/panel?
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77
Apr ’25
Audio / Video sync issue on iOS using AVSampleBufferRenderSynchronizer
My current app implements a custom video player, based on a AVSampleBufferRenderSynchronizer synchronising two renderers: an AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer receiving decoded CVPixelBuffer-based video CMSampleBuffers, and an AVSampleBufferAudioRenderer receiving decoded lpcm-based audio CMSampleBuffers. The AVSampleBufferRenderSynchronizer is started when the first image (in presentation order) is decoded and enqueued, using avSynchronizer.setRate(_ rate: Float, time: CMTime), with rate = 1 and time the presentation timestamp of the first decoded image. Presentation timestamps of video and audio sample buffers are consistent, and on most streams, the audio and video are correctly synchronized. However on some network streams, on iOS, the audio and video aren't synchronized, with a time difference that seems to increase with time. On the other hand, with the same player code and network streams on macOS, the synchronization always works fine. This reminds me of something I've read, about cases where an AVSampleBufferRenderSynchronizer could not synchronize audio and video, causing them to run with independent and potentially drifting clocks, but I cannot find it again. So, any help / hints on this sync problem will be greatly appreciated! :)
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1.2k
Apr ’25
Changing playback rate of AVQueuePlayer not working for some Airplay devices.
Hi. I am working on an audio app for iOS. I have implemented UI and handling which allows the user to change playback rate of audio. When the user selects a different rate, I update the rate property on my AVQueuePlayer. This is working well on device. When I use Airplay, it works for some devices and not for others. Some devices won't change playback rate and will always play at 1x speed. Is this possibly a limitation of those 3rd-party devices? Or is there something I'm missing/should check? Would love to get playback rate changes working across all Airplay devices with our app. Kind regards.
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428
Jan ’25
Windows Apple Music: how to enumerate the local library or export it? Is Library.musicdb documented / API available?
Environment Windows 11 [edition/build]: [e.g., 23H2, 22631.x] Apple Music for Windows version: [e.g., 1.x.x from Microsoft Store] Library folder: C:\Users<user>\Music\Apple Music\Apple Music Library.musiclibrary Summary I need a supported way to programmatically enumerate the local Apple Music library on Windows (track file paths, playlists, etc.) for reconciliation with the on-disk Media folder. On macOS this used to be straightforward via scripting/export; on Windows I can’t find an equivalent. What I’m seeing in the library bundle Library.musicdb → not SQLite. First 4 bytes: 68 66 6D 61 ("hfma"). Library Preferences.musicdb → also starts with "hfma". artwork.sqlite → SQLite but appears to be artwork cache only (no track file paths). Extras.itdb → has SQLite format 3 header but (from a quick scan) not seeing track locations. Genius.itdb → not a SQLite database on this machine. What I’ve tried Attempted to open Library.musicdb with SQLite providers → error: “file is not a database.” Binary/string scans (ASCII, UTF-16LE/BE, null-stripped) of Library.musicdb → did not reveal file paths or obvious plist/XML/JSON blobs. The Windows Apple Music UI doesn’t appear to expose “Export Library / Export Playlist” like legacy iTunes did, and I can’t find a public API for local library enumeration on Windows. What I’m trying to accomplish Read local track entries (absolute or relative paths), detect broken links, and reconcile against the Media folder. A read-only solution is fine; I do not need to modify the library. Questions for Apple Is the Library.musicdb file format documented anywhere, or is there a supported SDK/API to enumerate the local library on Windows? Is there a supported export mechanism (CLI, UI, or API) on Windows Apple Music to dump the local library and/or playlists (XML/CSV/JSON)? Is there a Windows-specific equivalent to the old iTunes COM automation or any MusicKit surface that can return local library items (not streaming catalog) and their file locations? If none of the above exist today, is there a recommended workaround from Apple for library reconciliation on Windows (e.g., documented support for importing M3U/M3U8 to rebuild the local library from disk)? Are there any plans/timeline for adding Windows feature parity with iTunes/Music on macOS for exporting or scripting the local library? Why this matters For large personal libraries, users occasionally end up with orphaned files on disk or broken links in the app. Without an export or API, it’s difficult to audit and fix at scale on Windows. Reference details (in case it helps triage) Library.musicdb header bytes: 68-66-6D-61-A0-00-00-00-10-26-34-00-15-00-01-00 (ASCII shows hfma…). artwork.sqlite is readable but doesn’t contain track file paths (appears limited to artwork). I can supply a minimal repro tool and logs if that’s helpful. Feature request (if no current API) Add an official Export Library/Playlists action on Windows Apple Music, or Provide a read-only Windows API (or schema doc) that surfaces track file locations and playlist membership from the local library. Thanks in advance for any guidance or pointers to docs I might have missed.
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183
Sep ’25
issue in recording using AVAudio
Hi, In my project I am using AVFoundation for recording the audio. We are using AVAudioMixerNode class below method to record the audio packet. **func installTap( onBus bus: AVAudioNodeBus, bufferSize: AVAudioFrameCount, format: AVAudioFormat?, block tapBlock: @escaping AVAudioNodeTapBlock ) ** It works perfectly fine. But in production env some small percentage of the user we are facing issue like after recording few packets it stops automatically without stopping the audio engine. Can anyone help here that why this happens? I have also observed for mediaServicesWereResetNotification and added log on receiving this notification but when this issue happens I don't see any occurence of this log. Also is there any callback when the engine stops?
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113
Apr ’25