I'm developing a video capture app using AVFoundation, designed specifically for use on a boat pylon to record slalom water skiing. This setup involves considerable vibration.
As you may know, the OIS that Apple began adding to lenses since the iPhone 7 is actually very problematic in high vibration circumstances, ironically creating very shaky video, whereas lenses without OIS produce perfectly stable video. Because of this, up until iPhone 14, the solution for my app was simply to use the Selfie lens, which did not have OIS.
Starting with iPhone 14 through iPhone 16 (non-Pro models), technical specs suggest the selfie lens still does not include OIS. However, I’m still seeing the same kind of shaky video behavior I see on OIS-equipped lenses. The one hardware change I see in this camera module is the addition of PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus), so that is my best guess as to what is causing the unstable video.
1- Does that make any sense - that in high vibration settings, PDAF could create unstable video in the same way that OIS does? Or could it be something else that was changed between the iPhone 13 and 14 Selfie lens?
Thinking that the issue was PDAF, I figured that if I enabled my app to set a Manual Focus level, that ought to circumvent PDAF (expecting that if a lens is manually focusing, it can’t also be autofocusing via PDAF).
However, even with manual focus locked via AVCaptureDevice in my app, on the Selfie lens of an iPhone 16, the video still comes out very shaky, basically unusable. I also tested with the built-in Apple Camera app (using the press-and-hold to lock focus and exposure) and another 3rd party camera app to lock focus, all with the same results, so it's not that my app just isn't correctly doing manual focus.
So I'm stuck with these questions:
2- Does the selfie camera on iPhones 14–16 use PDAF even when focus is set to locked/manual mode?
3- Is there any way in AVFoundation to disable or suppress PDAF during video recording (e.g., a flag, device format setting, or private API)?
4- Is PDAF behavior or suppression documented or controllable via AVCaptureDevice or any related class?
5- If no control of PDAF is available, are there any best practices for stabilizing or smoothing this effect programmatically?
Note that I also have set my app to use the most aggressive form of stabilization available, so it defaults to .cinematicExtendedEnhanced, if that’s not available, then .cinematicExtended, etc. On the 16 Selfie lens, it is using .cinematicExtended. As an additional question:
6- Would those be the most appropriate stabilization settings for a high vibration environment, and if not, what would be best?
Photos & Camera
RSS for tagExplore technical aspects of capturing high-quality photos and videos, including exposure control, focus modes, and RAW capture options.
Selecting any option will automatically load the page
Post
Replies
Boosts
Views
Created
Hi,
I’m building a PPG-based heart rate feature where the user places their finger over the rear telephoto camera. On iPhone 16 Pro Max, I'm explicitly selecting the telephoto lens like this:
videoDevice = AVCaptureDevice.default(.builtInTelephotoCamera, for: .video, position: .back)
And trying to lock it:
if #available(iOS 15.0, *),
device.activePrimaryConstituentDeviceSwitchingBehavior != .unsupported {
try? device.lockForConfiguration()
device.setPrimaryConstituentDeviceSwitchingBehavior(.locked, restrictedSwitchingBehaviorConditions: [])
device.unlockForConfiguration()
}
I also lock everything else to prevent dynamic changes:
try device.lockForConfiguration()
device.focusMode = .locked
device.exposureMode = .locked
device.whiteBalanceMode = .locked
device.videoZoomFactor = 1.0
device.automaticallyEnablesLowLightBoostWhenAvailable = false
device.automaticallyAdjustsVideoHDREnabled = false
device.unlockForConfiguration()
Despite this, the camera still switches to another lens, especially under different lighting, even though the user’s finger fully covers the lens.
Questions:
How can I completely prevent lens switching in this scenario?
Would using videoZoomFactor = 3.0 or 5.0 better enforce use of the telephoto lens?
Thanks!
Gal
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
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
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?
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
i have a wallpaper app , i need a photos access when i try to add it in capabilities i don't find it.is there any solution?
Hi,
I'm developing a SwiftUI app using RealityKit and ARKit for an AR measuring feature. I’ve noticed that after navigating away from my AR view and performing extensive cleanup (including removing all anchors/entities, pausing the ARSession, and nil-ing out all references), memory usage remains elevated and sometimes grows with repeated AR sessions.
Each time I enter and exit the AR view, memory increases
The memory does not return to the baseline after cleanup, even though all custom objects are deallocated.
Are there best practices beyond what I’ve described to ensure all ARKit/RealityKit resources are released after an AR session?
Can i use iokit usb lib to disable build-in camera?
iOS 26 added smoothness to CIRoundedRectangleGenerator, for use with CIFilter.roundedRectangleGenerator. What should the smoothness value be to achieve the same corner curve as CALayerCornerCurve.continuous? Does it need to be calculated based on the extent size, if so, how?
Some users have reported an error editing portrait photo assets in my app:
The operation couldn’t be completed. (CINonLocalizedDescriptionKey error 3.)
What is that error? Will affected photos always encounter this error (due to data corruption for example) or can it be resolved in a future iOS update?
FB16241301
The documentation for PHAssetChangeRequest.revertAssetContentToOriginal says it will fail if the original asset content is not on the current device so you should use PHAssetResourceManager to download it first, but this no longer seems to be the case in the latest iOS versions because an error no longer occurs when I take a photo on my iPhone, edit it, open Photos on my iPad and let it sync, then open my app on iPad and call revertAssetContentToOriginal for that asset. Does the system now take care of downloading the original when needed?
When I use IOKit/usb/IOUSBLib to toggle build-in camera, I got an ERROR:ret IOReturn -536870210
How can I resolve it? Can I use IOUSBLib to disable or hide build-in camera?
My environment:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
ProductVersion: 15.5
Model Identifier: MacBookPro15,2
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
// 禁用/启用USB设备
bool toggleUSBDevice(uint16_t vendorID, uint16_t productID, bool enable) {
std::cout << (enable ? "Enabling" : "Disabling") << " USB device with VID: 0x"
<< std::hex << vendorID << ", PID: 0x" << productID << std::endl;
// 创建匹配字典查找指定VID/PID的USB设备
CFMutableDictionaryRef matchingDict = IOServiceMatching(kIOUSBDeviceClassName);
if (!matchingDict) {
std::cerr << "Failed to create USB device matching dictionary." << std::endl;
return false;
}
// 设置VID/PID匹配条件
CFNumberRef vendorIDRef = CFNumberCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault, kCFNumberSInt16Type, &vendorID);
CFNumberRef productIDRef = CFNumberCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault, kCFNumberSInt16Type, &productID);
CFDictionarySetValue(matchingDict, CFSTR(kUSBVendorID), vendorIDRef);
CFDictionarySetValue(matchingDict, CFSTR(kUSBProductID), productIDRef);
CFRelease(vendorIDRef);
CFRelease(productIDRef);
// 获取匹配的设备迭代器
io_iterator_t deviceIterator;
if (IOServiceGetMatchingServices(kIOMainPortDefault, matchingDict, &deviceIterator) != KERN_SUCCESS) {
std::cerr << "Failed to get USB device iterator." << std::endl;
CFRelease(matchingDict);
return false;
}
io_service_t usbDevice;
bool result = false;
int deviceCount = 0;
// 遍历所有匹配的设备
while ((usbDevice = IOIteratorNext(deviceIterator)) != IO_OBJECT_NULL) {
deviceCount++;
// 获取设备路径
char path[1024];
if (IORegistryEntryGetPath(usbDevice, kIOServicePlane, path) == KERN_SUCCESS) {
std::cout << "Found device at path: " << path << std::endl;
}
// 打开设备
IOCFPlugInInterface** plugInInterface = NULL;
IOUSBDeviceInterface** deviceInterface = NULL;
SInt32 score;
IOReturn ret = IOCreatePlugInInterfaceForService(
usbDevice,
kIOUSBDeviceUserClientTypeID,
kIOCFPlugInInterfaceID,
&plugInInterface,
&score);
if (ret == kIOReturnSuccess && plugInInterface) {
ret = (*plugInInterface)->QueryInterface(plugInInterface,
CFUUIDGetUUIDBytes(kIOUSBDeviceInterfaceID),
(LPVOID*)&deviceInterface);
(*plugInInterface)->Release(plugInInterface);
}
if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) {
std::cerr << "Failed to open USB device interface. Error:" << ret << std::endl;
IOObjectRelease(usbDevice);
continue;
}
// 禁用/启用设备
if (enable) {
// 启用设备 - 重新配置设备
ret = (*deviceInterface)->USBDeviceReEnumerate(deviceInterface, 0);
if (ret == kIOReturnSuccess) {
std::cout << "Device enabled successfully." << std::endl;
result = true;
} else {
std::cerr << "Failed to enable device. Error: " << ret << std::endl;
}
} else {
// 禁用设备 - 断开设备连接
ret = (*deviceInterface)->USBDeviceClose(deviceInterface);
if (ret == kIOReturnSuccess) {
std::cout << "Device disabled successfully." << std::endl;
result = true;
} else {
std::cerr << "Failed to disable device. Error: " << ret << std::endl;
}
}
// 关闭设备接口
(*deviceInterface)->Release(deviceInterface);
IOObjectRelease(usbDevice);
}
IOObjectRelease(deviceIterator);
if (deviceCount == 0) {
std::cerr << "No device found with specified VID/PID." << std::endl;
return false;
}
return result;
}
According to the doc, I did a simple demo to verify.
My env:
ProductName: macOS
ProductVersion: 15.5
BuildVersion: 24F74
2.4 GHz 四核Intel Core i5
Info.plist:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>IOKitPersonalities</key>
<dict>
<key>UVCamera</key>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleIdentifierKernel</key>
<string>com.apple.kpi.iokit</string>
<key>IOClass</key>
<string>IOUserService</string>
<key>IOMatchCategory</key>
<string>$(PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER)</string>
<key>IOProviderClass</key>
<string>IOUserResources</string>
<key>IOResourceMatch</key>
<string>IOKit</string>
<key>IOUserClass</key>
<string>UVCamera</string>
<key>IOUserServerName</key>
<string>$(PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER)</string>
<key>IOProbeScore</key>
<integer>100000</integer>
<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>1452</integer>
<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>34068</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>OSBundleUsageDescription</key>
<string></string>
</dict>
</plist>
UVCamera.cpp
//
// UVCamera.cpp
// UVCamera
//
// Created by DTEN on 2025/6/12.
//
#include <os/log.h>
#include <DriverKit/IOUserServer.h>
#include <DriverKit/IOLib.h>
#include "UVCamera.h"
kern_return_t
IMPL(UVCamera, Start)
{
kern_return_t ret;
ret = Start(provider, SUPERDISPATCH);
os_log(OS_LOG_DEFAULT, "Hello World");
return ret;
}
UVCamera.iig
//
// UVCamera.iig
// UVCamera
//
// Created by DTEN on 2025/6/12.
//
#ifndef UVCamera_h
#define UVCamera_h
#include <Availability.h>
#include <DriverKit/IOService.iig>
class UVCamera: public IOService
{
public:
virtual kern_return_t
Start(IOService * provider) override;
};
#endif /* UVCamera_h */
Then I build by xcode and mv it to /Library/DriverExtensions:
sudo mv com.lqs.MyVirtualCam.UVCamera.dext /Library/DriverExtensions
sudo kmutil install -R / -r /Library/DriverExtensions
kmutil rebuild done
However,the dext can't be loaded:
kmutil showloaded --list-only | grep UVCamera
No variant specified, falling back to release
What's the problem? anyone can help me?
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?
We are facing a strange issue where a small portion of our large userbase can not start the capture session in our app, as it gets interrupted with the following reason:
AVCaptureSessionInterruptionReasonVideoDeviceNotAvailableWithMultipleForegroundApps
Our users are all from iPhones, no one is using an iPad. Just to be sure we have set
session.isMultitaskingCameraAccessEnabled = true
but it does not seem to make any difference.
Another weird scenario we are seeing on an even smaller number of users is that the following call:
AVCaptureDevice.default(.builtInWideAngleCamera, for: .video, position: .back)
returns nil. A quick look at our error reports show this happening on iPhone XR, 13 and 14 models. They should all support this device type.
Any help on investigating these issue would be greatly appreciated!
We are facing a strange issue where a small portion of our large userbase can not start the capture session in our app, as it gets interrupted with the following reason:
AVCaptureSessionInterruptionReasonVideoDeviceNotAvailableWithMultipleForegroundApps
Our users are all from iPhones, no one is using an iPad. Just to be sure we have set
session.isMultitaskingCameraAccessEnabled = true
but it does not seem to make any difference.
Another weird interruption we are seeing
Hey,
Quick question. I noticed that Adobe's new app, Project Indigo, allows you to open the app using the Camera Control button. However, when your device is locked it just shows this screen:
Would this normally be approved by the Appstore approval process? I ask because I would like to do something similar with my camera app.
I know that this is not the best user experience, but my apps UI is not built in Swift and I don't have the resources to build the UI again. At least this way the user experience would be improved from what it is now, where users cannot even launch the app. I get many requests per week about this feature and would love to improve the UX for my users, even if it's not the best possible.
Thanks,
Alex
Hi, I’ve developed a photo app that includes a photo deletion feature.
Some users have reported encountering PHPhotosError.operationInterrupted (3301) when attempting to delete photos.
Initially, I suspected that some of the assets might have a sourceType of typeiTunesSynced, since the documentation notes that iTunes-synced assets cannot be edited or deleted.
However, after checking the logs, all of the assets involved are of typeUserLibrary.
Additionally, the user mentioned that some photos in the iPhone Photos do not show a delete button.
I’m unsure whether the absence of the delete button is related to the 3301 error.
I’d like to confirm the following:
Under what conditions does PHPhotosError.operationInterrupted (3301) occur, and how should it be handled?
Why do some photos in the iPhone Photos not show a delete button?
The code for deleting photos is as follows:
PHPhotoLibrary *library = [PHPhotoLibrary sharedPhotoLibrary];
[library performChanges:^{
PHFetchResult *assetsToBeDeleted = [PHAsset fetchAssetsWithLocalIdentifiers:delUrls options:nil];
if (assetsToBeDeleted) {
[PHAssetChangeRequest deleteAssets:assetsToBeDeleted];
}
} completionHandler:^(BOOL success, NSError *error) {
Hi, I'm developing an application for macos and ios that has to run DetectHumanBodyPose3DRequest model in real time for retrieving the 3d skeleton from the camera.
I'm experiencing a memory leak every time the model is used (when i comment that line, the memory stays constant). After a minute it uses about 1GB of ram running with mac catalyst.
I attached a minimal project that has this problem
Code
Camera View
import SwiftUI
import Combine
import Vision
struct CameraView: View {
@StateObject private var viewModel = CameraViewModel()
var body: some View {
HStack {
ZStack {
GeometryReader { geometry in
if let image = viewModel.currentFrame {
Image(decorative: image, scale: 1)
.resizable()
.scaledToFill()
.frame(width: geometry.size.width,
height: geometry.size.height)
.clipped()
} else {
ProgressView()
}
}
}
}
}
}
class CameraViewModel: ObservableObject {
@Published var currentFrame: CGImage?
@Published var frameRate: Double = 0
@Published var currentVisionBodyPose: HumanBodyPose3DObservation? // Store current body pose
@Published var currentImageSize: CGSize? // Store current image size
private var cameraManager: CameraManager?
private var humanBodyPose = HumanBodyPose3DDetector()
private var lastClassificationTime = Date()
private var frameCount = 0
private var lastFrameTime = Date()
private let classificationThrottleInterval: TimeInterval = 1.0
private var lastPoseSendTime: Date = .distantPast
init() {
cameraManager = CameraManager()
startPreview()
startClassification()
}
private func startPreview() {
Task {
guard let previewStream = cameraManager?.previewStream else { return }
for await frame in previewStream {
let size = CGSize(width: frame.width, height: frame.height)
Task { @MainActor in
self.currentFrame = frame
self.currentImageSize = size
self.updateFrameRate()
}
}
}
}
private func startClassification() {
Task {
guard let classificationStream = cameraManager?.classificationStream else { return }
for await pixelBuffer in classificationStream {
self.classifyFrame(pixelBuffer: pixelBuffer)
}
}
}
private func classifyFrame(pixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer) {
humanBodyPose.runHumanBodyPose3DRequestOnImage(pixelBuffer: pixelBuffer) { [weak self] observation in
guard let self = self else { return }
DispatchQueue.main.async {
if let observation = observation {
self.currentVisionBodyPose = observation
print(observation)
} else {
self.currentVisionBodyPose = nil
}
}
}
}
private func updateFrameRate() {
frameCount += 1
let now = Date()
let elapsed = now.timeIntervalSince(lastFrameTime)
if elapsed >= 1.0 {
frameRate = Double(frameCount) / elapsed
frameCount = 0
lastFrameTime = now
}
}
}
HumanBodyPose3DDetector
import Foundation
import Vision
class HumanBodyPose3DDetector: NSObject, ObservableObject {
@Published var humanObservation: HumanBodyPose3DObservation? = nil
private let queue = DispatchQueue(label: "humanbodypose.queue")
private let request = DetectHumanBodyPose3DRequest()
private struct SendablePixelBuffer: @unchecked Sendable {
let buffer: CVPixelBuffer
}
public func runHumanBodyPose3DRequestOnImage(pixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer, completion: @escaping (HumanBodyPose3DObservation?) -> Void) {
let sendableBuffer = SendablePixelBuffer(buffer: pixelBuffer)
queue.async { [weak self] in
Task { [weak self, sendableBuffer] in
do {
guard let self = self else { return }
let result = try await self.request.perform(on: sendableBuffer.buffer)
//process result
DispatchQueue.main.async {
if result.isEmpty {
completion(nil)
} else {
completion(result[0])
}
}
} catch {
DispatchQueue.main.async {
completion(nil)
}
}
}
}
}
}
Issue:
In iOS 26 (tested on Developer Beta), AVCaptureMetadataOutputObjectsDelegate no longer receives callbacks when using .face detection.
metadataOutput.metadataObjectTypes = [.face]
I'm creating an app that uses AVCaptureSession to pass camera input to AVCaptureMetadataOutput type set [metaout setMetadataObjectTypes:@[AVMetadataObjectTypeFace]] and scan Face.
After updating to OS 26 Beta2 and iOS 26 Beta2, an issue has occurred where the delegate method of AVCaptureMetadataOutputObjectsDelegate is not called on some devices. The following devices are experiencing this issue.
iPad (9th Gen)
iPad air (4th Gen)
iPhone 15
This issue has not occur on any other devices I have.
I tried running the AVFoundation sample code on the Apple Developer site on the above device. The same problem still occurs. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/capture_setup/avcambarcode_detecting_barcodes_and_faces
Are any additional settings required after OS 26 beta and iOS 26 beta? Or is there some problem on the OS side?