iOS (Official) Photos app can display some EXIF-related metadata (e.g. camera and lens info, ISO, shutter speed, F-number) even when photos are offloaded to iCloud and the device is not connected to internet (e.g. airplane mode).
However, with the Photos.framework, we need to download photos to retrive those metadata (which means it will not work with airplane mode).
I tried the following methods, but none of those worked when photos were offloaded to iCloud and the device was in airplane mode:
Requesting data with PHImageManager.default().requestImageDataAndOrientation
Result: It does not return Data if the photo is not stored locally on the device, even with options.deliveryMode = .fastFormat
Converting PHAsset#localIdentifier to an AssetsLibrary.framework URL (assets-library://asset/...)
(I am aware that AssetsLibrary.framework is deprecated, but this was just a test.)
Result: If PHImageManager does not returns Data, ALAsset#defaultRepresentation().metadata() returns an empty NSDictionary
Photos & Camera
RSS for tagExplore technical aspects of capturing high-quality photos and videos, including exposure control, focus modes, and RAW capture options.
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I am experiencing a bug when using a AVCapturePhotoBracketSettings object to capture a bracketed photo sequence on iPhone 16 Pro.
Specifically, when I pass in an array of exposure values: [-x, 0, +x], where x >= 3.
Specifically, the high exposure photo capture returns a black image.
STEPS TO REPRODUCE
Run the sample app I have provided on an iPhone 16 Pro
Notice that bracketed images captured where the eV is set to [-3,0,+3], [-4,0,+4], or [-5,0,+5] return a black image for the high exposure photo.
Notice that on other iOS devices (like iPhone 13 Pro), the high exposure photo is returned as high brightness as expected.
I have also added two folders in the sample project that show screenshots of the bug: iPhone13Pro & iPhone16Pro
Sample Project:
https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/090O_68Z0Nh2UOxmPRwu56Tmw#Focused16ProBracketedCaptureBug
I created a locked camera capture extension as explained in Apple's documentation.
I'm trying to explore the possibilities of using a bluetooth peripheral from that extension - anybody knows if this is possible?
The CBCentralManagerDelegate reports .unsupported in func centralManagerDidUpdateState, even if I have provided all the permissions in Info.plist.
Hello,
I have a problem reading a 2D data matrix type code with a camera. In the application, I use AVFoundation to operate the camera and work with 2D codes, and in the vast majority there is no problem with loading. Nothing special.
I originally thought it might be a problem in my code, but I got the same result when I tried with the Camera app integrated in IOS. It can be seen that only the LiveText API for text recognition worked.
But I am attaching the code with which the camera has a problem, even though the code looks perfectly fine at first glance. A classic handheld 2D code reader will read the code just fine.
Can someone please explain to me why the camera, which normally reads these codes at the speed of light, sometimes has a problem with the codes?
Thank you
[Personal Information Edited by Moderator]
My Camera app is repeatedly opening even though I am not taking any action to open it when I use iPhone. Today during a FaceTime call, the Camera app opened while the phone was unlocked without me touching anything. It didn’t end the FaceTime call, but just put the video on pause for the person I was speaking with. I force closed the Camera app, then it happened again a few minutes later.
This has happened while using Google Maps and other apps as well, while the phone is unlocked.
This is also happening while the phone is locked, just sitting on a table. All the sudden I look over and the screen is active showing the camera view.
Today this has happened at least 20 times. I need to know how to stop it.
I am on iOS 18.1 and enrolled in iOS 18 Public Beta. There are no pending software updates.
To get calibration data during video recording, I use AVCaptureDepthDataOutput together with AVCaptureVideoDataOutput, synchronized via AVCaptureDataOutputSynchronizer (using the dataOutputSynchronizer method of CameraController in the example).
The issue is that AVCaptureDepthDataOutput can only be used with .builtInLiDARDepthCamera, meaning it isn’t available for devices without LiDAR.
Is it possible to obtain calibration data during video recording on devices without LiDAR, such as with .builtInWideAngleCamera?
Can lensDistortionLookupTable and lensDistortionCenter be used to undistort the sampleBuffer I receive from AVCaptureVideoDataOutput?
I extracted the gain map info from an image using
let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "IMG_1181", withExtension: "HEIC")
let source = CGImageSourceCreateWithURL(url! as CFURL, nil)
let portraitData = CGImageSourceCopyAuxiliaryDataInfoAtIndex(source!, 0, kCGImageAuxiliaryDataTypeHDRGainMap) as! [AnyHashable : Any]
let metaData = portraitData[kCGImageAuxiliaryDataInfoMetadata] as! CGImageMetadata
Then I printed all the metadata tags
func printMetadataProperties(from metadata: CGImageMetadata) {
guard let tags = CGImageMetadataCopyTags(metadata) as? [CGImageMetadataTag] else {
return
}
for tag in tags {
if let prefix = CGImageMetadataTagCopyPrefix(tag) as String?,
let namespace = CGImageMetadataTagCopyNamespace(tag) as String?,
let key = CGImageMetadataTagCopyName(tag) as String?,
let value = CGImageMetadataTagCopyValue(tag){
print("Namespace: \(namespace), Key: \(key), Prefix: \(prefix), value: \(value)")
} else {
}
}
}
//Namespace: http://ns.apple.com/ImageIO/1.0/, Key: hasXMP, Prefix: iio, value: True
//Namespace: http://ns.apple.com/HDRGainMap/1.0/, Key: HDRGainMapVersion, Prefix: HDRGainMap, value: 131072
//Namespace: http://ns.apple.com/HDRGainMap/1.0/, Key: HDRGainMapHeadroom, Prefix: HDRGainMap, value: 3.586325
I want to create a new CGImageMetadata and tags.
But when it comes to the HDR tags. It always fails to add to metadata.
let tag = CGImageMetadataTagCreate(
"http://ns.apple.com/HDRGainMap/1.0/" as CFString,
"HDRGainMap" as CFString,
"HDRGainMapHeadroom" as CFString,
.default,
3.56 as CFNumber
)
let path = "\(HDRGainMap):\(HDRGainMapHeadroom)" as CFString
let success = CGImageMetadataSetTagWithPath(metadata, nil, path, tag)// always false
The hasXMP works fine.
Is HDR a private dict for Apple?
I have an app that allows you to edit your photos. To preserve HDR, I edit both the SDR image and gain map image, like so:
let sdrImage = CIImage(data: data, options: [.applyOrientationProperty: true])
let gainMapImage = CIImage(data: data, options: [.applyOrientationProperty: true, .auxiliaryHDRGainMap: true])
// edit them...
try CIContext().writeHEIFRepresentation(of: sdrImage, to: url, format: .RGBA8, colorSpace: colorSpace, options: [.hdrGainMapImage: gainMapImage])
I also support editing the still photo in Live Photos. To do this you create a PHLivePhotoEditingContext, set the frameProcessor block which gives you a CIImage that I edit when the frame.type is .photo, then you create a PHContentEditingOutput and call saveLivePhoto. I’m not seeing any way to preserve HDR here. Interestingly the frame processor is called twice with .photo frame.type, but I don’t see any difference between these images. How can I edit a gain map image to preserve HDR in the still photo of a Live Photo?
I've requested the authentication in my main app.
PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization(for: .readWrite) { status in }
Add the privacy description in both the main app and the extension.
But No matter the device is locked or unlocked. When I call
let fetchResult = PHAsset.fetchAssets(with: .image, options: nil)
let count = fetchResult.count
the count is always zero, even after a new photo is saved to the album in the same session.
I have an app that edits photos in your library. When I call
try CIContext().writeHEIFRepresentation(of: editedImage, to: fileURL, format: .RGBA8, colorSpace: originalImage.colorSpace!)
The following is logged to the console:
writeImageAtIndex:1012: ⭕️ ERROR: 'App' is trying to save an opaque image (5712x4284) with 'AlphaLast'. This would unnecessarily increase the file size and will double (!!!) the required memory when decoding the image --> ignoring alpha.
What does that mean and how can I resolve it?
Xcode Version 16.0 (16A242d)
iOS 18.1 (22B82)
See Configuration Details at the end of this message.
Despite numerous attempts, I have been unable to determine the correct syntax to fetch photo albums from my iPad Pro 13.0 using Xcode and Swift.
All the photo album were synced to the iPad Pro 13-inch using the latest versions of Apple iTunes for Windows from an external Western Digital G-Drive hard drive (No iCloud). All synced albums appear under "From My Mac" on the iPad. I only want to access each album's photo and video count.
See sample code snippet below. I have tried multiple subtype options and album types without success. Zero albums are always returned despite having around 3900 albums in the iPad Pro 13.0 photo library. Authorization to the photo library does not appear to be the problem.
PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization { status in
if status == .authorized {
let result = PHAssetCollection.fetchAssetCollections(with: .album, subtype: .any, options: nil)
if result.count == 0 {
print("No albums found.")
return
}
}
}
Any help or suggestions would greatly be appreciated.
ApplePhoto
Configuration Details
iPad Pro 13-inch (M4) (iPad16,6)
iPadOS = 17.7
iCloud = Turned Off
iPad Pro Photo Library Albums = 3900
iPad Pro Photo Library Photos = 118000
iPad Pro Photo Library Videos = 4800
MacOS = Sonoma 14.6.1
XCode Version = 16.0
Swift Version = 5.0 (Xcode Default)
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Version = 22H2
Apple iTunes for Windows = 12.13.4.4
Set 3 controls to the AVCaptureSession and remove them all. The number of controls in the session is indeed 0, but the camera controls button still shows the previous 3 controls. If it is only 3->2 or 3->1, it can be modified normally, 3->0 is not OK, 0->3 is OK.
f (self.captureControl.zoom) {
if (self.zoomScaleControl) {
self.zoomScaleControl.enabled = false;
[_session removeControl:self.zoomScaleControl];
}
AVCaptureSlider *zoomSlider = [self.captureControl.zoom fetchCaptureSlider];
[zoomSlider setActionQueue:dispatch_get_main_queue() action:^(float zoomFactor) {
@strongify(self);
if ([self.dataOutputDelegate respondsToSelector:@selector(videoCaptureSession:tryChangeZoomScale:)]) {
[self.dataOutputDelegate videoCaptureSession:self tryChangeZoomScale:zoomFactor];
}
}];
self.zoomScaleControl = zoomSlider;
} else {
if (self.zoomScaleControl) {
self.zoomScaleControl.enabled = false;
[_session removeControl:self.zoomScaleControl];
}
self.zoomScaleControl = nil;
}
if (self.captureControl.exposure) {
if (self.exposureBiasControl) {
self.exposureBiasControl.enabled = false;
[_session removeControl:self.exposureBiasControl];
}
AVCaptureSlider *exposureSlider = [self.captureControl.exposure fetchCaptureSlider];
[exposureSlider setActionQueue:dispatch_get_main_queue() action:^(float bias) {
@strongify(self);
if ([self.dataOutputDelegate respondsToSelector:@selector(videoCaptureSession:tryChangeExposureBias:)]) {
[self.dataOutputDelegate videoCaptureSession:self tryChangeExposureBias:bias];
}
}];
self.exposureBiasControl = exposureSlider;
} else {
if (self.exposureBiasControl) {
self.exposureBiasControl.enabled = false;
[_session removeControl:self.exposureBiasControl];
}
self.exposureBiasControl = nil;
}
if (self.captureControl.len) {
if (self.lenControl) {
self.lenControl.enabled = false;
[_session removeControl:self.lenControl];
}
ORLenCaptureControlCustomModel *len = self.captureControl.len;
AVCaptureIndexPicker *picker = [len fetchCaptureSlider];
[picker setActionQueue:dispatch_get_main_queue() action:^(NSInteger selectedIndex) {
@strongify(self);
if ([self.dataOutputDelegate respondsToSelector:@selector(videoCaptureSession:didChangeLenIndex:datas:)]) {
[self.dataOutputDelegate videoCaptureSession:self didChangeLenIndex:selectedIndex datas:self.captureControl.len.indexDatas];
}
}];
self.lenControl = picker;
} else {
if (self.lenControl) {
self.lenControl.enabled = false;
[_session removeControl:self.lenControl];
}
self.lenControl = nil;
}
if ([_session canAddControl:self.zoomScaleControl]) {
[_session addControl:self.zoomScaleControl];
} else {
self.zoomScaleControl = nil;
}
if ([_session canAddControl:self.lenControl]) {
[_session addControl:self.lenControl];
} else {
self.lenControl = nil;
}
if ([_session canAddControl:self.exposureBiasControl]) {
[_session addControl:self.exposureBiasControl];
} else {
self.exposureBiasControl = nil;
}
if (_session.controlsDelegate == nil) {
[_session setControlsDelegate:self queue:GetCaptureControlQueue()];
}
We are currently in the process of migrating our application from using ALAssetsLibrary to PHPhotoLibrary to ensure compatibility with the latest versions of iOS. However, we have noticed a discrepancy in the file sizes of images obtained using PHPhotoLibrary compared to those obtained using ALAssetsLibrary.
Specifically, we would like to understand the following points:
1.Reason for File Size Differences:
What are the reasons for the difference in file sizes between images obtained using ALAssetsLibrary and those obtained using PHPhotoLibrary?
Could you provide detailed information on the settings and options in PHPhotoLibrary that affect the size and quality of the images?
2.Optimal Settings:
What are the optimal settings in PHPhotoLibrary to obtain images with the same quality and file size as those obtained using ALAssetsLibrary?
If possible, could you provide code examples or recommended option settings?
I am using PHImageRequestOptions and PHImageManager to load images to my app.
I use version.original and resizeMode.none, version.original and resizeMode.extract.
Both used to work well but since iOS18 version.original and resizeMode.extract doesn't work anymore.
The images are loaded but the they are not shown. (Only the frames?)
Anyone knows why?
Thank you for reading.
I have noticed a problem when a PHAsset creation request is made with the resource type PHAssetResourceType.photoProxy.
let creationRequest = PHAssetCreationRequest.forAsset()
creationRequest.addResource(with: .photoProxy, data: photoData, options: nil)
creationRequest.location = location
creationRequest.isFavorite = true
After successfully saving the resulting asset through PHPhotoLibrary.shared().performChanges, I could verify it in the Photos app.
I noticed that the created photo was initially marked as Favorite and that the location was added to the info as expected. The title of the image changes from "Today" to "" too.
Next, the photo was refreshed, and location data was purged. However, the title remains unchanged and displays the .
This refresh was also observed in the code. PHPhotoLibraryChangeObserver protocols func photoLibraryDidChange(_ changeInstance: PHChange) receives a change notification. The same asset has been changed, and there is no location information anymore. isFavorite information persists correctly.
After debugging for a few hours, I discovered that changing the resource type to .photo fixes this issue. Location data is not removed in the Photos app, and no refresh callback is seen in func photoLibraryDidChange(_ changeInstance: PHChange).
I initially used .photoProxy because in the AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate implementation class, I always get the call in func photoOutput(_ output: AVCapturePhotoOutput, didFinishCapturingDeferredPhotoProxy deferredPhotoProxy: AVCaptureDeferredPhotoProxy?, error: Error?). So here is where I am capturing the photo data as photoData = deferredPhotoProxy?.fileDataRepresentation().
Hi Apple Engineer,
My App is using ImageCapture Framwork to connect DSLR Camera, Before iOS 18 this method is effective,but When I upgraded my iPhone and iPad, found my app can`t connect DSLR Camera, open Setting -> Privacy & Security -> Files and Folders permission, can‘t found my app, I swear it worked before iOS 18.
I find other developers have the same problem.
https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/756960 .
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/765768.
I also found a process for reproducing this problem in ios 18,
Do reset all settings.
Can you help me with this problem? Or tell me how to use the API properly.Look forward to your reply. Thank you very much.
We have a new photo sharing app (https://photodare.ca).
We've had no issues with photos loading in North America and Caribbean, but so far 2 users (Germany, Netherlands) are saying they can't load photos even though they've proven they have permissions for photos enabled.
I can't reproduce this in Canada.
Anyone know about other permissions we need to setup for european countries, or is anyone in GDPR countries willing to try this for us?
They were on 17.6.1.
Thanks either way
I feel that IOS18 camera filters are over complicated and generate lower level results than iOS18 filters. I am really missing the Vivid filter.
It was perfect on ios17.
Task {
for await update in LockedCameraCaptureManager.shared.sessionContentUpdates {
switch update {
case .initial(let urls):
print("frank: init \(urls)")
await MainActor.run {
let label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 100, y: 100, width: 100, height: 30))
label.text = "frank test"
label.textColor = .black
UIViewController.getTop().view.addSubview(label)
}
case .added(let url):
print("frank: add \(url)")
case .removed(let url):
print("frank: removed \(url)")
default:
break
}
}
}
why 'case .initial(let urls)': never never be executed? Can some one provide a sample code?
I am a developer working on iOS apps.
In the demo, I planned to replace the local images with Heic format instead of PNG format, but the actual test results showed abnormalities on this device, while the other test devices displayed normally
Heic images are converted by the built-in image conversion function on Mac. I tested multiple Heic images, but none of them were displayed and the image information returned nil,,but PNG images can be displayed normally.
device information: