AVPlayer show and hide loading indicator when buffering

Question

(NOTE: I am running iOS 9 and am doing HTTP Live Streaming)

I have an AVPlayer and want to show a loading indicator while the player is buffering. When the player starts playing with a slow connection KVO gets called for these properties: isPlaybackBufferEmpty

isPlaybackLikelyToKeepUp

isPlaybackBufferFull

The problem is that these same properties do not get called again when buffering is done (when I say done I mean that the video is ok to play again.) My goal is to hide the loading indicator at the correct time but these don't get called again.

I searched online and found this radar: http://www.openradar.me/25931165 Not sure if it's 100% related

Any thoughts?

// MARK: - Key-Value Observing Method

override func observeValue(forKeyPath keyPath: String?, of object: Any?, change: [NSKeyValueChangeKey : Any]?, context: UnsafeMutableRawPointer?) {
    if keyPath == #keyPath(AVPlayerItem.status) {

        switch playerItem.status {
        case .unknown:
            break

        case .readyToPlay:
            player.play()

        case .failed:
            postPlaybackDidFailWithErrorNotification(error: error)
        }
    }
    else if keyPath == #keyPath(AVPlayer.currentItem.isPlaybackBufferEmpty) {
        guard let currentItem = player.currentItem else {
            return
        }

        if currentItem.isPlaybackBufferEmpty {
            print("isPlaybackBufferEmpty = YES")
        } else {
            print("isPlaybackBufferEmpty = NO")
        }
    }
    else if keyPath == #keyPath(AVPlayer.currentItem.isPlaybackLikelyToKeepUp) {
        guard let currentItem = player.currentItem else {
            return
        }

        if currentItem.isPlaybackLikelyToKeepUp {
            print("isPlaybackLikelyToKeepUp = YES")
            //player.play()
        } else {
            print("isPlaybackLikelyToKeepUp = NO")
        }

    }
    else if keyPath == #keyPath(AVPlayer.currentItem.isPlaybackBufferFull) {
        guard let currentItem = player.currentItem else {
            return
        }

        if currentItem.isPlaybackBufferFull {
            print("isPlaybackBufferFull = YES")
            //player.play()
        } else {
            print("isPlaybackBufferFull = NO")
        }
    }
else if keyPath == #keyPath(AVPlayer.currentItem) {
    // Cleanup if needed.
    if player.currentItem == nil {
        video = nil
        playerItem = nil
    }        
}
else if keyPath == #keyPath(AVPlayer.rate) {
    updateMetadata()
    NotificationCenter.default.post(name: AssetPlaybackManager.NotificationName.playerRateDidChangeNotification, object: nil)
}
else {
        super.observeValue(forKeyPath: keyPath, of: object, change: change, context: context)
    }
}

Answer 1

You can use timeControlStatus but it is available only above iOS 10.

According to apple's official documentation

A status that indicates whether playback is currently in progress, paused indefinitely, or suspended while waiting for appropriate network conditions

Add this observer to the player.

player.addObserver(self, forKeyPath: “timeControlStatus”, options: [.old, .new], context: nil)

Then,Observe the changes in

func observeValue(forKeyPath keyPath: String?, of object: Any?, change: [NSKeyValueChangeKey : Any]?, context: UnsafeMutableRawPointer?)

method.Use below code inside above method

override public func observeValue(forKeyPath keyPath: String?, of object: Any?, change: [NSKeyValueChangeKey : Any]?, context: UnsafeMutableRawPointer?) {
    if keyPath == "timeControlStatus", let change = change, let newValue = change[NSKeyValueChangeKey.newKey] as? Int, let oldValue = change[NSKeyValueChangeKey.oldKey] as? Int {
        let oldStatus = AVPlayer.TimeControlStatus(rawValue: oldValue)
        let newStatus = AVPlayer.TimeControlStatus(rawValue: newValue)
        if newStatus != oldStatus {
            DispatchQueue.main.async {[weak self] in
                if newStatus == .playing || newStatus == .paused {
                    self?.loaderView.isHidden = true
                } else {
                    self?.loaderView.isHidden = false
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

This is tested on iOS 11 above with swift 4 and It is working.