iOS 8.4 AVFoundation _attachToPlayer or _attachToFigPlayer crash | An AVPlayerItem cannot be associated with more than one instance of AVPlayer

Question

I've just got a message form crashlytics that my app stability went to hell! basically this is the crash that exploded with the last update in iOS (8.4), and it was non-existent in previous versions.

Do you have any idea what is _attachToFigPlayer or what may be happening that is causing this? Its happening in two apps one in Obj-c and another in Swift.

Thank you all!

Raw crash: (_attachToFigPlayer)

Thread : Fatal Exception: NSInvalidArgumentException
0  CoreFoundation                 0x22adafef __exceptionPreprocess
1  libobjc.A.dylib                0x3141ec8b objc_exception_throw
2  AVFoundation                   0x21575b37 -[AVPlayerItem _attachToPlayer:]
3  AVFoundation                   0x2156a131 -[AVPlayer _attachItem:andPerformOperation:withObject:]
4  AVFoundation                   0x21569347 -[AVPlayer _insertItem:afterItem:]
5  AVFoundation                   0x2158744d -[AVQueuePlayer insertItem:afterItem:]
6  MediaPlayer                    0x24468c7f -[MPQueuePlayer insertItem:afterItem:]
7  MediaPlayer                    0x243e878b -[MPAVQueueCoordinator _syncPlayerItems]
8  MediaPlayer                    0x243e8297 -[MPAVQueueCoordinator _syncItems]
9  MediaPlayer                    0x243e97e5 __60-[MPAVQueueCoordinator _updateQueueDepthWithPausedDuration:]_block_invoke
10 libdispatch.dylib              0x319af2e3 _dispatch_call_block_and_release
11 libdispatch.dylib              0x319af2cf _dispatch_client_callout
12 libdispatch.dylib              0x319b2d2f _dispatch_main_queue_callback_4CF
13 CoreFoundation                 0x22aa0609 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_SERVICING_THE_MAIN_DISPATCH_QUEUE__
14 CoreFoundation                 0x22a9ed09 __CFRunLoopRun
15 CoreFoundation                 0x229eb201 CFRunLoopRunSpecific
16 CoreFoundation                 0x229eb013 CFRunLoopRunInMode
17 GraphicsServices               0x2a4bc201 GSEventRunModal
18 UIKit                          0x261b7a09 UIApplicationMain
19 MYAPP                          0x000d98b3 main (main.m:32)
20 libdyld.dylib                  0x319d0aaf start

Raw crash: (_attachToFigPlayer)

  Thread : Fatal Exception: NSInvalidArgumentException
    0  CoreFoundation                 0x0000000182e602d8 __exceptionPreprocess
    1  libobjc.A.dylib                0x0000000194ad40e4 objc_exception_throw
    2  AVFoundation                   0x0000000181634b50 -[AVPlayerItem _attachToFigPlayer]
    3  AVFoundation                   0x0000000181627770 -[AVPlayer _attachItem:andPerformOperation:withObject:]
    4  AVFoundation                   0x0000000181648f00 -[AVQueuePlayer insertItem:afterItem:]
    5  MediaPlayer                    0x0000000185251d30 -[MPQueuePlayer insertItem:afterItem:]
    6  MediaPlayer                    0x00000001851bde7c -[MPAVQueueCoordinator _syncPlayerItems]
    7  MediaPlayer                    0x00000001851bd8a4 -[MPAVQueueCoordinator _syncItems]
    8  MediaPlayer                    0x00000001851bf2fc __60-[MPAVQueueCoordinator _updateQueueDepthWithPausedDuration:]_block_invoke
    9  libdispatch.dylib              0x0000000195151994 _dispatch_call_block_and_release
    10 libdispatch.dylib              0x0000000195151954 _dispatch_client_callout
    11 libdispatch.dylib              0x000000019515620c _dispatch_main_queue_callback_4CF
    12 CoreFoundation                 0x0000000182e177f8 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_SERVICING_THE_MAIN_DISPATCH_QUEUE__
    13 CoreFoundation                 0x0000000182e158a0 __CFRunLoopRun
    14 CoreFoundation                 0x0000000182d412d4 CFRunLoopRunSpecific
    15 GraphicsServices               0x000000018c79f6fc GSEventRunModal
    16 UIKit                          0x000000018793ef40 UIApplicationMain
    17 MYAPP                          0x00000001001c2e44 main (AppDelegate.swift:17)
    18 libdyld.dylib                  0x000000019517ea08 start

Update:

This is the error I get in XCode

*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: 'An AVPlayerItem cannot be associated with more than one instance of AVPlayer'

Answer 1

Ok, it seams that this happens when using a MPMoviePlayerViewController and trying to re-utilize the player. In my case I was using the player as a subview.

Basically my fix was to set NULL the player and restart it each time I'll play a new video.

Code: (bare in mind that I was using MPMoviePlayerViewController as a subview)

- (void)initPlayer {

    if (self.player != NULL) {
        [self.player.view removeFromSuperview];
        self.player = NULL;
    }
    self.player = [[MPMoviePlayerViewController alloc] initWithContentURL:[NSURL URLWithString:movie]];

    if (IsIPad()) {
        width = 730;
        height = 412;
    } else {
        width = 320;
        height = 180;
    }

    self.player.view.frame = CGRectMake(0, 61, width, height);
    self.player.view.hidden = true;
    self.player.moviePlayer.fullscreen = false;
    self.player.moviePlayer.controlStyle = MPMovieControlStyleEmbedded;

    [self.viewController.view addSubview:self.player.view];
}