Play Video in Background using Avplayer

Question

In my iPhone application I want to keep play video when application enter in background mode.

I am using AVPlayer and not finding any way to play video in background. I will be very grateful if any one can help me in this. Thanks

Answer 1

With surprise I can say that this can be achieved and I just did it.

This method supports all the possibilities:

• Screen locked by the user;
• Home button pressed;
• Switch to other application.

As long as you have an instance of AVPlayer running iOS prevents auto lock of the device.

First you need to configure the application to support audio background from the Info.plist file adding in the UIBackgroundModes array the audio element.

Then put in your AppDelegate.m into - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions:

these methods

[[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setDelegate: self];    
[[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback error:nil];

and #import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>

Then in your view controller that controls AVPlayer

-(void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated{
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] beginReceivingRemoteControlEvents];
    [self becomeFirstResponder];
}

and

- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [mPlayer pause];    
    [super viewWillDisappear:animated];
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] endReceivingRemoteControlEvents];
    [self resignFirstResponder];
}

then respond to the

- (void)remoteControlReceivedWithEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
    switch (event.subtype) {
        case UIEventSubtypeRemoteControlTogglePlayPause:
            if([mPlayer rate] == 0){
                [mPlayer play];
            } else {
                [mPlayer pause];
            }
            break;
        case UIEventSubtypeRemoteControlPlay:
            [mPlayer play];
            break;
        case UIEventSubtypeRemoteControlPause:
            [mPlayer pause];
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
}

Another trick is needed to resume the reproduction if the user presses the home button (in which case the reproduction is suspended with a fade out).

When you control the reproduction of the video (I have play: and pause: methods) set

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(applicationDidEnterBackground:) name:UIApplicationDidEnterBackgroundNotification object:nil];

and

[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self name:UIApplicationDidEnterBackgroundNotification object:nil];

and the corresponding method to be invoked that will launch a timer and resume the reproduction.

- (void)applicationDidEnterBackground:(NSNotification *)notification
{
    [mPlayer performSelector:@selector(play) withObject:nil afterDelay:0.01];
}

Answer 2

Try this code in your applicationDidEnterBackground:

UIApplication *app = [UIApplication sharedApplication]; 
bgTask = 0;

backgroundTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:60 target:self selector:@selector(backgroundTask) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];

bgTask = [app beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler:^{ 
[app endBackgroundTask:bgTask];

i found it somewhere on the stack works for me

Also check out this tutorial which covers background modes including background audio.. http://www.raywenderlich.com/29948/backgrounding-for-ios