Sharing images/videos to other apps through UIActivityViewController shows shared items twice in iOS

Question

I'm trying to share some images and videos to other apps(like FB, WhatsApp) using UIActivityViewController. I have sub-classed UIActivityItemProvider, and on calling -(id)item methods, I'm processing the images/videos and saving in documents directory. Then I am returning the file paths as NSURLs. My problem is that I'm not able to find a way to send multiple file URLs at the same time.

Below are the approaches I took to return urls from -(id)item method;

1. As an NSArray of NSURL objects. DOES NOT WORK. When the target app popup comes, it is empty always.
2. As a NSDictionary, in which NSURL objects are the values and keys could be anything. PROBLEMATIC: The target app popup shows all items, but TWICE! I experimented with the dictionary a lot, but couldn't find a way to solve this.

Simply returning an NSURL object from -(id)item method works fine for single file. But, I have to share multiple items. Array doesn't work, Dictionary is duplicating shared items.

Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong here?

---

UPDATE 1:

This is how I show the UIActivityViewController.

CustomItemProvider *provider = [[CustomItemProvider alloc] initWithPlaceholderItem:[UIImage imageNamed:@"ios-59.png"]];

UIActivityViewController *activityViewController = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:@[provider] applicationActivities:nil];

activityViewController.completionWithItemsHandler = ^(NSString *activityType, BOOL completed, NSArray *returnedItems, NSError *activityError)
{
    if(completed)
    {
        NSLog(@"Activity Completed");
    }
    else
    {
        NSLog(@"Activity Cancelled");
    }
};
[self presentViewController:activityViewController animated:YES completion:^{}];

The UIActivityItemProvider implementation is as given below; The URLs are valid and there are images/videos at those locations.

@interface CustomItemProvider : UIActivityItemProvider

@end

@implementation CustomItemProvider
- (id)item
{
     NSURL *url1 = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:@"file one url"];
     NSURL *url2 = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:@"file two url"];
     NSURL *url3 = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:@"file three url"];

     return @{@"item1":url1, @"item2":url2, @"item3":url3};    //As NSDictionary. This causes 6 items to be shared; all files twice.

     //return @[url1, url2, url3];  //As NSArray
}
@end

---

UPDATE 2:

The linked question is different. I don't want to send the files directly to the UIActivityViewController as parameter to initWithActivityItems:. The reason is that there could be multiple video files, which will cause memory warning and a crash. Also, I will be manipulating the files before sending it to target app(in the -(id)item method, which I have not shown here), hence I need UIActivityItemProvider to process the files in background.

Answer 1

Share image with other apps: Swift 3 code-

    let image = UIImage(named: "yourimage")
    let objectsToShare = [image]
    let activityVC = UIActivityViewController(activityItems: objectsToShare, applicationActivities: nil)
    present(activityVC, animated: true, completion: nil)