I am currently working on an iOS app where users can watch several videos (e.g. fitness videos). The videos are all captured by my team, so I don't need access to external videos.
Now my question is, does it make more sense to store the video files offline right in the app or use some kind of online server (and which one would you recommend)? I don't want to embed Youtube videos.
Thanks in advance!
It is always better to go online. Because the size of video may vary and huge video files would scrap user device's memory. SO it is recommended to use an external server to host the video files.
You can also add an option to download the files if needed.
Related
I'm developing an iOS app that is going to use plenty of videos. The app in summary is a quiz app, where after each question it shows your a video relevant to that question.
my question is, should I use local videos or just referencing youtube links to show the videos? keep in mind that all of the videos that I am going to show are youtube videos that I have already downloaded and added to the app bundle.
what are the benefits and downfalls of each? in terms of app development and user interaction?
Most of the things that you need to consider are
Size of the app with all videos inside. If you add everything in the
bundle than the size of the application will be big and some people
will reject to download it especially if they are not in wifi
network
Do you need these videos if you don't have a network? If yes, you
have two options, the first one to add everything in the bundle and the second one to download them inside the app when the app starts.
What about the speed? Is it okay to wait for the stream or you need instant play?
I think these are the 3 main points for this. (Size, Offline, Speed)
If you have everything in the bundle Offline support and speed of playing will be okay. But for sure you can have a problem with the size. If everything is in youtube the size will be fine but then you will have problems with the speed and the offline mode.
I would like to create a simple app that does some video playback (with a few extra controls) of videos that you would find in the videos app. I've been searching and searching for a way to access the videos but I haven't found a single API that plays from the videos app.
Every solution I find plays videos from the photos app. I have apps that access the videos library on my iPad/iPhone so I'm assuming it's possible. Does anyone have the api for this?
Apps cannot access data from other applications on iOS, you cannot access the data of other apps unless it's made available by the app via a web server etc.
Your best bet is to use UIImagePicker to load the videos and images that are on your phone.
You can check out a reference here.
As for getting the videos off the videos app, that's not really possible (as far as I know), but you are able to show just photos or just videos with UIImagePicker using the mediaTypes property.
I have a relative simple business model yet I cant really figure out how to solve it:
I have hundreds of small videos that I produce and some of the videos must be paid to be watched.
I dont want the users to need a login. They just need their apple id to pay for the content. That way I dont need to server code.
I was thinking of using in-app purchases but:
1) Where do I host my videos? I think its best that they can be streamed.
2) How do I secure my videos so that people doesnt just share the urls (which they can get from a web debugger)?
3) Optional: Do you know a simple (maybe free) server for hosting a tree structure of data (in my case video categories)?
you can upload your video on youtube or on Vimeo in private channel. so no one can view that video without your permission. Then you can write code to play that private video.
Another way is you can host your own server and upload video over there. To stream video you can your server need access token. which your server has provided while login. in the way you can also prevent the user not to play video without paying you.
I have MP4 videos that people log in online to access. I need the videos to be playable/accessible on an iPad/iPhone, but still have some very basic protection on them. How can I do that?
I'm aware that putting the videos in a htaccess password-protected folder makes them inaccessible to iPad users, and even using htaccess to block hotlinking/direct-linking causes the videos to be inaccessible to an iPad user, even if the videos are in the same directory the users are currently in.
I understand that the videos can be downloaded by anyone using a Downloader plugin, and I'm not trying to have unrealistic bullet-proof security, I just don't want someone to be able to link directly to my videos saying, "Hey, you can watch those videos she's selling for free by clicking here:
ww w.mysite.com/private/video1.mp4 (that's not a real link, just an example)
I would think a lot of people have similar issues (wanting to protect online video in some way but still have them playable on an iPad/tablet/iPhone). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I am a bit confused about the YouTube API's term & conditions. If I create an app for users to download only their own videos. Is that against the terms and conditions?
I know downloading other people content is definitely prohibited, but is it the same for your own videos? Since user can go to their video manager and download their own videosm this would be only a short-cut?
Anyone knows can/cannot do this? I was thinking of using this library http://ytdownloadextension.codeplex.com/
Any guidance would be appreciated,
Covo
Seems like YouTube already allows you to do that, so I'd say it's legal:
Download your videos
You can’t download other people’s YouTube videos, but ...
You can download MP4 files of videos that you’ve uploaded to YouTube in either 720p or 360p, depending on the video size.
See Download videos that you've uploaded.
I don't think so the Terms of Service of Youtube or the Terms of Service of the API allows you to do so:
Excerpt of Youtube ToS (5. K):
you agree not to access Content or any reason other than your personal, non-commercial use solely as intended through and permitted by the normal functionality of the Service, and solely for Streaming. "Streaming" means a contemporaneous digital transmission of the material by YouTube via the Internet to a user operated Internet enabled device in such a manner that the data is intended for real-time viewing and not intended to be downloaded (either permanently or temporarily), copied, stored, or redistributed by the user.
Excerpt of the API ToS (II. 11):
store copies of YouTube audiovisual content;
Both, state in a very clear way that neither the user nor applications built using the API can "store" content, which is a very direct statement that disallows you from giving such an option in your app. Now, whether Youtube does give its users an interface to download their content or not is an argument out of sequence here as Youtube don't need to follow their own ToS, in other words, it's up to them to give their users such an option, but you can't give it to the users of your app.
I suppose you need a special permission from Youtube to give such an option in your app.
Yes. You can definitely download your own videos from YouTube as it is your own content so you have full rights to it as the creator of the videos.