MPNowPlayingInfoCenter throwing EXC_BAD_ACCESS - ios

Question

I am making an app that plays back audio and I have set it up so that the lock screen gets updated through MPNowPlayingInfoCenter, but I've run into a problem.
At seemingly random times, I get an EXC_BAD_ACCESS error when trying to update the now playing info.
Here's the code that does so:
- (void)updatePlayback
{
if(!active)
return;
NowPlayingController* npc = [AudioController nowPlayingController];
CMTime elapsed = player.currentTime;
Float64 elInterval = CMTimeGetSeconds(elapsed);
[npc setElapsed:elInterval];
CMTime duration = player.currentItem.duration;
Float64 durInterval = CMTimeGetSeconds(duration);
[npc setRemaining:ceilf(durInterval - elInterval)];
[npc setPlayPauseValue:isPlaying];
if(durInterval > 0)
{
[npc setProgressValue:elInterval/durInterval];
[npc setAudioDuration:durInterval];
}
_activeMetadata[MPMediaItemPropertyPlaybackDuration] = #(durInterval);
_activeMetadata[MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyPlaybackRate] = #(isPlaying);
_activeMetadata[MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyElapsedPlaybackTime] = #(elInterval);
MPNowPlayingInfoCenter* npInfoCenter = [MPNowPlayingInfoCenter defaultCenter];
if(npInfoCenter && _activeMetadata)
{
if([npInfoCenter respondsToSelector:#selector(setNowPlayingInfo:)])
{
//////////THE FOLLOWING LINE TRIGGERS EXC_BAD_ACCESS SOMETIMES////////////
[npInfoCenter setNowPlayingInfo:_activeMetadata];
}
}
}
99.9% of the time, this works, but sometimes when resigning the app to the background or when changing audio files, or just randomly,
[npInfoCenter setNowPlayingInfo:_activeMetadata];
throws EXC_BAD_ACCESS.
Also, _activeMetadata is declared as:
#property (atomic, strong, retain) NSMutableDictionary* activeMetadata;
It is instantiated when the AVPlayer is created:
AVAsset* asset = [AVAsset assetWithURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:path]];
AVPlayerItem* playerItem = [AVPlayerItem playerItemWithAsset:asset];
player = [AVPlayer playerWithPlayerItem:playerItem];
CMTime duration = player.currentItem.duration;
NSTimeInterval durInterval = CMTimeGetSeconds(duration);
NSLog(#"%f", durInterval);
MPMediaItemArtwork* albumArtwork = [[MPMediaItemArtwork alloc] initWithImage:[downloader useCachedImage:CacheKeySeriesBanners withName:nil withURL:info[#"image"]]];
NSDictionary* nowPlayingInfo = #{MPMediaItemPropertyTitle:ptString,
MPMediaItemPropertyArtist:spString,
MPMediaItemPropertyArtwork:albumArtwork,
MPMediaItemPropertyAlbumTitle:info[#"title"],
MPMediaItemPropertyPlaybackDuration:#(durInterval),
MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyPlaybackRate:#(1),
MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyElapsedPlaybackTime:#(0)};
[[MPNowPlayingInfoCenter defaultCenter] setNowPlayingInfo:nowPlayingInfo];
_activeMetadata = [nowPlayingInfo mutableCopy];
updatePlayback is called via a CADisplayLink on every frame.
Any ideas what could be causing the exception?

Answer 1

I think you're calling setNowPlayingInfo way too often. Granted, it really shouldn't crash but there's no need to use CADisplayLink to call it 60 times a second.
So why are you calling it so often? If it's because you want to progress bar to track smoothly, there's still no need. From the MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyElapsedPlaybackTime declaration:
// The elapsed time of the now playing item, in seconds.
// Note the elapsed time will be automatically extrapolated from the previously
// provided elapsed time and playback rate, so updating this property frequently
// is not required (or recommended.)
p.s. I tried the code with an m4a file and found durInterval was NotANumber. With the correct duration and calling setNowPlayingInfo only once, the progress bar tracked fine & nothing crashed.

Answer 2

Apple fixed this crash in iOS 10.3 and above.
So if you want to support iOS 10.2.1 and below, be sure to throttle how often you set [MPNowPlayingInfoCenter defaultCenter].nowPlayingInfo property. Perhaps limiting setting the property only once a second.