I'm going to develop an application, whose main task would be send video frames captured from device camera to server. Server uses protocol over TCP. I heard that Apple restricts developers from using any video streaming protocols, except HTTP live streaming. Is this information correct? Will be there any problems while approving my app in appstore?
After some digging into the topic, found some info, here is another topic. And for video broadcasting from device we cannot use HLS.
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I'm working on the live streaming app like Periscope and doing research on requirement and restriction on iOS.
I found out that Apple only allows HLS (Http Live Streaming) for certain conditions. I found such conditions below from apple site.
If your app delivers video over cellular networks, and the video exceeds either 10 minutes duration or 5 MB of data in a five minute period, you are required to use HTTP Live Streaming.(https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StreamingMediaGuide/UsingHTTPLiveStreaming/UsingHTTPLiveStreaming.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40008332-CH102-SW5)
But I'm not sure that HLS should be used for both publishing and watching video or only for watching is acceptable? Because i thinking of using RTMP for publishing and HLS for watching.
I wrote an app similar to periscope that is on the app store now and it can use 2Mbps and connects via RTMP protocol to send the data. So my guess is they no longer enforce it. I also beleive that at the time that that was written cell service load was possibly to high and they were hoping that HLS would help with that would be my guess. Now with 4gLTE it can handle the loads a little better. Again that is just a guess. My app went up with no problem or mention of that and the review team was more than aware what the app did.
I have read about HTTP Live Streaming from Apple. So far I understand that it was created for streaming video to iOS devices. But is it possible to use this approach to stream from iOS device while recording on camera? If so can you give me a clue or tell how to do it?
It is possible, yes. But I would not recommend it. HLS is a pull based protocol. Good for delivering to clients, but bad for ingesting. Would need to run a web server on the device, and package the media into a transport stream. Its a lot of effort that is easier to handle on the server.
I've been searching for a while on stackoverflow and around the web for a solution to my video-streaming problem. I need to stream live video being captured from the camera (no high-quality required) from an iOS device to a remote PC in one way, i.e., the iOS device will be sending a video stream to the server/PC but not the opposite.
What appears after some googling and documentation browsing is that there are two main major standards/protocols that can be used:
Apple's HTTP Live Streaming (HLS)
Adobe's RTMP
Again, my requirement is that the iPhone/iPad will be streaming the video. From what appears on Apple's website, I understand that HLS is to be used from an encoding perspective server-side, and a decoding perspective iOS side. As of RTMP, most libraries that allow iOS streaming have commercial licenses and closed code or require you to go through their P2P infrastructure (for instance angl.tv or tokbox.com/opentok/quick-start). As of HLS, no encoding libraries seem to exist iOS side.
So my questions are:
Do you know of any SDK/Library preferably open and free that I could integrate to stream captured video from within my app?
If no, do you think developing a custom library would be a risky jungle-crossing endeavour? My guess is to go through AVFoundation and capture camera frames, compress them frame by frame and send them over HTTP. Does that sound crazy performance and bandwidth wise? Note that in that case I would need an HLS or RTMP encoder either ways.
I thank you very much in advance dear friends.
Mehdi.
I have developed such a library, and you can find it at github.com/jgh-/VideoCore
I am updating this answer because I have created a simplified iOS API that will allow you to easily setup a Camera/Mic RTMP session. You can find it at https://github.com/jgh-/VideoCore/blob/master/api/iOS/VCSimpleSession.h.
Additionally, VideoCore is now available in CocoaPods.
Apple Http Live Streaming Overview document clearly states that streaming videos exceeding 10 minutes cannot be downloaded progressively and MUST be transferred using Http Live Streaming(HLS). It also states that the latency of HLS is in the neighbourhood of 30 seconds.
In my case, I am building an app that needs to receives live steaming videos in almost real-time. So on one hand I must use HLS for real time streaming but it is not fast enough. On the other hand I can not use anything else because it seems anything other than HLS is not allowed. I know RTSP is possible on iOS but will it be approved by the App Store?
Cheers,
M.
Apple is not transparent. The only way to know if an app will be rejected or accepted is to submit it.
I have developed on IPhone application and submitted to App store. But my application got rejected based on below criteria.
Thank you for submitting your yyyyyyyy
application. We have reviewed your
application and have determined that
it cannot be posted to the App Store
at this time because it is not using
the HTTP Live Streaming protocol to
broadcast streaming video. HTTP Live
Streaming is required when streaming
video feeds over the cellular network,
in order to have an optimal user
experience and utilize cellular best
practices. This protocol automatically
determines bandwidth available to
users and adjusts the bandwidth
appropriately, even as bandwidth
streams change. This allows you the
flexibility to have as many streams as
you like, as long as 64 kbps is set as
the baseline feed.
In my apps I have to stream prerecorded m4v and mp3 files from my server. I used MPMoviePlayerController to stream and play those videos / audio.
How to implement the HTTP Live Streaming Protocol in my apps? Also can I get some sample code?
Thanks in advance!
There are many documents about Apple's HTTP Live Streaming:
HTTP Live Streaming Overview
IETF HTTP Live Streaming Internet-Draft
There are many encoder devices claim to support this protocol e.g.,
Inlet's Spinnaker, acquired by Cisco and renamed to Cisco Media Processor Family.
For a software solution, please give a visit to Wowza
Please check the below notes specified in Apple documentation.
****Important: iPhone and iPad apps that send large amounts of audio or video data over cellular networks are required to use HTTP Live Streaming.****