In this release, we've introduced Swift Package Manager as an integration option alongside our existing options and boosted JWPlayerKit's playlist control. Plus, we've addressed stability issues with GoogleIMA streams and Google Cast casting.

New Features

• The iOS SDK supports the Swift Package Manager, allowing you to easily add, remove, and update the JWPlayerKit Swift package within your projects.
• JWPlayerKit's setPlaylistItemCallback(_:) method allows you to customize and control playlist items, allowing you to modify or skip a given item, and even run your own asynchronous code. 

Bug Fixes

• GoogleIMA DAI live streams load without a player failure.
• Ending casting to a Google Cast device no longer causes a player failure.

The SDK now supports the tracking of and reporting on analytics data, loading captions from a JSON config, and simpler debugging for the Offline Playback BPA.

New Features

• Specifying a playerId allows the SDK to track analytics data and create custom reports.
• The player can now load caption styles from the config.
• The Offline Playback BPA now uses relative paths to simplify debugging between a device and a simulator.
• The GoogleIMA SDK has been upgraded to version 3.18.4.
• With the addition of the .loadedXML and .loaded event types, the raw VAST XML string (JWAdEventKey.xml) and the ad load time (JWEventKey.timeLoading) can be accessed through the JWAdDelegate.

In this latest release, we've upgraded the Open Measurement SDK and addressed player deallocation and JWCue initialization issues.

New Release

The Open Measurement SDK has been upgraded to version 1.4.4.

Bug Fixes

• The player can be deallocated on a background thread while using the GoogleIMA ad client.
• JWCue initializes correctly in both Objective-C and Swift.

Our 4.13.0 iOS release introduces an important delegate method signature revision and the new Offline Playback Best Practice App. In addition, this release replaces a type alias, adds media track access, and includes delegates for event observation.

Key bug fixes address button alignment, Chromecast crashes, and JavaScript Environment inspection.

New Features

• IMPORTANT: The adEvent delegate method signature has been revised from func jwplayer(_ player: AnyObject, adEvent event: JWAdEvent) to func jwplayer(_ player: JWPlayer, adEvent event: JWAdEvent) for better consistency and easier access to the JWPlayer object. If you use or override this method, please update your code to align with the new signature.
• The new Offline Playback Best Practice App demonstrates how to implement offline download, storage, and playback of unprotected content.
• The JWCaptionStyleBuilder now has a method, allowScaling, which controls whether side-loaded captions enlargen as the player's size increases (like on an iPad or in full screen). By default, this is enabled. If set to false, it adheres strictly to the user's device settings.
• To observe related content events, use the JWRelatedEventDelegate, which can be assigned in the JWPlayer object. The JWPlayerViewController conforms to this protocol by default.
• Related content can now be loaded with play(relatedContent:).
• To observe chapter events for media with defined chapters, use the JWChaptersDelegate, which can be assigned in the JWPlayer object. The JWPlayerViewController conforms to this protocol by default.
• The typealias, JSONObject, has replaced instances of [String : Any].
• A JWPlayerItem can be encoded to or decoded from a JSONObject.
• Additional properties have been added to JWPlayerItem, allowing access to different media tracks within the item: chapterTrack: JWMediaTrack?, thumbnailTrack: JWMediaTrack? and captionTracks: [JWMediaTrack].
• The kind of media track viewed can be queried through the JWMediaTrackKind property.

Bug Fixes

• In the VAST ad interface, the Learn More button has been realigned.
• Crashes no longer occur when replacing a playlist during an active Chromecast session.
• JavaScript Environment inspection has been re-enabled.

Accessibility leads our latest release with improved VoiceOver descriptions and better UI adaptation for large text sizes. Additionally, we've resolved issues with displaying images and descriptions on the lock screen, accurate ad positioning within JWP VAST, scrub bar presence for live content, and cross-device caption display. 

New Features

• More precise descriptions enable the device's VoiceOver feature to describe the UX to users clearly.
• The position and duration labels are resized appropriately for large text sizes. When constrained by space, only the position label displays.

Bug Fixes

• Poster images and item descriptions now display on the lock screen command center.
• In the JWP VAST client, the ad pod displays the proper ad position in the pod.
• Live content no longer shows a scrub bar on the lock screen command center.
• Improved resizing logic ensures that captions appear correctly on all devices.

With our latest iOS SDK release, you can create configurations from JSON objects. We've also made user experience improvements related to the language menu, audio-only content controls, and casting playback. And lastly, we have addressed several ads, captions, and playback issues.

New releases

• The JWPlayerConfigurationBuilder() enables creating a configuration from a JSON object.
• Two new intuitive aliases replace the JSONPayload alias: JSONObject for [String : AnyObject] and JSONArray for [Any].
• The languages menu dynamically chooses and displays the Audio, Captions, or Audio & Captions menu based on options available to the user.
• For audio-only content, developers can now define the fading behavior of the onscreen controls through the interfaceBehavior property of the JWPlayerViewController. By default, the controls will fade, similar to the behavior with video content.
• Whether through AirPlay or Chromecast devices, video playback screen maintains the same look and style.

Bug Fixes

• Volume on IMA ads maintains consistent levels even when set during the ad.
• Playback no longer crashes when the video is in the background.
• VAST ads now play during DRM-protected content without causing player errors.
• Caption display behavior continues as expected after exiting Picture in Picture mode.

In this update, we've resolved issues with the adSchedule event, app crashes on iOS 16, caption rendering, and ads during protected content playback. Additionally, we have enhanced the Chromecast UX.

Bug Fixes

• The adSchedule event now surfaces when using any VMAP format.
• On iOS 16, the player no longer causes the app to crash while utilizing Picture-in-Picture.
• The caption renderer now fully uses the system caption style size.
• The player now allows ads to run while playing protected content.
• Several UI issues have been addressed to improve the Chromecast user experience.

Attention developers! We're excited to announce a set of key fixes to the iOS SDK, ensuring a smoother and more reliable user experience.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved a glitch that caused JWPlayer.stop() to be ignored during ad playback.
• Addressed a rare crash occurring when switching between player items with captions.
• Fixed an issue that triggered a warning message during app uploads to TestFlight.

Deprecations

In light of Apple's announcement that a future Xcode release will eliminate the ability to build with bitcode and that IPAs containing bitcode will have it stripped prior to App Store submission, we have opted to discontinue bitcode support.

With 4.10.1, we have released new updates to improve error reporting for side-loaded captions, fix ad issues, and address a rare Chromecast-related crash.

New Feature

• Improved error and warning reporting for side-loaded captions.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where VAST ads generating an error caused a video to pause on the first frame.
• Fixed an issue where calling JWPlayer.play(ad:client:) was not loading the supplied ad.
• Fixed rare crash when loading playlists during casting to a Chromecast device.
• Fixed an issue where replaying a video with preroll ads was firing an additional pause event.

Discover the latest updates in the JWP iOS SDK 4.10.0. This release includes new features such as IMA ad companions and side-loaded captions enhancements, along with UI customizations. Additionally, improvements have been made to performance and error reporting.

New Features

 Google IMA

• Added support for IMA ad companions.
• Added support for additional IMA settings via JWIMASettings config.

Captions

• The default position of captions can be set via JWCaptionStyle.
• Side-loaded WebVTT captions are displayed when casting to Chromecast devices.
• A locale can be specified for side-loaded captions tracks using JWCaptionTrackBuilder.
• Improved error and warning reporting for side-loaded caption issues.

User Interface

• Added setVisibility API to JWPlayerObjcViewController to allow a developer using Obj-C to change the visibility of interface elements.
• Added ability to customer the color of ad cues and chapter cues displayed in the scrub bar, using JWPlayerSkin.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug were no tracks were selected when CC+SDH was enabled in the user’s devices settings.
• Improved performance and handling of potential hangs during playback.
• Fixed issue where errors pings were not being reported.
• Fixed issue with LLDB reporting.