Detecting Airplay status in SwiftUI

Question

I can use this to add an Airplay button to my view:

AirPlayView()
    .frame(width: 44, height: 44)

...

struct AirPlayView: UIViewRepresentable {

    func makeUIView(context: Context) -> UIView {

        let routePickerView = AVRoutePickerView()
        routePickerView.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear
        routePickerView.activeTintColor = UIColor.red
        routePickerView.tintColor = UIColor.white

        return routePickerView
    }

    func updateUIView(_ uiView: UIView, context: Context) {
    }
}

When the user selects an external screen (TV/computer), the currently playing video disappears from my UI and is cast to the external screen, but my UI is left blank. I need to display a "Connected to Airplay" text or something in the empty space. How can I respond to the user entering and leaving airplay mode in SwiftUI?

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 11 '23 at 00:56

You have to use AVPlayer.isExternalPlaybackActive and observe its changes. Since you're using SwiftUI, you'd probably be familiar with this Combine approach:

// [...]
let player = AVPlayer()
var bag = Set<AnyCancellable>()
// [...]

func setupPlayerPublisher() {
    player
        .publisher(for: \.isExternalPlaybackActive)
        .sink(receiveValue: { [weak self] isExternalPlaybackActive in
            guard isExternalPlaybackActive else {
                // handle UI for playing video on the device
                return
            }
            // handle UI for AirPlay
        })
        .store(in: &bag)
}

Then call setupPlayerPublisher() where it fits with your needs.

Detecting Airplay status in SwiftUI

1 Answers1