fix(ios): notification controls flow (#4854)

* fix(ios): load artwork asynchronously to unblock notification controls

* fix(ios): remove playback observer on player removal and guard artwork callback

* fix: cleaning up player

* refactor: `if` syntax

* fix: add missing cleaner

* fix: remove `rounded` from current time

* chore: update pod versions

* refactor(ios): use targeted update functions at each call site

* refactor(ios): use async/await to load artwork metadata

* fix(ios): update static now playing info after setting external metadata

* fix: find new player before updating playback state

* fix(ios): take over notification controls when registering an already-playing player

* fix(ios): clear stale artwork and guard against item change in async artwork load

* fix: guard notification controls updates against stale player item

* fix: update playback duration periodically to handle streams with initially unknown duration

example/ios/Podfile.lock

@@ -1565,7 +1565,7 @@ PODS:
     - React-logger (= 0.77.3)
     - React-perflogger (= 0.77.3)
     - React-utils (= 0.77.3)
-  - ReactNativeVideo (7.0.0-beta.1):
+  - ReactNativeVideo (7.0.0-beta.6):
     - DoubleConversion
     - glog
     - hermes-engine
@@ -1587,7 +1587,7 @@ PODS:
     - ReactCommon/turbomodule/bridging
     - ReactCommon/turbomodule/core
     - Yoga
-  - ReactNativeVideoDrm (7.0.0-beta.1):
+  - ReactNativeVideoDrm (7.0.0-beta.6):
     - DoubleConversion
     - glog
     - hermes-engine
@@ -1904,8 +1904,8 @@ SPEC CHECKSUMS:
   ReactAppDependencyProvider: 31015410a4a53b9fd0a908ad4d6e3e2b9a25086a
   ReactCodegen: 53316394e985ded1babc7f143c90c77d2bb1b43c
   ReactCommon: bf4612cba0fa356b529385029f470d5529dddde4
-  ReactNativeVideo: 10dd0a47f8228b41565a3efb13df5b323633b590
-  ReactNativeVideoDrm: 07b826ab66fd0a00ab3dd3bef2dd2c026e919a9a
+  ReactNativeVideo: de7056e831a46412e81fbf730ef739ec4c7378fe
+  ReactNativeVideoDrm: a83670242cec729b4fb67e7c804ab3300e848b86
   SocketRocket: d4aabe649be1e368d1318fdf28a022d714d65748
   Yoga: 92f3bb322c40a86b7233b815854730442e01b8c4
 

packages/react-native-video/ios/core/NowPlayingInfoCenterManager.swift

@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
   private var skipForwardTarget: Any?
   private var skipBackwardTarget: Any?
   private var playbackPositionTarget: Any?
-  private var seekTarget: Any?
   private var togglePlayPauseTarget: Any?
 
   private let remoteCommandCenter = MPRemoteCommandCenter.shared()
@@ -47,7 +46,7 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
       return
     }
 
-    if receivingRemoteControlEvents == false {
+    if !receivingRemoteControlEvents {
       receivingRemoteControlEvents = true
     }
 
@@ -58,7 +57,8 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
     observers[player.hashValue] = observePlayers(player: player)
     players.add(player)
 
-    if currentPlayer == nil {
+    // Also take over if the new player is already playing — KVO won't fire since rate hasn't changed
+    if currentPlayer == nil || player.rate != 0 {
       setCurrentPlayer(player: player)
     }
   }
@@ -75,13 +75,21 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
     observers.removeValue(forKey: player.hashValue)
     players.remove(player)
 
-    if currentPlayer == player {
-      currentPlayer = nil
-      updateNowPlayingInfo()
-    }
-
     if players.allObjects.isEmpty {
       cleanup()
+      return
+    }
+
+    if currentPlayer == player {
+      if let playbackObserver {
+        player.removeTimeObserver(playbackObserver)
+        self.playbackObserver = nil
+      }
+      currentPlayer = nil
+      findNewCurrentPlayer()
+      if currentPlayer == nil {
+        updatePlaybackState()
+      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -91,7 +99,9 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
 
     if let playbackObserver {
       currentPlayer?.removeTimeObserver(playbackObserver)
+      self.playbackObserver = nil
     }
+    currentPlayer = nil
 
     invalidateCommandTargets()
 
@@ -106,6 +116,7 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
 
     if let playbackObserver {
       currentPlayer?.removeTimeObserver(playbackObserver)
+      self.playbackObserver = nil
     }
 
     currentPlayer = player
@@ -116,7 +127,7 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
       forInterval: CMTime(value: 1, timescale: 4),
       queue: .main,
       using: { [weak self] _ in
-        self?.updateNowPlayingInfo()
+        self?.updatePlaybackState()
       }
     )
   }
@@ -218,13 +229,17 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
   }
 
   public func updateNowPlayingInfo() {
-    guard let player = currentPlayer else {
-      invalidateCommandTargets()
-      MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = [:]
-      return
-    }
+    updateStaticInfo()
+    updatePlaybackState()
+  }
 
-    guard let currentItem = player.currentItem else {
+  func updateStaticInfo(ifCurrentItem playerItem: AVPlayerItem) {
+    guard currentPlayer?.currentItem === playerItem else { return }
+    updateStaticInfo()
+  }
+
+  func updateStaticInfo() {
+    guard let player = currentPlayer, let currentItem = player.currentItem else {
       return
     }
 
@@ -233,51 +248,63 @@ class NowPlayingInfoCenterManager {
     // When the metadata has the tag "iTunSMPB" or "iTunNORM" then the metadata is not converted correctly and comes [nil, nil, ...]
     // This leads to a crash of the app
     let metadata: [AVMetadataItem] = {
-
       let common = processMetadataItems(currentItem.asset.commonMetadata)
       let external = processMetadataItems(currentItem.externalMetadata)
-
       return Array(common.merging(external) { _, new in new }.values)
     }()
 
-    let titleItem =
-      AVMetadataItem.metadataItems(
-        from: metadata,
-        filteredByIdentifier: .commonIdentifierTitle
-      ).first?.stringValue ?? ""
+    let title = AVMetadataItem.metadataItems(
+      from: metadata,
+      filteredByIdentifier: .commonIdentifierTitle
+    ).first?.stringValue ?? ""
 
-    let artistItem =
-      AVMetadataItem.metadataItems(
-        from: metadata,
-        filteredByIdentifier: .commonIdentifierArtist
-      ).first?.stringValue ?? ""
+    let artist = AVMetadataItem.metadataItems(
+      from: metadata,
+      filteredByIdentifier: .commonIdentifierArtist
+    ).first?.stringValue ?? ""
 
-    // I have some issue with this - setting artworkItem when it not set dont return nil but also is crashing application
-    // this is very hacky workaround for it
-    let imgData = AVMetadataItem.metadataItems(
+    var info = MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo ?? [:]
+    info[MPMediaItemPropertyTitle] = title
+    info[MPMediaItemPropertyArtist] = artist
+    info[MPMediaItemPropertyPlaybackDuration] = currentItem.duration.seconds
+    info[MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyIsLiveStream] = CMTIME_IS_INDEFINITE(currentItem.asset.duration)
+    info[MPMediaItemPropertyArtwork] = nil // Clear artwork from previous item; will be loaded asynchronously below
+    MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = info
+
+    // Load artwork asynchronously so notification controls appear immediately.
+    guard let artworkMetadataItem = AVMetadataItem.metadataItems(
       from: metadata,
       filteredByIdentifier: .commonIdentifierArtwork
-    ).first?.dataValue
-    let image = imgData.flatMap { UIImage(data: $0) } ?? UIImage()
-    let artworkItem = MPMediaItemArtwork(boundsSize: image.size) { _ in image }
+    ).first else { return }
 
-    let newNowPlayingInfo: [String: Any] = [
-      MPMediaItemPropertyTitle: titleItem,
-      MPMediaItemPropertyArtist: artistItem,
-      MPMediaItemPropertyArtwork: artworkItem,
-      MPMediaItemPropertyPlaybackDuration: currentItem.duration.seconds,
-      MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyElapsedPlaybackTime: currentItem.currentTime()
-        .seconds.rounded(),
-      MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyPlaybackRate: player.rate,
-      MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyIsLiveStream: CMTIME_IS_INDEFINITE(
-        currentItem.asset.duration
-      ),
-    ]
-    let currentNowPlayingInfo =
-      MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo ?? [:]
+    Task { [weak self, weak player, weak currentItem] in
+      guard let data = try? await artworkMetadataItem.load(.dataValue),
+            let image = UIImage(data: data) else { return }
+      let artworkItem = MPMediaItemArtwork(boundsSize: image.size) { _ in image }
+      await MainActor.run {
+        guard let self, self.currentPlayer === player,
+              self.currentPlayer?.currentItem === currentItem else { return }
+        var info = MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo ?? [:]
+        info[MPMediaItemPropertyArtwork] = artworkItem
+        MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = info
+      }
+    }
+  }
 
-    MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo =
-      currentNowPlayingInfo.merging(newNowPlayingInfo) { _, new in new }
+  func updatePlaybackState() {
+    guard let player = currentPlayer else {
+      invalidateCommandTargets()
+      MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = [:]
+      return
+    }
+
+    guard let currentItem = player.currentItem else { return }
+
+    var info = MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo ?? [:]
+    info[MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyElapsedPlaybackTime] = currentItem.currentTime().seconds
+    info[MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyPlaybackRate] = player.rate
+    info[MPMediaItemPropertyPlaybackDuration] = currentItem.duration.seconds
+    MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = info
   }
 
   private func findNewCurrentPlayer() {

packages/react-native-video/ios/hybrids/VideoPlayer/HybridVideoPlayer+Events.swift

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ extension HybridVideoPlayer: VideoPlayerObserverDelegate {
 
   func onRateChanged(rate: Float) {
     _eventEmitter?.onPlaybackRateChange(Double(rate))
-    NowPlayingInfoCenterManager.shared.updateNowPlayingInfo()
+    NowPlayingInfoCenterManager.shared.updatePlaybackState()
     updateAndEmitPlaybackState()
   }
 

packages/react-native-video/ios/hybrids/VideoPlayer/HybridVideoPlayer.swift

@@ -408,6 +408,7 @@ class HybridVideoPlayer: HybridVideoPlayerSpec, NativeVideoPlayerSpec {
         }
         if !items.isEmpty {
           playerItem.externalMetadata = items
+          NowPlayingInfoCenterManager.shared.updateStaticInfo(ifCurrentItem: playerItem)
         }
       }
 
@@ -421,7 +422,7 @@ class HybridVideoPlayer: HybridVideoPlayerSpec, NativeVideoPlayerSpec {
           DispatchQueue.main.async {
             guard let playerItem else { return }
             playerItem.externalMetadata = playerItem.externalMetadata + [.make(identifier: .commonIdentifierArtwork, value: data as NSData)]
-            NowPlayingInfoCenterManager.shared.updateNowPlayingInfo()
+            NowPlayingInfoCenterManager.shared.updateStaticInfo(ifCurrentItem: playerItem)
           }
         }
       } else if let imageUri {