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Troubleshooting iOS Video SDK

Troubleshooting Twilio's iOS Video SDK can vary based on a number of factors including the SDK version used, iOS version, hardware, and more. This guide includes a checklist to help you begin troubleshooting iOS Video SDK issues, as well as a list of recent media improvement features.

Notice: Twilio support highly recommends reading through our Getting Started on iOS SDK and iOS Best Practices guides before reading the rest of this document, as these typically help solve the majority of the issues developers will encounter.

Troubleshooting Checklist

  • Build Prerequisites: Ensure your build system is inline with our iOS Prerequisites and XCode Versions, and that Background Modes are enabled when adding the Video SDK.
  • Recent SDK Version: Keep your application current by using the latest version.  As mentioned in the  Platform SDK Support Policy, we recommend updating the SDK at a bare minimum once a quarter.  
  • Changelog: Read through the Known Issues, New Features, and Bug Fixes in the most recent iOS SDK Changelog as we often will add new functionalities to the SDK, which may solve an issue a developer and/or end-user may encounter.
  • API Documentation:  Please ensure you are using the Latest iOS API documentation for the most current iOS release.
  • Supported Devices: Often end-users will try and use aged out and / or unsupported devices; therefore, it is important for developers to inform their end-users of our Supported Devices requirements.
  • Audio: As Twilio Video now has a separate iOS Audio Processor, be sure to keep the iOS Audio Processor release version in sync with the respective iOS Video SDK version.  
  • Physical Devices: Don’t trust simulators!  As the iOS SDK is using WebRTC technology and depends heavily on the capabilities of the device, often simulators and actual devices have inconsistent behavior, therefore if possible, test on physical devices.  If using the iOS Simulator that comes with Xcode, local video will not be shared since the Simulator cannot access a camera. Using an iOS device, it is now possible to run apps from XCode on your device without a paid developer account.
  • Reproduce with the Quickstart: Twilio offers an iOS Video Quickstart which allows developers to clone the repository to reproduce the error to share with Twilio engineers via  iOS Quickstart GitHub Issues.
  • Reproduce with the Ahoy! Demo App: Twilio offers an Ahoy! iOS Demo App which is a great way to check if an issue can be replicated with our out of the box Twilio iOS App.  If the issue cannot be reproduced, that indicates that the issue lies within the app in development, or it’s a unique device, or environment issue.
  • Diagnostics:  Video Insights in the console can provide information about an iOS participant, as long as it hasn’t been disabled in the iOS SDK’s connect options (insights is enabled by default). Twilio’s Hosted Video Diagnostic App or a developer's white labeled Diagnostic App can also be used for testing via Mobile Chrome (recommended) or Mobile Safari on the iOS device.
  • Room Monitor:  Room Monitor is a Javascript SDK that can be used in the same app as your Javascript Video SDK.  This is an excellent tool to monitor real time issues with an iOS participant who is in the same group room as a Javascript participant.  
  • Debug Log: Often engineering and support will need the debug log from the iOS device for troubleshooting, please review How to enable Debug Logging.
  • Support submission: Before submitting a support request, please first look at the “Issues” section on our Video iOS Quickstart GitHub repository, and the Getting help with iOS SDK section of our documentation as this outlines what information is needed when submitting a request to speed up the support process.

Recent iOS Media Improvement Features 

  • Krisp: In the 5.4.0 changelog, we released support for a noise cancellation audio device, NoiseCancellationProcessor, via a new TwilioAudioProcessors SDK
  • Picture-in-Picture (PIP): In the 5.3.0 changelog Picture in Picture mode is now supported with the SDK.
  • Adaptive Simulcast: In the 5.1.0 changelog, we released Adaptive Simulcast for iOS which, when enabled in group rooms of 3 or more participants, may significantly reduce bandwidth consumption, thereby improving overall media quality.
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