Impossible to stop AVPlayer

Question

I am currently testing the use of AVPlayer with audio streaming url, using Swift. There are play() and pause() methods, but the problem is that, pausing only, the stream remains cached in the device.

Here is my test code :

import UIKit
import AVFoundation

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    let player = AVPlayer(URL: NSURL(string: "http://streaming.radio.rtl.fr/rtl-1-48-192")!)

    @IBOutlet weak var btnPlay: UIButton!

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()            
    }

    @IBAction func btnPress(sender: AnyObject) {
        if (btnPlay.titleLabel?.text == "Play") {
            initPlayer()
            btnPlay.setTitle("Stop", forState: UIControlState.Normal)
        } else {
            stopPlayer()
            btnPlay.setTitle("Play", forState: UIControlState.Normal)
        }
    }

    func initPlayer()  {
        player.play()
    }

    func stopPlayer() {
        // player.currentItem = nil // Last thing I tried, but generate an error
        player.pause()
    }
}

Here are the issues when trying somethings :

player = nil : "Cannot assign a value of type 'NilLiteralCOnvertible' to a value of type 'AVPlayer'"

player.currentItem = nil : "Cannot assign to property: 'currentItem' is a get-only property"

I tried everything, even through AVQueuePlayer without any effective result. (obviously, since I only have one item in my case).

How to stop AVPlayer or destroy his instance ?

@JAL, `player` is an instance of AVPlayer, so I can't just do it. Please see the function `stopPlayer()`, I have already test this — w3spi, Oct 07 '15 at 13:53
What error are you getting when you try to set the player to nil? Also, have you tried removing the player's currentItem like I suggested? — JAL, Oct 07 '15 at 13:55
You can't mutate a `let` constant. Change the declaration to `var`. — JAL, Oct 07 '15 at 14:00
@JAL I always confuse the two. Thank you for allowing me to fill this important gap! — w3spi, Oct 07 '15 at 14:03
@JAL have you know how to play continues audio after destroyed that ViewController on we have created instance of AVPlayer. — Pramod Tapaniya, Feb 09 '17 at 06:05

taynguyen · Answer 1 · 2019-08-12T06:46:35.987

63

From this post I found the best solution to completely stop AVPlayer before you leave or start a new player:

videoPlayer.replaceCurrentItemWithPlayerItem(nil)

[Update] For SWIFT 3:

player.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil)

edited Aug 12 '19 at 06:46

answered Jul 26 '16 at 03:18

taynguyen

2,961
1
26
26

This is the correct answer. Please award the answerer with your approval. – James Bush Aug 04 '16 at 13:53
Have you know how to play continues audio after destroyed that ViewController on we have created instance of AVPlayer. – Pramod Tapaniya Feb 09 '17 at 07:12
1

This works! For swift3: videoPlayer.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil) – BenHedges Oct 30 '17 at 15:06
Thanks @taynguyen saved a lot of my time – Cloy Mar 19 '20 at 07:03
this is definitely the answer – Lance Samaria Aug 16 '20 at 00:21

Eric Aya · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-07T14:13:53.840

If you declare player as an optional variable, you can then set the player to nil to deallocate it.

Silly example but it shows what happens:

import UIKit
import AVFoundation

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    @IBOutlet weak var btnPlay: UIButton!

    var player:AVPlayer?

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
    }

    @IBAction func btnPress(sender: AnyObject) {
        if (btnPlay.titleLabel?.text == "Play") {
            initPlayer()
            btnPlay.setTitle("Stop", forState: UIControlState.Normal)
        } else {
            stopPlayer()
            btnPlay.setTitle("Play", forState: UIControlState.Normal)
        }
    }

    func initPlayer()  {
        if let play = player {
            print("playing")
            play.play()
        } else {
            print("player allocated")
            player = AVPlayer(URL: NSURL(string: "http://streaming.radio.rtl.fr/rtl-1-48-192")!)
            print("playing")
            player!.play()
        }
    }

    func stopPlayer() {
        if let play = player {
            print("stopped")
            play.pause()
            player = nil
            print("player deallocated")
        } else {
            print("player was already deallocated")
        }
    }
}

Thank you for your answer. I'm sure your solution works, but so how to reallocate the player when re-enter in function `initPlayer()` ? — w3spi, Oct 07 '15 at 14:06
@EricAya have you know how to play continues audio after destroyed that ViewController on we have created instance of AVPlayer. — Pramod Tapaniya, Feb 09 '17 at 06:06

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 22 '18 at 13:53

10

SWIFT 3 Version:

player.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil)

answered Jan 22 '18 at 13:53

Krishna Kirana

438
4
10

1

player.pause() player.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil) – Krishna Kirana Apr 05 '18 at 11:52

Impossible to stop AVPlayer

3 Answers3

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