Allow “auto lock” while video is being played

Question

No matter whether I am using MPMoviePlayerController or AVPlayer (AVFoundation), the iOS does not allow the device to auto lock

Answer 1

Remember this is private API, I'm not sure if you can use it for appstore release or not.

Tested on iOS 9.

AVPlayer *player = // alloc init...
if ([player respondsToSelector:NSSelectorFromString(@"_preventsSleepDuringVideoPlayback")]) {
    [player setValue:@(NO) forKey:@"preventsSleepDuringVideoPlayback"];
}

Answer 2

With iOS 12 this is now possible by setting

let player = AVPlayer()
player.preventsDisplaySleepDuringVideoPlayback = false

See: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avplayer/2990522-preventsdisplaysleepduringvideop#