Access the videos in Videos app of an iOS device in my app

Question

I am developing an application to choose and and play videos in iPad. I want to choose the videos saved in the default Videos app present in the device. How can I access tho

Answer 1

The current SDK does not allow you to play videos from the iPod library:

http://developer.apple.com/library/iOS/#documentation/Audio/Conceptual/iPodLibraryAccess_Guide/AboutiPodLibraryAccess/AboutiPodLibraryAccess.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40008765-CH103-SW9

Note: iPod library access applies only to audio-based media items. You cannot play video podcasts, movies, or television shows from the iPod library.

Answer 2

You can use an MPMediaQuery for videos which will give you a list of videos and urls for the video assets that you can use in the AVFoundation framework. For an example, see the accepted answer here:

MPMediaPickerController with video media types not working

Answer 3

With iOS development, you can't always do exactly anything you want to do in the phone. Accessing other apps is one of these things. In this case you want to access the data of a built in iOS-app. This app is just like any other app, except it is made by Apple, and it doesn't mean that you can access it's data.

Apps have their own data and apps cannot access data from other applications. (unless it's made available by the app somehow, for example via a web server)

If you are making your app with the intention to release it for official use, what you´re asking can not be done. You will have to make the best of your situation, make your app better than the built-in app so that the users use your app instead of the built in one.

Answer 4

search UIImagePickerController and UIImagePickerControllerDelegate.

If you want to access the inbuilt videos app in the device itself, I think it is impossible without break jail your ipad.

ps. Just now I find one app in my iPad can access the video.app list. And my iPad is with ios 5.1.1. Maybe it is possible now!