Fix iOS Now Playing Info Center integration for AVPlayer backend

This commit enables proper Now Playing Info Center integration on iOS, allowing video playback information to appear in Control Center and Lock Screen with working remote controls.

Key changes:
- Activate audio session on app launch with setCategory(.playback, mode: .moviePlayback) and setActive(true)
- Set up remote commands on first play() call instead of during app initialization to avoid claiming Now Playing slot prematurely
- Remove removeTarget(nil) calls that were claiming Now Playing without content
- Enable remote commands (play, pause, toggle, seek) explicitly and add proper target handlers
- Use backend.isPlaying instead of PlayerModel.isPlaying to avoid race conditions
- Include playback rate (1.0 for playing, 0.0 for paused) in Now Playing info
- Update Now Playing info on main queue for thread safety
- Update Now Playing when switching between backends
- Remove audio session deactivation from pause() and stop() methods

Note: This fix works for AVPlayer backend. MPV backend has fundamental incompatibility with iOS Now Playing system.

Model/Player/Backends/AVPlayerBackend.swift

@@ -198,9 +198,6 @@ final class AVPlayerBackend: PlayerBackend {
         guard avPlayer.timeControlStatus != .paused else {
             return
         }
-        #if !os(macOS)
-            model.setAudioSessionActive(false)
-        #endif
         avPlayer.pause()
         model.objectWillChange.send()
     }
@@ -214,9 +211,6 @@ final class AVPlayerBackend: PlayerBackend {
     }
 
     func stop() {
-        #if !os(macOS)
-            model.setAudioSessionActive(false)
-        #endif
         avPlayer.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil)
         hasStarted = false
     }

Model/Player/Backends/MPVBackend.swift

@@ -406,6 +406,10 @@ final class MPVBackend: PlayerBackend {
             seek(to: 0, seekType: .loopRestart)
         }
 
+        #if !os(macOS)
+            model.setAudioSessionActive(true)
+        #endif
+
         client?.play()
 
         isPlaying = true
@@ -418,9 +422,6 @@ final class MPVBackend: PlayerBackend {
     }
 
     func pause() {
-        #if !os(macOS)
-            model.setAudioSessionActive(false)
-        #endif
         stopClientUpdates()
         stopRefreshRateUpdates()
 
@@ -442,9 +443,6 @@ final class MPVBackend: PlayerBackend {
     }
 
     func stop() {
-        #if !os(macOS)
-            model.setAudioSessionActive(false)
-        #endif
         stopClientUpdates()
         stopRefreshRateUpdates()
         client?.stop()

Model/Player/Backends/MPVClient.swift

@@ -102,6 +102,8 @@ final class MPVClient: ObservableObject {
         // Set the number of threads dynamically
         checkError(mpv_set_option_string(mpv, "vd-lavc-threads", "\(threads)"))
 
+        // AUDIO //
+
         // GPU //
 
         checkError(mpv_set_option_string(mpv, "hwdec", Defaults[.mpvHWdec]))

Model/Player/PlayerModel.swift

@@ -409,6 +409,9 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
     }
 
     func play() {
+        if !remoteCommandCenterConfigured {
+            updateRemoteCommandCenter()
+        }
         backend.play()
     }
 
@@ -637,17 +640,24 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
             fromBackend.pause()
         }
 
+        // Update Now Playing when switching backends to ensure the new backend takes control
+        updateNowPlayingInfo()
+
         guard var stream, changingStream else {
             return
         }
 
         if let stream = toBackend.stream, toBackend.video == fromBackend.video {
-            toBackend.seek(to: fromBackend.currentTime?.seconds ?? .zero, seekType: .backendSync) { finished in
+            toBackend.seek(to: fromBackend.currentTime?.seconds ?? .zero, seekType: .backendSync) { [weak self] finished in
                 guard finished else {
                     return
                 }
                 if wasPlaying {
                     toBackend.play()
+                    // Update Now Playing after resuming playback on new backend
+                    DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.3) {
+                        self?.updateNowPlayingInfo()
+                    }
                 }
             }
 
@@ -862,8 +872,6 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
 
     func handleQueueChange() {
         Defaults[.queue] = queue
-
-        updateRemoteCommandCenter()
         controls.objectWillChange.send()
     }
 
@@ -897,7 +905,9 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
     func handlePlaybackModeChange() {
         Defaults[.playbackMode] = playbackMode
 
-        updateRemoteCommandCenter()
+        if currentItem != nil {
+            updateRemoteCommandCenter()
+        }
 
         guard playbackMode == .related else {
             autoplayItem = nil
@@ -953,17 +963,6 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
             let interval = TimeInterval(systemControlsSeekDuration) ?? 10
             let preferredIntervals = [NSNumber(value: interval)]
 
-            // Remove existing targets to avoid duplicates
-            skipForwardCommand.removeTarget(nil)
-            skipBackwardCommand.removeTarget(nil)
-            previousTrackCommand.removeTarget(nil)
-            nextTrackCommand.removeTarget(nil)
-            commandCenter.playCommand.removeTarget(nil)
-            commandCenter.pauseCommand.removeTarget(nil)
-            commandCenter.togglePlayPauseCommand.removeTarget(nil)
-            commandCenter.changePlaybackPositionCommand.removeTarget(nil)
-
-            // Re-add targets for handling commands
             skipForwardCommand.preferredIntervals = preferredIntervals
             skipBackwardCommand.preferredIntervals = preferredIntervals
 
@@ -987,21 +986,25 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
                 return .success
             }
 
+            commandCenter.playCommand.isEnabled = true
             commandCenter.playCommand.addTarget { [weak self] _ in
                 self?.play()
                 return .success
             }
 
+            commandCenter.pauseCommand.isEnabled = true
             commandCenter.pauseCommand.addTarget { [weak self] _ in
                 self?.pause()
                 return .success
             }
 
+            commandCenter.togglePlayPauseCommand.isEnabled = true
             commandCenter.togglePlayPauseCommand.addTarget { [weak self] _ in
                 self?.togglePlay()
                 return .success
             }
 
+            commandCenter.changePlaybackPositionCommand.isEnabled = true
             commandCenter.changePlaybackPositionCommand.addTarget { [weak self] remoteEvent in
                 guard let event = remoteEvent as? MPChangePlaybackPositionCommandEvent else { return .commandFailed }
 
@@ -1114,7 +1117,8 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
             mediaType = MPMediaType.anyVideo.rawValue as NSNumber
         }
 
-        // Prepare the Now Playing info dictionary
+        let backendIsPlaying = backend.isPlaying
+
         var nowPlayingInfo: [String: AnyObject] = [
             MPMediaItemPropertyTitle: video.displayTitle as AnyObject,
             MPMediaItemPropertyArtist: video.displayAuthor as AnyObject,
@@ -1122,7 +1126,9 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
             MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyElapsedPlaybackTime: currentTime as AnyObject,
             MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyPlaybackQueueCount: queue.count as AnyObject,
             MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyPlaybackQueueIndex: 1 as AnyObject,
-            MPMediaItemPropertyMediaType: mediaType
+            MPMediaItemPropertyMediaType: mediaType,
+            MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyPlaybackRate: (backendIsPlaying ? 1.0 : 0.0) as AnyObject,
+            MPNowPlayingInfoPropertyDefaultPlaybackRate: 1.0 as AnyObject
         ]
 
         if !currentArtwork.isNil {
@@ -1138,7 +1144,9 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
             }
         }
 
-        MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = nowPlayingInfo
+        DispatchQueue.main.async {
+            MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = nowPlayingInfo
+        }
     }
 
     func updateCurrentArtwork() {
@@ -1303,7 +1311,7 @@ final class PlayerModel: ObservableObject {
                 do {
                     try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(setActive)
                 } catch {
-                    self.logger.error("Error setting up audio session: \(error)")
+                    self.logger.error("Error setting audio session to \(setActive): \(error)")
                 }
             }
         }

iOS/AppDelegate.swift

@@ -22,14 +22,13 @@ final class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
             OrientationTracker.shared.startDeviceOrientationTracking()
             OrientationModel.shared.startOrientationUpdates()
 
-            // Configure the audio session for playback
             do {
                 try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .moviePlayback)
+                try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
             } catch {
                 logger.error("Failed to set audio session category: \(error)")
             }
 
-            // Begin receiving remote control events
             UIApplication.shared.beginReceivingRemoteControlEvents()
         #endif