feat(ios): use `PHPickerViewController` for iOS 14+ #937

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-03T23:44:14Z

Apple recommends to use PHPickerViewController to select images, which also does not need any permissions for reading images:
- PHPickerViewController is a new picker that replaces UIImagePickerController. Its user interface matches that of the Photos app, supports search and multiple selection of photos and videos, and provides fluid zooming of content. Because the system manages its life cycle in a separate process, it’s private by default. The user doesn’t need to explicitly authorize your app to select photos, which results in a simpler and more streamlined user experience. (Source: Apple Developer Documentation - Delivering an Enhanced Privacy Experience in Your Photos App - Determine Your App’s Access Needs)
May resolve issues when selecting images, especially on the iPhone SE
The PHPickerViewController includes several benefits to developers and users, such as the following:
- Deferred image loading and recovery UI
- Reliable handling of large and complex assets, like RAW and panoramic images
- User-selectable assets that aren’t available for UIImagePickerController
- Configuration of the picker to display only Live Photos
- Availability of PHLivePhoto objects without library access
- Stricter validations against invalid inputs
- See documentation of PHPickerViewController: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/photosui/phpickerviewcontroller?language=objc
Added tests for PHPickerViewController in CameraTest.m
Generated-by: Visual Studio Code, Copilot, GPT -5

Platforms affected

iOS

Motivation and Context

Users have problems with selecting images from the library on iPhone SE: iPhone SE (iOS 26.1) – Black screen when opening Photo Library #935
PHPickerViewController is an alternative to UIImagePickerController and has several advantages over it. The best one is, you don't need permissions to get images

Description

Testing

Checklist

I've run the tests to see all new and existing tests pass
I added automated test coverage as appropriate for this change
Commit is prefixed with (platform) if this change only applies to one platform (e.g. (android))
If this Pull Request resolves an issue, I linked to the issue in the text above (and used the correct keyword to close issues using keywords)
I've updated the documentation if necessary

…S 14+ - Does not need any permissions for reading images - The PHPickerViewController class is an alternative to UIImagePickerController. PHPickerViewController improves stability and reliability, and includes several benefits to developers and users, such as the following: - Deferred image loading and recovery UI - Reliable handling of large and complex assets, like RAW and panoramic images - User-selectable assets that aren’t available for UIImagePickerController - Configuration of the picker to display only Live Photos - Availability of PHLivePhoto objects without library access - Stricter validations against invalid inputs - See documentation of PHPickerViewController: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/photosui/phpickerviewcontroller?language=objc - Added tests for PHPickerViewController in `CameraTest.m`

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-03T23:44:41Z

@dpogue Can you review this?

@available

- It was wrongly checked against the availability of PhotosUI, which is already available since iOS 8, but PHPickerViewControllerDelegate is only available since iOS 14 - Removed all `#if __has_include(<PhotosUI/PhotosUI.h>)` which is not necessary - Added a missing `if (@available(iOS 14, *)) {` when calling [self showPHPicker:withOptions]

dpogue

Looks mostly okay to me, with the caveat that I know nothing about any of these iOS APIs or how to use them properly.

Speaking personally, I'm not a fan of the camera plugin and I wish people would just use <input type="file" accept="image/*" capture> and make the browser handle it instead of us.

src/ios/CDVCamera.h

src/ios/CDVCamera.m

tests/ios/CDVCameraTest/CDVCameraLibTests/CameraTest.m

…iOS 14+

@available

- Removed unnecessary import `PhotosUI.h`. This already imported via `CDVCamera.h`. - Removed `if (@available(iOS 14, *))` checks. The methods are already declared with `API_AVAILABLE(ios(14))` which is sufficient

- This separates the PHPickerViewControllerDelegate methods with a line when viewing the methods list in XCode

- A pragmas for UIImagePickerControllerDelegate methods and CLLocationManager methods - Format some long methods declarations to multi-line instead single-line for better readability - Format code in [navigationController:willShowViewController:animated:] to be better aligned and rename variable `cameraPicker` to `imagePicker`

- Make some long method declarations multi-line instead single-line

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-06T15:16:38Z

Speaking personally, I'm not a fan of the camera plugin and I wish people would just use <input type="file" accept="image/*" capture> and make the browser handle it instead of us.

You are right, there are already HTML specifications to access the camera and photo library. <input type="file" accept="image/png, image/jpeg" /> would give the possibility to access the photo library. Maybe this should be added to the documentation. Is this plugin redundant, when there are already specifications to access these things? I mean, it would be good, if we could maintain less.

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-06T15:17:19Z

I made changes which could be reviewed again

dpogue · 2025-12-06T19:19:33Z

This plugin says it supports cordova-ios >=5.1.0 which means it needs to support building with Xcode 10, which means the code needs to compile even when the PHPickerViewController classes do not exist in the SDK. That's why everything that uses it needs to be wrapped in a #if __IPHONE_OS_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED >= 140000 check.

API_AVAILABLE(ios(14)) is sufficient for a newer SDK targeting an older device, but not for an older SDK.

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-08T15:58:12Z

This plugin says it supports cordova-ios >=5.1.0 which means it needs to support building with Xcode 10, which means the code needs to compile even when the PHPickerViewController classes do not exist in the SDK. That's why everything that uses it needs to be wrapped in a #if __IPHONE_OS_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED >= 140000 check.

API_AVAILABLE(ios(14)) is sufficient for a newer SDK targeting an older device, but not for an older SDK.

Thanks about the clarification, I was not aware about this. The plugin requires now minimum cordova-ios 7.0.0. Is this sufficient to use API_AVAILABLE(ios(14))? How do I know, when I can use API_AVAILABLE(ios(14))?

dpogue · 2025-12-08T16:53:45Z

The plugin requires now minimum cordova-ios 7.0.0. Is this sufficient to use API_AVAILABLE(ios(14))?

cordova-ios 7.x supports Xcode 11 as a minimum, which ships with the iOS 13 SDK. So you'll still need those __IPHONE_OS_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED checks.

src/ios/CDVCamera.h

src/ios/CDVCamera.m

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-08T16:59:24Z

Ok, and API_AVAILABLE(ios(14)) can be removed? Because otherwise it would be double guarded or?

dpogue · 2025-12-08T17:01:08Z

Ok, and API_AVAILABLE(ios(14)) can be removed? Because otherwise it would be double guarded or?

No, you still need that, because you can be building with a newer SDK but supporting older OS versions.

cordova-ios 7.x supports as far back as iOS 11.0, cordova-ios 8.x supports as far back as iOS 13.0.

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-09T15:08:59Z

Thank you, now I understand it better :)

- The methods are not private and declared in CDVCamera.h

- The method is not related to PHPicker tests

- On XCode 11 the iOS SDK 14 is not available and compiling would fail

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-17T11:00:21Z

@dpogue I created some test methods with Copilot in CameraTest.m. Do you think they are worth to keep or should we just concentrate on implementing PHPickerViewController in CDVCamera.m? I don't have any experience with the extra CDVCameraTest project.

dpogue · 2025-12-17T15:28:51Z

@dpogue I created some test methods with Copilot in CameraTest.m. Do you think they are worth to keep or should we just concentrate on implementing PHPickerViewController in CDVCamera.m? I don't have any experience with the extra CDVCameraTest project.

If the tests are related to the code being changed here, I think it's fine to include them. Make sure that any AI-generated code is compliant with the ASF Generative Tooling policy and includes the Generated-by: trailer in the commit message.

src/ios/CDVCamera.h

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-17T16:47:15Z

Make sure that any AI-generated code is compliant with the ASF Generative Tooling policy and includes the Generated-by: trailer in the commit message.

I didn't know that. I will read the Generative Tooling policy.

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-29T11:33:28Z

I read the ASF Generative Tooling policy and will add the Generated-by: trailer to the commit message. Is this ready to merge?

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't see that IOS_SDK_14_AVAILABLE has to be removed still.

- Adding a publicly visible define in the header file is essentially expanding the public API of the plugin. People will start using this outside of this plugin when they shouldn't, and if we ever want to clean up code by removing this it will be a breaking change.

GitToTheHub · 2025-12-29T12:36:37Z

@dpogue This is ready to merge

dpogue

I'm not familiar with the API for the actual PHPickerViewController stuff, but this looks okay to me as far as structure goes

- Document `takePicture` and `showCameraPicker` - Remove documentation for `takePicture` in header file. The documentation is done in the `.m` file - Remove unnecessry `dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue() ...` in `takePicture` before calling `showCameraPicker`. This is already done in `showCameraPicker`. - Source out code for permission denied alert dialog when accessing the camera or UIImagePickerController on iOS < 14 for picking images

- Better docuent usage descriptions - `NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription` not needed for iOS 14+ when only picking images - Improve formatting for xml, js - sourceType `SAVEDPHOTOALBUM` is the same as `PHOTOLIBRARY` on Android and iOS 14+ - Use `PHOTOLIBRARY` as sourceType instead of `SAVEDPHOTOALBUM` in photo picker example

- Make clear that `SAVEDPHOTOALBUM` is the same like `PHOTOLIBRARY` and has only an effect on iOS < 14 - Format code when creating image chooser and document the request code parameter

GitToTheHub · 2026-01-02T04:31:38Z

@dpogue Thanks for reviewing this. There were some changes still necessary i noticed later:

sourceType SAVEDPHOTOALBUM opens also the PHPicker now
Documentation of takePicture and showCameraPicker in CDVCamera.m
Removed documentation for takePicture in header file. The documentation is done in the .m file
Removed unnecessry dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue() ... in takePicture before calling showCameraPicker. This is already done in showCameraPicker.
Source out code for permission denied alert dialog when accessing the camera or UIImagePickerController on iOS < 14 for picking images
I updated the readme
- Better document usage descriptions
- NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription not needed for iOS 14+ when only picking images
- Improve formatting for xml, js
- sourceType SAVEDPHOTOALBUM is the same as PHOTOLIBRARY on Android and iOS 14+
- Use PHOTOLIBRARY as sourceType instead of SAVEDPHOTOALBUM in photo picker example
I made subtle changes on the Android side in CameraLauncher.java
- Make clear that SAVEDPHOTOALBUM is the same like PHOTOLIBRARY and has only an effect on iOS < 14
- Format code when creating image chooser and document the request code parameter

GitToTheHub · 2026-01-05T08:56:32Z

@dpogue I would merge this. Is this ok?

dpogue

The code looks okay, but again I have no experience with the camera/picker APIs so I can't spot any issues in terms of how it's being used or whether we're calling the right methods

GitToTheHub mentioned this pull request Dec 3, 2025

iPhone SE (iOS 26.1) – Black screen when opening Photo Library #935

Open

GitToTheHub requested a review from dpogue December 4, 2025 00:01

GitToTheHub changed the title ~~feat(ios): integrate PHPickerViewController for iOS 14+~~ feat(ios): use PhotosUI for iOS 14+ Dec 4, 2025

GitToTheHub changed the title ~~feat(ios): use PhotosUI for iOS 14+~~ feat(ios): use PHPickerViewController for iOS 14+ Dec 4, 2025

GitToTheHub changed the title ~~feat(ios): use PHPickerViewController for iOS 14+~~ feat(ios): use PHPickerViewController for iOS 14+ Dec 4, 2025

dpogue reviewed Dec 4, 2025

View reviewed changes

GitToTheHub added 5 commits December 6, 2025 15:08

feat(ios): Add PHPickerViewController support for image selection on …

8836975

…iOS 14+

feat(ios): Cleanup CameraTest.m for PHPicker tests

3db5ea5

- Removed unnecessary import `PhotosUI.h`. This already imported via `CDVCamera.h`. - Removed `if (@available(iOS 14, *))` checks. The methods are already declared with `API_AVAILABLE(ios(14))` which is sufficient

feat(ios): Add - for pragma mark PHPickerViewControllerDelegate

7c4f856

- This separates the PHPickerViewControllerDelegate methods with a line when viewing the methods list in XCode

feat(ios): Fix some comments in CDVCamera

59aeca9

- Make some long method declarations multi-line instead single-line

GitToTheHub requested a review from dpogue December 6, 2025 15:16

Merge branch 'master' into pr-phpickerviewcontroller-since-ios-14

8a3888f

dpogue reviewed Dec 8, 2025

View reviewed changes

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GitToTheHub added 3 commits December 9, 2025 16:38

CameraTest.m: PHPicker methods don't need to be extra exposed

e381490

- The methods are not private and declared in CDVCamera.h

CameraTest.m: Move method testConvertImageMetadata`

fc296b6

- The method is not related to PHPicker tests

iOS: SDK iOS 14 compile time check for PHPicker

8b56311

- On XCode 11 the iOS SDK 14 is not available and compiling would fail

dpogue reviewed Dec 17, 2025

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src/ios/CDVCamera.h Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

dpogue approved these changes Dec 29, 2025

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GitToTheHub added 3 commits January 2, 2026 05:13

Android: Document SAVEDPHOTOALBUM`

f3afe5a

- Make clear that `SAVEDPHOTOALBUM` is the same like `PHOTOLIBRARY` and has only an effect on iOS < 14 - Format code when creating image chooser and document the request code parameter

GitToTheHub requested a review from dpogue January 5, 2026 08:56

dpogue approved these changes Jan 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

feat(ios): use PHPickerViewController for iOS 14+ #937

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feat(ios): use PHPickerViewController for iOS 14+ #937

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feat(ios): use `PHPickerViewController` for iOS 14+ #937

feat(ios): use `PHPickerViewController` for iOS 14+ #937

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