Skip to content
AAura
sdk documentation

Integrating Aura iOS Core Haptics SDK with AVPlayer and Custom Shaders

Step-by-step developer tutorial for embedding synced haptic video playback inside native iOS Swift apps with Metal rendering.

Alexandre Mercier

Alexandre Mercier

Principal Systems Engineer

Jul 22, 20268 min read3,890 reads
iPhone displaying developer code in IDE

Adding haptic trailers or interactive video cuts into your native iOS application requires synchronizing Apple's `AVPlayer` clock with a low-overhead `CHHapticEngine` instance. The Aura iOS SDK makes this a single-line configuration.

Installing the Swift Package

Add the Aura SDK via Swift Package Manager (SPM):

Package.swift
1dependencies: [
2 .package(url: "https://github.com/hapticcore/aura-ios-sdk.git", from: "1.2.0")
3]

Initializing the Haptic Video Player

Bind your video URL and `.ahap` bundle together using `AuraPlayerController`:

HapticTrailerViewController.swift
1import UIKit
2import AVFoundation
3import AuraHaptics
4
5class HapticTrailerViewController: UIViewController {
6 private var hapticPlayer: AuraPlayerController?
7
8 override func viewDidLoad() {
9 super.viewDidLoad()
10
11 guard let videoURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "trailer_4k", withExtension: "mp4"),
12 let ahapURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "trailer_4k", withExtension: "ahap") else {
13 return
14 }
15
16 hapticPlayer = AuraPlayerController(videoURL: videoURL, hapticURL: ahapURL)
17 hapticPlayer?.attach(to: view)
18 hapticPlayer?.play()
19 }
20}

Handling Audio Session Interruptions

When a phone call arrives or the app moves to background, `CHHapticEngine` will automatically pause and recreate its audio server connection on foreground reactivation, preventing audio crackle or lost tactile sync.

Custom Metal Visualizer Binding

You can subscribe to `hapticPlayer.onHapticParameterUpdate` to drive GPU shader effects (such as screen shake or chromatic aberration) perfectly synchronized with the tactile impact.

Tags:#SDK Documentation#iOS#Swift#AVPlayer#Core Haptics#Metal#Mobile Dev
Share this article
Alexandre Mercier

Alexandre Mercier

Principal Systems Engineer

More articles by Alexandre

Low-latency systems programmer. Rust & Swift contributor.

Twitter / XGitHubLinkedIn

Discussion (0)

Join the conversation

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Keep Reading

Related Articles

View all articles →

Aura Tactile Dispatch

Stay on the cutting edge of haptic sound design

Join 10,000+ film audio supervisors, sound designers, and mobile engineers receiving our monthly deep dives into Core Haptics, AI transduction, and cinematic trailers.

No spam, ever. Unsubscribe at any time with a single click.