Snap

Point-and-shoot camera for iOS apps

A single-lens, single-use alternative to UIImagePickerController, Snap covers most common in-app picture-taking use cases. Zero configuration, unless you want to pick a different lens or enable the flash. Takes one auto-focused JPEG at a time.

Supported Platforms

Written in Swift 5.9 for iOS 17. Build with Xcode 15 or newer.

Ready to Use

Present Snap.Camera using one of two included view modifiers for sheet and full-screen-cover modal presentations:

import SwiftUI
import Snap

struct ContentView: View {
    @State var isPresented: Bool = false
    @State var isCapturing: Bool = false
    @State var image: Camera.Image?
    
    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Image(image)
                .resizable()
                .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fit)
            Button(action: { isPresented.toggle() }) {
                Label("Camera", systemImage: "camera")
            }
            .sheet($isPresented) {
                Camera($isCapturing) { image in
                    self.image = image
                    isPresented.toggle()
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Toggle $isCapturing true to trigger the shutter programmatically. Captured still images are delivered as Data with UTType public.jpeg.

Snap.Camera automatically selects the 1x-iest built-in rear camera available. Easily flip that to front-facing camera or pick your own:

Camera.device = .default() // .default(.back)
Camera.device = .default(.front)
Camera.device = Camera.Device([
    .builtInDualCamera,
    .builtInWideAngleCamera // Select first available
], position: .back)

Camera.quality = .balanced // Default
Camera.quality = .speed 
Camera.quality = .quality

Camera.flash = .off // Default
Camera.flash = .auto

⚠️ Add a privacy description for camera usage to the main app target info.

Kit of Parts

Camera

Camera holds the core functionality:

• Interface binding to trigger the camera shutter
• Handler to deliver a JPEG image of the configured quality, using the configured camera
• Live video preview that scales to fill its SwiftUI containing view
• Video preview flashes to indicate shutter release

Use Camera.shutterToggle(_ alignment: Alignment) modifier to add a shutter button:

@State var isCapturing: Bool = false
@State var error: Error? = nil

Camera($isCapturing, error: $error) { image in
    // image.fileType: public.jpeg
    // image.data: 2901515 bytes
}
.shutterToggle() // Default alignment: .bottom

DisableIdleTimer

The Snap.Camera sheet/full-screen presentations use a handy ViewModifier to keep the screen awake:

import Snap

EmptyView()
    .disableIdleTimer() // .disableIdleTimer(300.0)
    .disableIdleTimer(86400.0) // Lowest value wins

ImagePicker

SwiftUI is gonna get a first-party camera Picker of some kind eventually. In the meantime, ImagePicker wraps UIImagePickerController for when you need features that Snap.Camera doesn't cover:

• User-adjustable zoom and flash
• Review, edit and retake
• Hardware volume button shutter release
• Movie recording

Present ImagePicker with the included view modifier, then handle any captured media:

import Snap

@State private var isPresented: Bool = false

Button(action: { isPresented.toggle() }) {
    Label("Camera", systemImage: "camera")
}
.imagePicker($isPresented, media: [.image, .movie]) { info in
    // info: [UIImagePickerController.InfoKey: Any]
}

⚠️ UIImagePickerController is designed to be locked in portrait orientation only, but UIViewControllerRepresentable ignores view controller orientation locking. Hilarity ensues unless your app is portrait only. Otherwise, stick to presenting from UIKit for now.

⚠️ Enabling movie capture in ImagePicker or UIImagePickerController requires an additional target info privacy description for microphone usage.