---
title: "Meet the Now Playing framework"
description: "Learn how NowPlaying publishes local and remote media sessions to Lock Screen, Control Center, Dynamic Island, CarPlay, and device routing UI."
shoutout: "Unofficial, made with love by Superwall - the best way to monetize your apps."
category: "Audio & Video"
---

# Meet the Now Playing framework


[Watch on Apple Developer](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/312/)

Learn how NowPlaying publishes local and remote media sessions to Lock Screen, Control Center, Dynamic Island, CarPlay, and device routing UI.

## TL;DR

- NowPlaying provides a Swift, observable media-session model for publishing app playback state, content metadata, artwork, and supported commands to system Now Playing surfaces.
- Adopt MediaSessionRepresentable for local playback, then create a MediaSession with your observable model so system UI stays synchronized automatically.
- Remote media sessions use an app extension plus APNs-delivered state to represent playback on external devices such as smart speakers and to route system commands back through your server.
- Media Sharing Extensions let apps use the system device picker for supported media protocols without embedding each protocol SDK in the app bundle.

## NowPlaying and system Now Playing surfaces

The NowPlaying framework connects an app's media playback to the system Now Playing experience across Apple platforms, including Lock Screen, Control Center, Dynamic Island, StandBy, CarPlay, Apple Watch, Apple Vision Pro, and Apple TV.

The session's sample app plays ambient sounds locally and can also control smart speakers. The same NowPlaying model concepts are used to describe current content, playback state, artwork, and user actions to the system.

## Publish local playback with MediaSessionRepresentable

For local audio or video, make an observable model conform to MediaSessionRepresentable. The representation provides a unique session identifier, current content, a playback snapshot, and the commands the app supports.

Content can use specialized types such as Music, Podcast, or MovieContent, or GenericContent for simpler cases. Artwork is supplied with an async closure so the system can request an image at the size it needs.

MediaPlaybackSnapshot tells the system whether playback is playing or paused. For indefinite ambient audio, the session uses a continuous duration and only needs the play/pause state; for media with a defined duration, include elapsedTime in the snapshot.

- Each session representation needs a unique id.
- The content property describes title, subtitle, media type, duration, and artwork.
- The commands array exposes actions such as play, pause, previous, and next as closures invoked by system UI.
- Command handlers should update the underlying player; observation then lets NowPlaying refresh system surfaces.

### Adopt MediaSessionRepresentable

A local playback model describes content, artwork, playback state, and the command closures the system can invoke.

```swift
import NowPlaying

extension PlayerModel: MediaSessionRepresentable {
    var id: String { "ambient-sound-session" }

    var content: (any MediaContentRepresentable)? {
        GenericContent(
            id: sound.id,
            title: sound.name,
            subtitle: sound.description,
            type: .audio,
            duration: .continuous,
            artwork: Artwork(id: sound.id) { size in
                let data = try await self.artworkData(size: size)
                return try ArtworkRepresentation(data: data)
            }
        )
    }

    var playbackSnapshot: MediaPlaybackSnapshot? {
        MediaPlaybackSnapshot(state: player.isPlaying ? .playing() : .paused)
    }

    var commands: [MediaCommand] {
        [
            .play { self.player.play() },
            .pause { self.player.pause() },
            .previous { self.player.previous() },
            .next { self.player.next() }
        ]
    }
}
```

## Connect the model with MediaSession

After the model conforms to MediaSessionRepresentable, create a MediaSession with that model where the app sets up its playback engine. MediaSession observes the model and keeps system Now Playing surfaces current as content or playback state changes.

- Initialize MediaSession once the player model exists.
- Keep the MediaSession alive for as long as the playback session should be represented to the system.

### Initialize MediaSession with the player model

MediaSession is the bridge between the app's observable representation and system Now Playing UI.

```swift
import NowPlaying

struct PlayerController {
    let player: SoundPlayer
    let model: PlayerModel
    let session: MediaSession<PlayerModel>

    init() {
        self.player = SoundPlayer()
        self.model = PlayerModel(player: player)
        self.session = MediaSession(model)
    }
}
```

## Represent playback on external devices with remote media sessions

Remote media sessions cover content playing outside the iPhone, such as on a smart speaker controlled by the app. The architecture uses an app extension and push notifications: the external device reports state to a server, the server sends an APNs notification to iPhone, and the system launches the extension with the updated state from the notification payload.

When a user acts from system UI on iPhone, the system calls the extension's command handler. The extension sends the command to the server, and the server forwards it to the external device.

- Create an app extension conforming to RemoteMediaSessionExtension.
- Use RemoteMediaSessionExtensionConfiguration and the com.apple.nowplaying remote-media extension point.
- Return a model from session(_:) using the RemotePlayerState supplied by the system.
- The remote state type represents the server state and push notification payload, and conforms to RemoteMediaSessionAttributes.

### Remote media session app extension entry point

The extension creates the model the system uses to update UI or handle interactions for a remote session.

```swift
import ExtensionFoundation
import NowPlaying

@main
final class SampleAppExtension: @MainActor RemoteMediaSessionExtension {
    var configuration: some AppExtensionConfiguration {
        RemoteMediaSessionExtensionConfiguration(extension: self)
    }

    var extensionPoint: AppExtensionPoint {
        AppExtensionPoint.Identifier(host: "com.apple.nowplaying", name: "remote-media")
    }

    func session(_ state: RemotePlayerState) async throws -> RemotePlayerModel {
        RemotePlayerModel(state: state)
    }
}
```

## Implement RemoteMediaSessionRepresentable

RemoteMediaSessionRepresentable looks similar to MediaSessionRepresentable for content, artwork, playback snapshot, and commands. The key difference is that command closures send requests to the server instead of directly controlling a local player.

Remote sessions also publish devices. Each MediaDevice needs a stable unique identifier, a display name, a type such as .speaker, and capabilities such as absolute volume. When system volume UI changes, the capability closure receives the new volume so the extension can send a server request.

The update(_:) method is called when a push notification arrives with new state. Updating an observable model lets NowPlaying detect the change and refresh system surfaces automatically.

### Remote session representation with commands, devices, and update

Remote sessions route system commands and volume changes through the app's server, while push-driven updates refresh the observable state.

```swift
import NowPlaying

extension RemotePlayerModel: @MainActor RemoteMediaSessionRepresentable {
    var id: String { state.sessionID }

    var playbackSnapshot: MediaPlaybackSnapshot? {
        MediaPlaybackSnapshot(state: state.isPlaying ? .playing() : .paused)
    }

    var commands: [MediaCommand] {
        [
            .play { try await self.client.send(.play) },
            .pause { try await self.client.send(.pause) },
            .previous { try await self.client.send(.previous) },
            .next { try await self.client.send(.next) }
        ]
    }

    var devices: [MediaDevice] {
        state.devices.map { device in
            MediaDevice(
                id: device.id,
                name: device.name,
                type: .speaker,
                capabilities: [
                    .absoluteVolume(device.volume) { volume in
                        // Send volume change to server.
                    }
                ]
            )
        }
    }

    func update(_ state: RemotePlayerState) {
        self.state = state
    }
}
```

## Media Sharing Extensions for routing

Media Sharing Extensions provide APIs for playing media from iPhone to other speakers and TVs through a unified system interface. Apps can use the system device picker for the media protocols they support, and the selection is reflected on system surfaces such as Control Center.

Instead of embedding each protocol SDK in the app bundle, protocol implementations live outside the app and are managed by the system. This lets the app focus on media content and take advantage of additional protocols as they become available.

- Use Media Sharing Extensions when the app needs system-managed media device selection and routing.
- See Apple's "Routing media to third-party devices" documentation for implementation details.

## Resources

- [Routing media to third-party devices](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/AVSystemRouting/routing-media-to-third-party-devices)
- [Publishing remote media sessions](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/NowPlaying/publishing-remote-media-sessions)
- [Publishing media sessions](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/NowPlaying/publishing-media-sessions)
- [Setting up a remote notification server](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserNotifications/setting-up-a-remote-notification-server)

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