JWPlayerViewController Overview (iOS)

The JWPlayerViewController is a customizable view controller that allows you to display user controls for a prepackaged video experience without having to implement your own interface.

Requirement

JWPlayerKit 4.0.0+

Features

General

The following table lists the customizable native features of the JWPlayerViewController.

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This class does not allow for 100% customization. For more customization or a simpler interface, use JWPlayerView and assign your own delegates to the player.

Topic	Features
Branding	Logo/Watermarks: Add a unique logoto your app Skinning: Customize and define the player skin
Cross-device streaming	AirPlay: Stream to iOS devices through clicking the AirPlay button Google Cast: Stream to Cast devices when linked with the Cast framework
Monetization	Google DAI , Google IMA: Monetize content with Google DAI and IMA ads (native customization not supported) VAST: Monetize content with JWP VAST ads (native customization supported)
User Experience	Fullscreen: Initiate fullscreen mode by tapping a button, rotating the device, triggering an event, or calling a method Lock screen controls: Enable or disable lock screen controls for content Playback rates: Define the available playback rates for your content
User Interface	Poster Image: The poster image you specify for a player item will display at the beginning of a video unless `autostart` is set to `true` in the player config. This idle screen will wait until the user taps the play button. This poster image is also displayed during audio-only content. Picture in Picture: Display or hide a Picture in Picture button Playlist button: Playlist button that allows users to navigate through media and choose the next media to be played
Video Recommendations	If your content has Recommendations, this can be accessed through the playlist screen. The Recommendations menu will also appear at the end of a playlist or during the autoplay screen, if set up in your configuration.

Additional Features

Basic Player Interface

The interface comes with a centered play/pause button and fast-forward/rewind buttons (15 seconds). If the currently playing media is part of a playlist there are also centered next/previous buttons. These do not appear unless you are viewing a playlist.

The interface will stay on during audio-only content, but by default the interface will only appear when the user taps it. It will fade after three seconds, but this can be customized by setting the interfaceFadeTime property. The interface can also be set to always show or always hide using the interfaceBehavior property.

Another feature related to seeking is double tapping the left or right side of the screen. With or without the controls on the screen, this will trigger a rewind 15 seconds or fast forward 15 seconds event.

Accessing the Player

You have full access to the JWPlayer object through the player property. If you wish to call methods on the player directly, such as play(), pause(), setting other properties or querying the state of the player, use this property.

You also have full access to the JWPlayerView through the playerView property. You can set its properties by using this.

Listening for Events

When using the player and playerView properties you will notice they differ from the JWPlayerView and JWPlayer base types in that they do not allow you to set the delegate properties. JWPlayerViewController conforms to every delegate, and is already the assigned delegate for its player.

In order to listen for events, you need to subclass JWPlayerViewController. This allows you to override any delegate methods. Please refer to the delegates listed in JWPlayerView and JWPlayer for more information on the delegates and their methods.

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When you override a delegate method in your JWPlayerViewController subclass, always call the super method before your implementation, as in the snippets presented here in our documentation.

In addition, the JWPlayerViewController itself has a delegate property which takes a JWPlayerViewControllerDelegate. Conforming to this delegate allows you to listen for view controller-specific events, such as the following:

Fullscreen state
Related and Recommended item state and choices
Player size changes
Screen taps