Migrate from SDK v3 to SDK v4 (iOS)

In iOS SDK 4.0, we made significant improvements to our product offering:

• Written entirely in Swift
• Completely native
• Decoupled user interface

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Written in Swift

By rewriting our SDK entirely in Swift, we have created a flexible, high-performance SDK. We can exploit the latest trends and latest technologies developed by Apple, while maintaining backward compatibility for customer applications using Objective-C.

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Completely Native

Our player and user interface are completely implemented using UIKit. This improvement allows you to easily control video presentation and customizations (for example, controls, overlays, styles). Using UIKit also removes the constraints imposed by a web view which prevents videos from loading quickly.

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Decoupled User Interface

We have created a distinction between the player and the user interface. This distinction gives you the flexibility to use the player in an application in multiple ways.

When you use JWPlayerView, you can embed a player into storyboards or create a player programmatically. The JWPlayerView is a basic player that plays content without displaying any player controls. You can build a custom user interface on top of the player by listening for and reacting to player events.

If you prefer to use JWP's default user interface with customizable controls, instantiate JWPlayerViewController. Similar to the JWPlayerView, this view controller can be embedded into a storyboard. You can also subclass this view controller to listen for and react to behaviors based on user interactions and player events.

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Next Step

Before you begin migrating to v4, review the iOS Migration Reference to see a detailed listing of the differences between the iOS SDK v3 and iOS SDK v4.