MPRemoteCommandCenter SomeTimes doesn't show up

Question

I have a music player that uses Superpowered as an audio player. I followed this article to implement a player widget. However, the widget sometimes shows up and many times doesn't. I want the player widget to show up whenever there is audio playing.

RemoteCommandManager.swift: (From the article)

AppDelegate.swift:

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
        UIApplication.shared.beginReceivingRemoteControlEvents()
        // Override point for customization after application launch.

        // Initializer the `RemoteCommandManager`.
        remoteCommandManager = RemoteCommandManager()

        // Always enable playback commands in MPRemoteCommandCenter.
        remoteCommandManager.activatePlaybackCommands(true)

        // Setup AVAudioSession to indicate to the system you how intend to play audio.
        let audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance()

        do {
            try audioSession.setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback, mode: AVAudioSessionModeDefault)
        }
        catch {
            print("An error occured setting the audio session category: \(error)")
        }


        return true
}

PlayerManager.swift:

func play() {
    let _ = try? AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
    superpowered.play()
}

UPDATE:

I have noticed the following scenario:

If an iTunes track is playing (i.e the player widget is present) then I play an audio file using my app, the player widget changes so that it shows info of my app.

My guess is that when I activate the audio session, the player widget switches from iTunes to my app. However, when the player widget is not present, activating the audio session fails to present it.

Answer 1

try setting up the audioSession to active in AppDelegate, just above the returning the function, func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions....

// Set the AVAudioSession as active.  This is required so that your application becomes the "Now Playing" app.
    do {
        try audioSession.setActive(true, with: [])
    }
    catch {
        print("An Error occured activating the audio session: \(error)")
    }

and check if that helps.