AVPictureInPictureController doesn't automatically start picture-in-picture when backgrounding the app

Question

When creating a custom video player using the AVPlayer + AVPlayerLayer + AVPictureInPictureController for a iPhone running iOS 14 (beta 7) the video does not automatically enter picture-in-picture-mode when the app enters the background after player.start() is called from a UIButton action.

The issue does not reproduce using the AVPlayerViewController which seems to indicate a problem with the AVPictureInPictureController on iOS 14 in general, but I was wondering if anyone else had run into this problem and know of any workarounds. I've also filed this problem with Apple under rdar://8620271

Sample code.

import UIKit
import AVFoundation
import AVKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {
    private let player = AVPlayer(url: URL(string: "https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/BigBuckBunny.mp4")!)
    private var pictureInPictureController: AVPictureInPictureController!
    private var playerView: PlayerView!
    private var playButton: UIButton!
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        playerView = PlayerView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 44, width: view.bounds.width, height: 200))
        playerView.backgroundColor = .black
        playerView.playerLayer.player = player
        view.addSubview(playerView)

        playButton = UIButton(frame: CGRect(x: view.bounds.midX - 50, y: playerView.frame.maxY + 20, width: 100, height: 22))
        playButton.setTitleColor(.blue, for: .normal)
        playButton.setTitle("Play", for: .normal)
        playButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(play), for: .touchUpInside)
        view.addSubview(playButton)

        pictureInPictureController = AVPictureInPictureController(playerLayer: playerView.playerLayer)

        do {
            let audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance()
            try audioSession.setCategory(.playback)
            try audioSession.setMode(.moviePlayback)
            try audioSession.setActive(true)
        } catch let e {
            print(e.localizedDescription)
        }
    }

    @objc func play() {
        player.play()
    }
}

class PlayerView: UIView {
    override class var layerClass: AnyClass {
        return AVPlayerLayer.self
    }

    var playerLayer: AVPlayerLayer! {
        return layer as? AVPlayerLayer
    }
}

Answer 1

Starting iOS 14.2, Apple has exposed an api to start PIP when app goes into background:

if #available(iOS 14.2, *) {
   pictureInPictureController.canStartPictureInPictureAutomaticallyFromInline = true
}

Additionally, it is worth noting that Apple has forbidden to start picture-in-picture without user manually tapping the button. It will result in app rejection. Best bet is to use Apple's API mentioned above to avoid rejection.

Answer 2

Maybe you can use some variation of following:

SecurityIdentity si = SecurityDomain.getCurrent().getCurrentSecurityIdentity();
si.createRunAsIdentity(...);

The current identity needs to have permissions for it to succeed, so if you'll get unauthorized exception you should add RunAsPrincipal permissions to that user: https://developer.jboss.org/people/fjuma/blog/2018/06/01/configuring-permissions-using-elytron-in-wildfly-13