360 video embed Youtube player in iOS app

Question

I am very new to xcode but would like to have some guidance on embedding 360 videos into an iOS app.

Bascially, I want to play a 360 degree video in my mobile app. I do not want the video to be opened in Youtube app. I simply want the video to be played on the top half of a page in my own app with a Youtube plugin.

I found this on the Internet: https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/guides/ios_youtube_helper but I am not sure if the embedded 360 video would work in my app.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I think the iOS Youtube Helper that you linked will not help you with your problem. Also it is not stated there that it can support a 360 degree videos.

YouTube 360 embedded video functionality is still not fully there yet. It is assumed by many that this must have been rolled out along with the YouTube user interface update that hit recently.

It is stated in this documentation that as the gyro functionality still isn’t implemented, the YouTube app must still be opened to properly view these 360° videos on a VR headset. Hopefully this will be added soon to YouTube 360 embedded videos. Until then, viewers of 360 Video Directory or Daily Dose 360 column will be able to get an easy quick look at the YouTube 360° videos before deciding whether or not to pull out their VR headset.

I also found out that as of now, 360 videos do not work in a web browser on iOS due to an issue with iOS forcing full screen playback of videos in the browser using Google VR. So maybe they still working on this to work the 360 videos without using the YouTube apps itself.

You can also check the known defects and enhancements to 360 degree video playback on mobile, and full functionality and support for these types of videos on mobile.