Co-hosts and Picture in Picture

Up to three friends join a stream on camera from their own phones, and the host talks with them while playing. On iPhone, the host's camera keeps running in a Picture in Picture window while they use other apps.

Feature cohosts, Live tier. limits.maxCohosts in your configuration is 3 on the Live tier.

Early access. Code samples are illustrative until the 1.0.0 release. Write to services@symaro.com to join.

How it works

• The host starts the stream with cohostsEnabled: true. The SDK joins a WebRTC room (LiveKit) for the session as the host.
• Co-hosts join the room from their own phones. Their cameras are drawn into the stream as bubbles beside the host's facecam, and everyone in the room hears each other.
• The picture with the co-hosts is what every output shows: EveryCord's delivery, YouTube, Twitch and SRT alike.
• Co-hosts need an EveryCord account. Today they join from the EveryCord app (an invite link opens it, or the App Store when it is not installed); joining from your own app is in early access.

Invite co-hosts

let session = try await EveryCord.live.start(LiveOptions(title: "Squad night", cohostsEnabled: true,
                                                         facecam: FacecamOptions()))

// A link anyone signed in can use to join while the stream is live (1 to 3 uses). Shown once: keep it.
let invite = try await session.cohosts.inviteLink(maxUses: 2)
share(invite.url)                      // https://everycord.net/j/<token>

// Or invite an EveryCord user by ID: they get an invite to accept.
try await session.cohosts.invite(userID: friendID)

// The list (invited, joined, declined, left, removed), and removal.
try await session.cohosts.refresh()
let joined = session.cohosts.list.filter { $0.status == .joined }
try await session.cohosts.remove(userID: friendID)

val session = EveryCord.live.start(LiveOptions(title = "Squad night", cohostsEnabled = true, facecam = Facecam()), consent)
val cohosts = session.cohosts ?: return

val link = cohosts.inviteLink(maxUses = 2)      // shown once: keep it
cohosts.invite(friendId)
lifecycleScope.launch { cohosts.list.collect { list -> showCohosts(list) } }
cohosts.remove(friendId)

On Android each Cohost also has hasVideo, true while their camera is in the room and drawn into the video.

Move the bubbles

setFacecam(shape:corner:) moves or reshapes the host's camera bubble, and the co-hosts' bubbles follow beside it. See Facecam and captions.

Picture in Picture (iOS 18 and later)

While the host plays another app, iOS would normally stop the camera. The SDK runs the host's camera as a video call in a Picture in Picture window instead, so it keeps running, stays in the stream, and shows the co-hosts.

session.pictureInPicture is available when the session has a facecam or co-hosts, on iOS 18 and later:

if let pip = session.pictureInPicture {
    // Keep the self-view on screen while live; the window opens by itself when the host leaves the app.
    cameraContainer.addSubview(pip.selfView)

    pip.isPossible       // whether the window can open now
    pip.isActive         // whether it is open
    _ = pip.start()      // open it now (only while the app is in front)
    pip.stop()
    pip.switchCamera()   // front and back
}

Your app needs the voip background mode and the camera and microphone usage descriptions. On iOS 16 and 17 the stream runs without the window: the facecam pauses while the host is in another app.

Android. The SDK's capture service is a foreground service with the camera and microphone types, so the facecam and the co-host room keep running while the person uses other apps. No Picture in Picture window is needed.