iOS SDK

The iOS SDK is a Swift package in the Trinet-SDK repository for capturing video, motion data and audio from a Trinet camera connected to an iPhone over USB.

Version	0.3.5 (repository tag v0.5.4)
Minimum iOS	17.0
Language	Swift 5.9, no external dependencies
Cameras	Trinet Mono (V4), Trinet Stereo and Trinet Stereo GS, in iPhone mode
Camera firmware	Stereo and Stereo GS: 0.5.13 or newer

iPhones don't let apps use external USB webcams, so the camera connects in iPhone mode: it appears as a USB network adapter and serves its stream over that link. The SDK keeps all traffic on that USB link — never Wi-Fi or cellular. See USB transports.

Get started

These steps take you from a camera in its box to a recording on your iPhone, using the TrinetApp demo app from the repository. There is no App Store app: iOS apps must be signed for your own phone, so you build the demo from source on a Mac. A free Apple ID is enough.

1. Put the camera in iPhone mode. Create a text file on the camera's memory card at Trinet/trinet_mode.conf containing the line mode=ncm, insert the card and power the camera on. Alternatively, set Boot mode → iPhone in the Trinet app on Android, which applies when no card is inserted. The light turns cyan. See Recording modes. Stereo and Stereo GS need camera firmware 0.5.13 or newer for iPhone mode. On older firmware they start in USB webcam mode instead (light white). Update them first: Update the firmware.
2. Install the tools on your Mac: Xcode 16 or newer, and XcodeGen (brew install xcodegen).
3. Get the demo app and open it in Xcode:

   git clone https://github.com/Panoculon-Labs/Trinet-SDK.git
   cd Trinet-SDK/ios/TrinetApp
   xcodegen generate          # re-run after every git pull
   open TrinetApp.xcodeproj
   

4. Set your signing team (once): select the TrinetApp target → Signing & Capabilities → tick Automatically manage signing → choose your Team. A personal Apple ID works.
5. Run it on your iPhone. Connect the iPhone (iOS 17 or newer) to the Mac, trust the computer, choose the iPhone as the run destination and press ▶ Run. The first time, trust your developer certificate on the phone under Settings → General → VPN & Device Management, then open the app. With a free Apple ID the app stops opening after 7 days; run it from Xcode again to renew it. A paid Apple Developer Program account removes the limit and adds TestFlight.
6. Connect the camera to the iPhone with a USB-C cable. Within a few seconds a new interface appears under Settings → Ethernet, and the app's Home tab shows the camera. Allow the Local Network permission if iOS asks.
7. Record. Open Record, check the preview — on a stereo camera choose the left eye, right eye or both — and tap Record. Recordings continue if you lock the phone or switch apps. Files are saved in the app's Documents/Trinet/ folder: on a Mac, open the iPhone in Finder → Files → TrinetApp to copy them off, or use Share in the app's Library.

The demo app also has a Library with full playback and a Controls tab with the camera's settings.

Add the SDK to your app

Package.swift

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/Panoculon-Labs/Trinet-SDK", from: "0.5.4"),
],
targets: [
    .target(name: "MyApp", dependencies: [
        .product(name: "TrinetSDK", package: "Trinet-SDK"),
    ]),
]

In Xcode: File → Add Package Dependencies…, enter the repository URL, choose Up to Next Major 0.5.4 and add the TrinetSDK product.

Which version to pin

The repository ships the Android and iOS SDKs under one tag series. Tag v0.5.4 carries iOS SDK 0.3.5, so pin from: "0.5.4". Older tags carry older iOS code — v0.5.3 has iOS 0.2.1.

Quick start

import TrinetSDK

// 1. Find the camera on the USB network link
let discovery = TrinetDiscovery()
guard let device = await discovery.scan(timeout: 2.0).first else { return }

// 2. Connect and open a live session
try await device.connect()
let session = await device.liveSession()
await session.start()

// 3. Preview in SwiftUI; on a stereo camera pick .left, .both or .right
//    LivePreviewView(stream: session.sampleStream, lens: .both)

// 4. Motion data, per frame
Task {
    for await batch in session.imuStream {
        // batch.samples: [ImuSample]
    }
}

// 5. Record: .mp4 (video, audio, motion data) + .imu + .vts
let handle = try await session.startRecording(in: outputDirectory)
// …
session.stopRecording()

// 6. Tear down
await session.stop()
await device.disconnect()

Cameras and video

Camera	Live video over USB
Trinet Mono (V4)	1920×1080, 30 fps
Trinet Stereo	3840×1080 side-by-side, 30 fps — left eye x 0–1919, right eye x 1920–3839
Trinet Stereo GS	3840×1080 side-by-side, 30 fps, global shutter

On connect the SDK reads the camera model (device.info, isStereo, model). A stereo camera sends both eyes in one frame, with one motion-data and audio stream for the pair; recordings keep the full side-by-side frame.

There are two independent codec settings:

Setting	SDK	Controls
Stream codec	streamCodec() / setStreamCodec(_:)	The live stream to the iPhone, H.264 or H.265. Changing it restarts the camera's stream (5–10 s); the session reconnects by itself.
Recording codec	recordingCodec() / setRecordingCodec(_:)	The camera's own memory-card recordings.

The live session always follows the codec the camera actually streams. Cameras whose firmware has no stream-codec setting stream H.264.

Camera settings

TrinetDevice reads and sets the camera's settings, as the Trinet app does on Android: picture (brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, hue, gain, exposure, white balance), sound, bitrate and rate control, keyframe interval, mains frequency, status light, wireless broadcast, thermal limit, temporal noise reduction (Stereo GS), calibration read and upload, and the boot mode.

Setting	SDK
Split recordings (chunking)	setRecordingChunk(minutes:) — 0 = one continuous file
Rotate the picture 180°	setImageFlip(_:) — the camera restarts
Uncompressed card audio	setRecordingAudioFormat(_:) — adds a .wav beside each card recording

These three need camera firmware 0.5.13 or newer on Stereo and Stereo GS. Each setting is read on connect; the demo app hides any the camera doesn't support. In your own code, treat a failed read as "not available".

Recording in the background

A recording on the iPhone keeps running when the app goes to the background or the phone locks. While it records, the SDK's BackgroundKeepAlive keeps a silent audio session open, and the app declares UIBackgroundModes: audio. The preview pauses in the background (iOS allows no video decoding there) and resumes at the next keyframe. When not recording, the demo app closes the stream in the background and reopens it on return.

App Store review

Silent background audio can be questioned in App Store review. TestFlight, ad-hoc and enterprise builds are unaffected.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
No camera in the app	Check the camera's light is cyan (iPhone mode) and that Settings → Ethernet lists it; wait a few seconds for it to get an address, then rescan.
A stereo camera's light is white, not cyan	Its firmware is older than 0.5.13 — update it.
The Local Network prompt appears again	iOS resets it when the app is reinstalled — allow it in Settings.
The app won't open after a week	Free Apple ID signing lasts 7 days — run it from Xcode again.
The Simulator can't see the camera	USB cameras only work on a real iPhone.

More

• Full iOS guide on GitHub — every API, the SwiftUI helpers, diagnostics and the file formats.
• iOS changelog.
• Network API reference — the camera's HTTP endpoints in iPhone mode.
• Recordings use the same file formats as Android, the camera's own card and the Python toolkit.