Product changelog and announcements

The Programmable Video iOS SDK 3.7.0 release adds support for the new local network privacy policy introduced in iOS 14.0 and iPadOS 14.0. This policy requires user permissions for local network access and Peer-to-Peer applications using previous versions of our iOS SDK may break if permission is not granted. Applications that use Group Rooms are unaffected.

With this SDK release the local network path is no longer automatically included as one of the connection candidates. This modification ensures that users will not see a change in application behavior when upgrading to iOS 14.0 or iPadOS 14.0. Developers can still opt to include the local network as a connection candidate by setting a parameter. We recommend developers upgrade their Peer-to-Peer application to ensure correct behavior with iOS 14.0 and avoid any adverse changes to the experience.

For additional information, see the iOS SDK changelog and our helpdesk article.

We are introducing limits for the number of Rooms and Participants that an account can have in flight at the same time. These concurrency limits ensure a smooth consistent operation of the Twilio Video platform and prevent erroneous behavior on any one account from impacting the experience of other accounts.

The limits for all existing accounts have been set to at least double their peak production traffic, which ensures sufficient headroom for growth. These account limits can be increased on request. If a limit is reached an error code (53119, 53206) is returned and it is also displayed in the Console Debugger.

To learn more, visit the Programmable Video Limits page in our developer documentation.

Network Bandwidth Profile API is now available in our mobile SDKs starting with Android SDK 5.8 and iOS SDK 3.4. Javascript support has been available since December 2019.

The Network Bandwidth Profile API and associated Track Priority API provide developers with fine grained control over the allocation of bandwidth used by video tracks. Furthermore, the three profiles, “grid”, “collaboration”, and “presentation”, specify when tracks should be switched on or off to conserve bandwidth for the highest priority tracks. Using these controls developers can ensure their end users have the best possible experience.

To learn more visit the documentation on Using the Network Bandwidth Profile API and Using the Track Priority API. To see an example of how to use Network Bandwidth Profile API in a mobile application, visit the Video iOS Collaboration App or the Video Android Collaboration App.

We have enhanced how Programmable Video client SDKs connect to the Video Signaling servers. All SDKs now perform a back-off and retry if they receive a busy signal from the server. Additional error codes have been added to help developers troubleshoot client connection issues. The time for the JavaScript client SDK to connect has been reduced by over 250 milliseconds for connections originating outside of the us1 Twilio Region.

These changes will reduce the connection failure rate and help developers to manage the end user experience if connection failures do occur. The SDK versions are as follows:

• Twilio Video Javascript 2.5.0
• Twilio Video iOS 3.3.0
• Twilio Video Android 5.7.0

To learn more, visit the SDK specific changelogs for the Javascript SDK, iOS SDK, and Android SDK.

Embedding VoIP calling functionality on Android requires adding support for Audio Device switching and routing. This functionality is complex as it requires development and testing to support various Android versions and the variety of input and output device types available.

The new open source Twilio AudioSwitch Library for Android removes this complexity and can be easily embedded in just a few lines of code to handle switching to and selecting the built-in, wired, or Bluetooth mics and speakers seamlessly.

This library is available in open source format and can be found here.

See Video Android quickstart and Twilio Video App for examples of how to utilize this library.

The AudioDevice API is an advanced API that can be used to create innovative and sophisticated in-app audio capabilities. For example, enable pre-recorded messages to be played in-call, or apply noise reduction algorithms before playing out the received audio.

An AudioDevice is a logical device that is used to capture and render audio. The captured audio is sent to the remote party, and the received audio is rendered locally. By default, the SDK uses DefaultAudioDevice which uses the mic for capturing and the local speaker/earpiece/headset for rendering. The AudioDevice API allows for the creation of custom audio capturers and renderers. See this example and API docs to learn more about custom audio devices.

Voice Android SDK 5.2.0 package: bintray

API Docs are available docs

Get started with the Quickstart Guide

We are adding a new IP address block for the Media Server range in our Frankfurt, Germany (de1) region. This range will be used for the Programmable Video service and our Network Traversal Service. The new IP block is listed on the IP Addresses page in our Video documentation and on the Network Traversal Service Regions page.

If you have allowed the IP addresses of the de1 region in your Firewall, then your Firewall configuration will have to be updated to include the new IP block. This new block will go into rotation on April 16th, 2020.

The following additions to the Video Recording service are now Generally Available:

• Recording Composition API: provides developers flexibility to mix the media files of a Room recording into a high-quality, custom layout that matches their specific use case.
• Composition Hooks API: allows developers to streamline the recording workflow by automating the creation of Recording Compositions for every Room.
• Public Key Encryption for Recordings & Compositions: for enhanced security we are offering Enterprise customers the ability to encrypt recordings and compositions with a customer provided public encryption key.
• External AWS S3 Storage: Enterprise customers can configure the Recording service to push Recordings or Compositions directly to their AWS S3 Bucket.

These Video recording features allow developers to create a recording workflow that matches their specific use case and security needs. For example, a customer in the Healthcare industry may decide to encrypt all recordings with their Public Key and have them automatically stored to their external storage, and a customer in the Education space may decide to compose the recording of a virtual classroom into a presentation layout for students.

To learn more check out the blog post or visit the documentation on Recording Composition API, Composition Hooks API, Encrypting your Stored Media and Storing to AWS S3.

Today we are excited to announce that we are open sourcing three video collaboration applications, one for iOS, one for Android, and a ReactJS one for the Web. These fully featured apps can be deployed to the Twilio cloud in minutes for your own personal, globally scalable, multiplatform video collaboration solution.

Access to the source code will empower developers to tailor the application to their use case and create a truly unique collaboration experience. The code also provides a canonical reference for developers building on the Twilio Programmable Video APIs.

For additional information on getting started see the blog post here and links to the source code repos are below.

• Web - https://github.com/twilio/twilio-video-app-react
• iOS - https://github.com/twilio/twilio-video-app-ios
• Android - https://github.com/twilio/twilio-video-app-android

Programmable Video can now support compliant healthcare uses cases that contain protected health information (PHI) for organizations that are subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Twilio will sign Business Associate Addendums (BAA) with covered entities and business associates for HIPAA Eligible Products and Services.

Click here to learn more about how to build on Twilio for HIPAA compliance.