iOS 7’s new Inter-App Audio introduces universal audio routing between apps | 9to5Mac
Following WWDC this week Apple’s redesign of iOS 7 and Mavericks have been getting the majority of attention, and rightfully so, but there are a few new big features coming in iOS 7 that haven’t been discussed. This morning we told you about the new MFi Game Controller framework that will make using hardware game controllers a lot smoother in iOS 7, but another important new feature in the update is inter-app audio.
I found this after publishing my post on the subject yesterday. I am surprised to learn Inter-App Audio has been a feature on iOS since version 7. While this disrupts the context in which I set up the feature in my post yesterday (by explaining iOS 8 extensions), it confirms how quietly Apple added it. Judging from the picture in the linked article, it was announced at WWDC in 2013, but only in small text on a single slide of the presentation.
Apparently the feature was possible to achieve even earlier than 2013 using the app Audiobus.
I mistakenly attributed this feature to iOS 8 extensions yesterday due to “Inter-App Audio Apps” bearing a similar language to Apple’s documentation on the subject. They have certainly been quiet about the feature. I found a list of supported apps here. Given the size of this list, I stand by my statement that it is a shame we haven’t seen a truly great audio editor for iPad yet. Clearly the big players like Avid see software like Pro Tools as unsuitable for mobile devices. Apple’s own pro audio editor, Logic, has an iPad app, but it is just a remote for controlling elements of the Mac version.