Finalize macOS camera stability and App Store polish

[james8464]

Summary

• harden AVFoundation photo/video lifecycle, device switching, recording finalization, permissions, and recovery
• balance security-scoped save-folder access and restore the real user Pictures directory
• add actionable errors for unavailable cameras, permissions, folders, frame rates, and recording failures
• polish the Apple Camera-inspired SwiftUI controls, animations, Reduce Motion, accessibility, timer cancellation, Edge Light, and Space-bar shutter
• add macOS 14 support, sandbox/privacy configuration, and the complete opaque macOS app icon catalog

Root causes

The build was compiling duplicate synchronized Swift sources. Runtime risk was concentrated in overlapping capture/record operations, session reconfiguration during recording finalization, unsupported device settings, and unbalanced security-scoped URL ownership.

Commit groups

1. e35b84c — Harden camera capture and storage
2. 298f0c0 — Polish camera interface and accessibility
3. 65f77c3 — Add complete macOS app icon set
4. 04d825e — Serialize recording lifecycle

Review

An independent findings-first review identified two blocking recording lifecycle races. Commit 04d825e resolves both. Re-review found no remaining Critical or Important issues and rated the branch ready with warnings.

AVCaptureMovieFileOutput.availableVideoCodecTypes is unavailable on macOS, so codec failures remain delegate-handled with actionable H.264 guidance.

Validation

• clean universal Release build for generic/platform=macOS: passed (x86_64 arm64)
• Xcode static analyzer: passed
• entitlements/privacy manifest/XML/JSON validation: passed
• git diff --check: passed
• live FaceTime camera preview and controls: passed
• Edge Light, cancellable countdown, Settings UI, and /Users/james/Pictures target: passed

Residual manual checks before App Store submission

• create and inspect a real photo and video with microphone audio
• test denied/revoked camera, microphone, and folder permissions
• test interruption/disconnect during recording
• test unsupported device resolution/frame-rate/codec combinations
• Archive and Validate App in Xcode

[james8464]

Independent code review

Initial review found two blocking lifecycle races and one settings consistency warning:

• concurrent recording startup could begin before ownership was recorded
• session restart could overlap movie-file finalization
• device switching did not reapply selected resolution and frame rate

All were fixed in 04d825e and independently re-reviewed. No Critical or Important findings remain. Verdict: READY WITH WARNINGS.

Platform note: AVCaptureMovieFileOutput.availableVideoCodecTypes is unavailable on macOS, so unsupported-codec failures are handled through the recording delegate with actionable H.264 guidance.

Remaining physical-camera, microphone, permission, disconnect, and App Store archive validation is tracked in #2.

[james8464]

Copy review: user-facing text is now direct and specific. Format descriptions no longer sound promotional, error messages say what happened and what to do next, VoiceOver hints use macOS language instead of “double tap,” and the camera and microphone prompts explain exactly what is saved or sent.

Code comments and existing commit subjects were already concise, so they were left alone. No behaviour changed.

Release build and Analyze pass. LGTM.

[james8464]

Settings review: unsupported resolutions and frame rates are now disabled from the active camera’s live AVFoundation capabilities. The picker also repairs saved settings that became invalid after switching cameras. Runtime validation remains in place for device changes while recording.

Release build and Analyze pass.

[james8464]

Copy review: tightened visible app text, settings labels, and permission prompts so they read like native macOS UI rather than generated product copy. Release build and Analyze both pass after the copy pass.

[james8464]

Camera-effects review: replaced the app-drawn Edge Light overlay with AVFoundation system-effect adoption. The app now follows Portrait, Studio Light, Center Stage, and macOS 26.2 Edge Light where supported, and constrains frame-rate choices while those effects are active. Release build and Analyze pass.

[james8464]

Crash fix: Edge Light exposed an unsafe KVO callback check. The observer now uses a private context pointer and removes observations with the same context, so AVFoundation effect updates never reach NSObject's exception-throwing fallback. Release build and Analyze pass.

[james8464]

Crash-hardening review: audited capture, permissions, storage, device switching, effects, settings, and teardown paths. Added guards for invalid timer ranges and effect-incompatible frame durations before they reach AVFoundation. No force unwraps, try!, fatal traps, or uncontexted KVO registrations remain. Release build and Analyze pass.

[james8464]

Feature removal review: removed all app-side Portrait, Studio Light, Edge Light, Center Stage, reaction, and background-effect support, including effect UI and AVFoundation KVO observers. Release build and Analyze pass.