Determine if the access to photo library is set or not - PHPhotoLibrary

Question

With the new functionality in iOS 8, if you are using a camera in the app, it will ask for permission to access the camera and then when you try to retake the pic, it asks f

Answer 1

I have a simple solution on swift 2.0

//
//  AppDelegate.swift
//  HoneyBadger
//
//  Created by fingent on 14/08/15.
//  Copyright (c) 2015 fingent. All rights reserved.
//

import UIKit
import Photos

@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {

    var window: UIWindow?

    func application(application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [NSObject: AnyObject]?) -> Bool {
        self.window?.makeKeyAndVisible()

             self.window = UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.mainScreen().bounds)
            let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil)
            let initialViewController = storyboard.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("LoginPageID")
            self.window?.rootViewController = initialViewController
            self.window?.makeKeyAndVisible()
        return true
    }
    func applicationDidEnterBackground(application: UIApplication) {
        print("Application On background", terminator: "")
    }
    func applicationDidBecomeActive(application: UIApplication) {
        cameraAllowsAccessToApplicationCheck()
        photoLibraryAvailabilityCheck()
    }
    //MARK:- CAMERA ACCESS CHECK
    func cameraAllowsAccessToApplicationCheck()
    {
        let authorizationStatus = AVCaptureDevice.authorizationStatusForMediaType(AVMediaTypeVideo)
        switch authorizationStatus {
        case .NotDetermined:
            // permission dialog not yet presented, request authorization
            AVCaptureDevice.requestAccessForMediaType(AVMediaTypeVideo,
                completionHandler: { (granted:Bool) -> Void in
                    if granted {
                        print("access granted", terminator: "")
                    }
                    else {
                        print("access denied", terminator: "")
                    }
            })
        case .Authorized:
            print("Access authorized", terminator: "")
        case .Denied, .Restricted:
            alertToEncourageCameraAccessWhenApplicationStarts()
        default:
            print("DO NOTHING", terminator: "")
        }
    }
    //MARK:- PHOTO LIBRARY ACCESS CHECK
    func photoLibraryAvailabilityCheck()
    {
        if PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus() == PHAuthorizationStatus.Authorized
        {

        }
        else
        {
            PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization(requestAuthorizationHandler)
        }
    }
    func requestAuthorizationHandler(status: PHAuthorizationStatus)
    {
        if PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus() == PHAuthorizationStatus.Authorized
        {

        }
        else
        {
            alertToEncouragePhotoLibraryAccessWhenApplicationStarts()
        }
    }

    //MARK:- CAMERA & GALLERY NOT ALLOWING ACCESS - ALERT
    func alertToEncourageCameraAccessWhenApplicationStarts()
    {
        //Camera not available - Alert
        let internetUnavailableAlertController = UIAlertController (title: "Camera Unavailable", message: "Please check to see if it is disconnected or in use by another application", preferredStyle: .Alert)

        let settingsAction = UIAlertAction(title: "Settings", style: .Destructive) { (_) -> Void in
            let settingsUrl = NSURL(string:UIApplicationOpenSettingsURLString)
            if let url = settingsUrl {
                dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
                    UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(url)
                }

            }
        }
        let cancelAction = UIAlertAction(title: "Okay", style: .Default, handler: nil)
        internetUnavailableAlertController .addAction(settingsAction)
        internetUnavailableAlertController .addAction(cancelAction)
        self.window?.rootViewController!.presentViewController(internetUnavailableAlertController , animated: true, completion: nil)
    }
    func alertToEncouragePhotoLibraryAccessWhenApplicationStarts()
    {
//Photo Library not available - Alert
        let cameraUnavailableAlertController = UIAlertController (title: "Photo Library Unavailable", message: "Please check to see if device settings doesn't allow photo library access", preferredStyle: .Alert)

        let settingsAction = UIAlertAction(title: "Settings", style: .Destructive) { (_) -> Void in
            let settingsUrl = NSURL(string:UIApplicationOpenSettingsURLString)
            if let url = settingsUrl {
                UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(url)
            }
        }
        let cancelAction = UIAlertAction(title: "Okay", style: .Default, handler: nil)
        cameraUnavailableAlertController .addAction(settingsAction)
        cameraUnavailableAlertController .addAction(cancelAction)
        self.window?.rootViewController!.presentViewController(cameraUnavailableAlertController , animated: true, completion: nil)
    }
}

Answer 2

Swift 2.0+

Based on a combination of answers here, I've created a solution for myself. This method only checks if there is no permission.

We got a method pickVideo() that requires access to photos. If it is not .Authorized ask for permission.

If permission is not given, pickVideo() will not be called, and the user cannot pick a video.

As long as the user did not give full access to photos, you can avoid to let them pick 'or crash' your application.

  // Method that requires access to photos
  func pickVideo(){
    // Check for permission
    if PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus() != .Authorized{
      // If there is no permission for photos, ask for it
      PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization(requestAuthorizationHandler)
      return
    }
    //... pick video code here...
  }

  func requestAuthorizationHandler(status: PHAuthorizationStatus){
    if PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus() == .Authorized{
      // The user did authorize, so, pickVideo may be opened
      // Ensure pickVideo is called from the main thread to avoid GUI problems
      dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
        pickVideo()
      }
    } else {
      // Show Message to give permission in Settings
      let alertController = UIAlertController(title: "Error", message: "Enable photo permissions in settings", preferredStyle: .Alert)
      let settingsAction = UIAlertAction(title: "Settings", style: .Default) { (alertAction) in
        if let appSettings = NSURL(string: UIApplicationOpenSettingsURLString) {
          UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(appSettings)
        }
      }
      alertController.addAction(settingsAction)
      // If user cancels, do nothing, next time Pick Video is called, they will be asked again to give permission
      let cancelAction = UIAlertAction(title: "Cancel", style: .Cancel, handler: nil)
      alertController.addAction(cancelAction)
      // Run GUI stuff on main thread
        dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {      
          self.presentViewController(alertController, animated: true, completion: nil)
        }
      }
    }

Answer 3

Just as formality, Swift 2.X version:

    func checkPhotoLibraryPermission() {
       let status = PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus()
       switch status {
       case .Authorized:
            //handle authorized status
       case .Denied, .Restricted :
            //handle denied status
       case .NotDetermined:
            // ask for permissions
            PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization() { (status) -> Void in
               switch status {
               case .Authorized:
                   // as above
               case .Denied, .Restricted:
                   // as above
               case .NotDetermined:
                   // won't happen but still
               }
            }
        }
    }

And Swift 3 / Swift 4:

    import Photos

    func checkPhotoLibraryPermission() {
        let status = PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus()
        switch status {
        case .authorized: 
        //handle authorized status
        case .denied, .restricted : 
        //handle denied status
        case .notDetermined: 
            // ask for permissions
            PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization { status in
                switch status {
                case .authorized: 
                // as above
                case .denied, .restricted: 
                // as above
                case .notDetermined: 
                // won't happen but still
                }
            }
        }
    }

Answer 4

Check +[PHPhotoLibrary authorizationStatus] – if not set, it will return PHAuthorizationStatusNotDetermined. (You can then request access using +requestAuthorization: on the same class.)

Answer 5

iOS 14 onwards Apple has added a new feature that will give limited access to the photos library. Based on your requirements (Example creating custom photo gallery) you have to check if user has given limited access only and wants to give full access.

For backwards compatibility, the old versions without the parameter return .authorized even when you get limited access.

Swift 5:

switch PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus(for: .readWrite) {
case .notDetermined:
    // ask for access
case .restricted, .denied:
    // sorry
case .authorized:
    // we have full access
 
// new option: 
case .limited:
    // we only got access to some photos of library
}

There is a code to call limited access screen again. if user has given .limited access only and you want user to select the images again.

PHPhotoLibrary.shared().presentLimitedLibraryPicker(from: presentVCObj)

On every restart of app iOS will show alert to notify user about the limited access. If you want to stop that alert then add PHPhotoLibraryPreventAutomaticLimitedAccessAlert to YES in Info.plist

Answer 6

Here is a small and simple snippet that I usually use.

- (void)requestPhotoAuthorization:(void (^)(BOOL granted))granted
{
    void (^handler)(PHAuthorizationStatus) = ^(PHAuthorizationStatus status)
    {
        if (status == PHAuthorizationStatusAuthorized) granted(YES);
        else if (status == PHAuthorizationStatusNotDetermined) [PHPhotoLibrary requestAuthorization:handler];
        else granted(NO);
    };
    handler([PHPhotoLibrary authorizationStatus]);
}