Embedded YouTube Videos freezing app + not playing

[Jake_Tunney]

When I navigate from my app home screen in gallery view to an embedded YouTube video via an “Event”, typically the first video plays normally, then if I navigate back to the home screen and click another video, either the whole app freezes, it may navigate to the next video but it won’t play and I can’t go back like this:

!

Or the video doesn’t render at all and it just shows a blank screen like this:

IMG_1044E0170CD4-1|666x500

[Jake_Tunney]

also, when i use Vimeo to embed and i start the video, after i navigate back to the homescreen the video continues playing in the background. Very odd but i feel like there might be a simple way to solve this.

[tony1]

@Jake_Tunney Does the same issue happen on the desktop/web version of your app? Or does is it only on the device?

[Jake_Tunney]

Mostly just on the iPad. On the web version the embedded video opens in a new tab. In the app it stays within Appsheet with my Appsheet nav still (usually) visible.

[Jake_Tunney]

It will also sometimes freeze on the home screen. See below:

[Jake_Tunney]

Then the app will just quit.

[tony1]

Adding @Gil to the thread.

[Gil]

Hi @Jake_Tunney,
Would you mind if I take a look in your app and try to reproduce this?
Also, which user was logged in while it happened?

[Jake_Tunney]

Yes absolutely. It was either jake@givefit.net or jktunney5@gmail.com.

But I do think I made the app public so not sure if that matters. Let me know what you need from me to get it. It’s “Chair Fitness Videos by GiveFit”.

[Gil]

@Jake_Tunney,
It seems like a the app crashes after going back and forth between the video page and the back to the app itself.
We’ll try to fix it, but it may take some time.
As a work around, you could set your url column to Launch Externally. This will cause the video to open in Safari instead of in-app, and should avoid this crash.

[Jake_Tunney]

Hi @Gil thanks for the suggestion. I will take a look.

Are you able to give me an estimate of how long will take to fix?

[Gil]

For those kind of things it’s hard to know how long will it take until it’s done.
To be completely honest, this issue is not on our highest priority since it’s specific to iOS + external content.
Let me know if the workaround worked for you.

[Jake_Tunney]

The workaround works as it says, however for my UX it doesn’t do the job. I need the user to stay within the app.

Thanks for your honesty on timing. How will I know this is fixed? I have to look at other app builder solutions in the meantime.

[Jake_Tunney]

Also, do you have a suggestion where I might host my videos to display them in app? Where they aren’t “external content”? Like an AWS link in my spreadsheet database?

[Gil]

@Jake_Tunney,
Yeah, I can see why opening the video in Safari is not the behavior you’d want.
When I’ll have a fix I’ll let you know here.
By external content I mean every thing that is opened via a url that is not marked “Launch externally” (I know this terminology might be a bit confusing). The problem is in the screen the video opens in not with the video itself.
You could use a video column, but the video won’t play on fullscreen, so that’s probably not gonna work for you.

[Jake_Tunney]

Thanks, I really appreciate the communication!

Do you have a reference for adding a video column? Is this simply just displaying the video inline? If so, and I could style the video to fill up the whole screen, except for the Appsheet nav, that would work.

[Steve]

help.appsheet.com

How to Display Videos and Images in Your App

There are a few ways to show images and videos in your app.

[Jake_Tunney]

Any update @Gil?

[Gil]

Unfortunately not yet, but it’s on my todo list.

[Gil]

Hi @Jake_Tunney,
Sorry for taking my time on this one.
This should be fixed now if you have the latest app version from the app store.