Zoom gains access to private iPad camera API: Report

Apple has given video-conferencing platform Zoom access to a private iPad camera API, which makes the app being able to use the camera during iPad Split View multitasking.

According to app developer Jeremy Provost, it gives an advantage to the Zoom users to use the Split View multitasking to access Twitter, a notes app, etc, reports 9To5Mac reported.

"We asked Zoom and to our surprise, they gave us the answer and in the process revealed an apparently private process, available only to those deemed worthy by Apple," Provost said.

To receive access to some API, Apple must give an "entitlement," which is a right or privilege that grants an executable particular capabilities, the report said.

While Apple provides public documentation and a process for requesting access to entitlements, for example, Provost discovered that there isn't a public process for requesting this specific API.

The reports said that it is called com.apple.developer.avfoundation.multitasking-camera-access.

Unfortunately, unlike with CarPlay, there is no public process for requesting this entitlement. In fact, its existence is not even documented by Apple publicly.

On the other hand, in the aSpring Loaded' event in April, Apple announced a feature called Center Stage, exclusively available on the M1 iPad Pro and will let all video-conference apps be able to take advantage of it if their developers choose to.

With the Center Stage feature, the Ultra-Wide front camera will be able to track the user in a conference and position him in the center of the frame.