How to play 360 video on the iOS device

You can do it using scenekit, without any external libraries or dependencies.

Create a SCNScene and map your camera to the device movements. The cameras are a bit offsetted as so to map one per eye and create a 3D stereoscopic effect.

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    leftSceneView?.backgroundColor = UIColor.blackColor()
    rightSceneView?.backgroundColor = UIColor.whiteColor()

    // Create Scene
    scene = SCNScene()
    leftSceneView?.scene = scene
    rightSceneView?.scene = scene

    // Create cameras
    let camX = 0.0 as Float
    let camY = 0.0 as Float
    let camZ = 0.0 as Float
    let zFar = 50.0

    let leftCamera = SCNCamera()
    let rightCamera = SCNCamera()

    leftCamera.zFar = zFar
    rightCamera.zFar = zFar

    let leftCameraNode = SCNNode()
    leftCameraNode.camera = leftCamera
    leftCameraNode.position = SCNVector3(x: camX - 0.5, y: camY, z: camZ)

    let rightCameraNode = SCNNode()
    rightCameraNode.camera = rightCamera
    rightCameraNode.position = SCNVector3(x: camX + 0.5, y: camY, z: camZ)

    camerasNode = SCNNode()
    camerasNode!.position = SCNVector3(x: camX, y:camY, z:camZ)
    camerasNode!.addChildNode(leftCameraNode)
    camerasNode!.addChildNode(rightCameraNode)

    camerasNode!.eulerAngles = SCNVector3Make(degreesToRadians(-90.0), 0, 0)

    cameraRollNode = SCNNode()
    cameraRollNode!.addChildNode(camerasNode!)

    cameraPitchNode = SCNNode()
    cameraPitchNode!.addChildNode(cameraRollNode!)

    cameraYawNode = SCNNode()
    cameraYawNode!.addChildNode(cameraPitchNode!)

    scene!.rootNode.addChildNode(cameraYawNode!)

    leftSceneView?.pointOfView = leftCameraNode
    rightSceneView?.pointOfView = rightCameraNode

    // Respond to user head movement. Refreshes the position of the camera 60 times per second.
    motionManager = CMMotionManager()
    motionManager?.deviceMotionUpdateInterval = 1.0 / 60.0
    motionManager?.startDeviceMotionUpdatesUsingReferenceFrame(CMAttitudeReferenceFrame.XArbitraryZVertical)

    leftSceneView?.delegate = self

    leftSceneView?.playing = true
    rightSceneView?.playing = true        
}

Update the camera position in the sceneRenderer:

func renderer(aRenderer: SCNSceneRenderer, updateAtTime time: NSTimeInterval){

    // Render the scene
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) { () -> Void in
        if let mm = self.motionManager, let motion = mm.deviceMotion {
            let currentAttitude = motion.attitude

            var orientationMultiplier = 1.0
            if(UIApplication.sharedApplication().statusBarOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientation.LandscapeRight){ orientationMultiplier = -1.0}

            self.cameraRollNode!.eulerAngles.x = Float(currentAttitude.roll * orientationMultiplier)
            self.cameraPitchNode!.eulerAngles.z = Float(currentAttitude.pitch)
            self.cameraYawNode!.eulerAngles.y = Float(currentAttitude.yaw)

        }
    }
}

Here is some code to add a SCNSphere displaying an AVPlayer.

func play(){

    //let fileURL: NSURL? = NSURL(string: "http://www.kolor.com/360-videos-files/noa-neal-graffiti-360-music-video-full-hd.mp4")
    let fileURL: NSURL? = NSURL.fileURLWithPath(NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("vr", ofType: "mp4")!)

    if (fileURL != nil){
        videoSpriteKitNode =  SKVideoNode(AVPlayer: AVPlayer(URL: fileURL!))
        videoNode = SCNNode()
        videoNode!.geometry = SCNSphere(radius: 30)

        let spriteKitScene = SKScene(size: CGSize(width: 2500, height: 2500))
        spriteKitScene.scaleMode = .AspectFit

        videoSpriteKitNode!.position = CGPoint(x: spriteKitScene.size.width / 2.0, y: spriteKitScene.size.height / 2.0)
        videoSpriteKitNode!.size = spriteKitScene.size

        spriteKitScene.addChild(videoSpriteKitNode!)

        videoNode!.geometry?.firstMaterial?.diffuse.contents = spriteKitScene
        videoNode!.geometry?.firstMaterial?.doubleSided = true

        // Flip video upside down, so that it's shown in the right position
        var transform = SCNMatrix4MakeRotation(Float(M_PI), 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
        transform = SCNMatrix4Translate(transform, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0)

        videoNode!.pivot = SCNMatrix4MakeRotation(Float(M_PI_2), 0.0, -1.0, 0.0)
        videoNode!.geometry?.firstMaterial?.diffuse.contentsTransform = transform
        videoNode!.position = SCNVector3(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0)

        scene!.rootNode.addChildNode(videoNode!)
        videoSpriteKitNode!.play()

        playingVideo = true   
    }
}

I've put together a project on github to show how, with instructions that should be clear !

Works in VR too with a google cardboard.

https://github.com/Aralekk/simple360player_iOS


Apart from Aralekk's repo, I've found hanton's repo useful when creating my own video 360° player. Here is the link to my repo and here is related blogpost.