Camera and video creation in the Genuin SDK

Record, import, edit, and post video from inside your app with the Genuin camera modules, and control who can create from Brand Control Center.

Members create posts without leaving your app. They record clips with the device camera or import a video from the gallery, trim and decorate it, and post it to a group in your community. Creation ships as a separate module on Android and iOS, so an app that only shows feeds doesn't carry the video toolchain. The Web SDK has no camera; on the web, members create posts on your community site by uploading a file.

Creation needs a signed-in member. A guest who taps a create action is asked to sign in first. See Choose how members sign in to the Genuin SDK.

Modules

On Android, Core finds the Camera module at runtime. Without it, a tap on a create action shows your brand's unsupported-feature message as a toast. On iOS, register the module once at launch, after the core SDK:

import GenuinCore
import GenuinCamera

func application(_ application: UIApplication,
                 didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
  GenuinSDK.shared.initialize(apiKey: "{{API_KEY}}")
  GenuinCamera.shared.initialize()   // registers the camera with Core
  return true
}

Without GenuinCamera.shared.initialize(), the create actions on iOS return without opening anything.

The camera opens from the create button in feeds and from the reply and video-comment actions. iOS also exposes a direct entry point that signs the member in with your token and presents the camera full screen:

GenuinSDK.shared.initiateCreatePost(
  fromVC: self,
  ssoToken: "{{SSO_TOKEN}}",
  params: ["name": "John Doe", "email": "john.doe@example.com"]   // optional
)

Permissions

The modules don't declare the camera, microphone, or media permissions themselves. Your app declares them, and the SDK checks for the declaration before it opens a camera or gallery screen, then requests access from the member at runtime.

Android

Add the permissions to your AndroidManifest.xml. The Camera module's own manifest declares none of them, and Core declares only INTERNET, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, VIBRATE, and WAKE_LOCK.

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_VIDEO" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="32" />

At runtime the SDK requests CAMERA and RECORD_AUDIO together when the camera opens, and the media permission when the member taps the gallery. A member who denies them sees the SDK's permission screen with a Settings button; your app doesn't need its own prompt.

iOS

Add the usage descriptions to your app's Info.plist. Before opening a picker or camera, the SDK checks Bundle.main for the key and, when it's missing, shows your brand's unsupported-feature alert instead of crashing. iOS itself terminates an app that accesses the camera or microphone without the key.

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>Genuin needs permissions to open your camera and microphone. This allows Genuin to record videos that can be shared with other people.</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>Genuin needs permissions to open your camera and microphone. This allows Genuin to record videos that can be shared with other people.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>Genuin needs permissions to access your photo library. This allows Genuin to download videos to your phone and save it to your library.</string>
<key>NSSpeechRecognitionUsageDescription</key>
<string>The transcript of your recording will be displayed to you in the end for you to overlay it on the audio message.</string>

Replace the strings with your own wording; the ones above are Genuin's defaults. NSContactsUsageDescription, NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription, and NSUserTrackingUsageDescription belong to other features and are covered in the iOS SDK guide.

Web

No browser permission is involved. The community site's Create page takes an existing file through a drop zone and never opens the camera or microphone, so there's no getUserMedia prompt.

Recording and upload limits

The merge step scales each clip to the output size and pads it rather than cropping, so a landscape import keeps its full frame with bars above and below.

Editing tools

Background music, transitions, and AI-generated captions aren't in version 2.1.5 of either module. Edit videos in the Genuin SDK describes each tool in detail.

Who can create

Three levels decide whether a member sees a create button and where the post can go.

Brand. Three flags on your brand record gate creation everywhere: camera_enabled (default on) shows or hides camera entry points, post_enabled (default on) shows or hides the create button in SDK feeds, and create_post_enabled (default off) shows the Create button on your community site. The Genuin team sets them; there's no screen for them in Brand Control Center.

Community. In Brand Control Center, go to Manage > Communities, open the community, and under Who can create Groups choose All community members or Admins. The same choice appears when you create a community.

Group. Posts always belong to a group. Go to Manage > Groups, open the group, and set its two access options. The choices depend on the community's privacy:

The SDK's post screen offers the member only the groups they're allowed to post in.

Limitations

• Portrait only: The camera records and exports portrait video; landscape imports are padded, not rotated.
• Module size: The Android Camera module adds about 48 MB before compression because it bundles the FFmpeg toolchain and the on-device speech model.
• No camera on the web: The Web SDK can't record or upload. Creation on the web is the community site's Create page, which takes one MP4 or WebM file of 4 to 300 seconds and up to 2 GB.
• Permissions are yours to declare: The SDK checks your manifest or Info.plist and shows the unsupported-feature message when a declaration is missing; it never adds permissions.
• Brand flags aren't self-serve: camera_enabled, post_enabled, and create_post_enabled change through the Genuin team.
• No music, transitions, or AI captions in the 2.1.5 camera modules.
• Signed-in members only: Guests are asked to sign in before the camera opens.

See also

• Integrate the Genuin Android SDK
• iOS SDK 2.0 — integrate your brand community in iOS apps
• Choose how members sign in to the Genuin SDK
• How Auto Login works
• Set up push notifications in the Genuin SDK
• Request camera, microphone, and photo library permissions
• Edit videos in the Genuin SDK