Build & Experiment

Rebuilding 360 Video Playback for iOS

I used SwiftUI, RealityKit, and a caching backend to prototype a faster way to preview ThirdLaw's 360-degree video plates on iOS.

PlatePros iOS interface for browsing and previewing 360-degree video plates
The TestFlight prototype paired an iOS spatial viewer with a cached video-library backend.

When browser support no longer covered ThirdLaw's preferred 360-degree viewing workflow on iOS, I began prototyping a dedicated application. PlatePros used SwiftUI and RealityKit to let users browse and preview immersive driving plates on an iPhone or iPad.

Separating the viewer from the data problem

Displaying 360-degree content was only part of the experience. The original video-library API limited how much metadata the app could retrieve at once, which made startup and browsing slower than the interface needed.

I introduced a backend cache that could gather and organize larger sets of library data before the app requested them. That reduced repeated external calls and gave the iOS interface a more predictable source for browsing and preview information.

A TestFlight-stage product

At the time of this milestone, the app was being evaluated through TestFlight. It demonstrated the viewing and data-loading approach, but this article does not present the prototype as a finished App Store release.

The project reinforced a lesson that applies beyond spatial video: interface performance often depends on reshaping the data path behind it. A smoother viewer required both an iOS experience and a backend designed around the limits of the source service.