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nativephp/mobile-camera

Camera plugin for NativePHP Mobile (Photo capture, Video recording, Gallery picker)

5.0 (1 rating)

Camera Plugin for NativePHP Mobile#

Camera plugin for NativePHP Mobile providing photo capture, video recording, and gallery picker functionality.

Overview#

The Camera API provides access to the device's camera for taking photos, recording videos, and selecting media from the gallery.

Installation#

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composer require nativephp/mobile-camera

Don't forget to register the plugin:

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php artisan native:plugin:register nativephp/mobile-camera

Usage#

PHP (Livewire/Blade)#

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use Native\Mobile\Facades\Camera;
 
// Take a photo
Camera::getPhoto();
 
// Record a video
Camera::recordVideo();
 
// Record with max duration
Camera::recordVideo(['maxDuration' => 30]);
 
// Using fluent API
Camera::recordVideo()
    ->maxDuration(60)
    ->id('my-video-123')
    ->start();
 
// Pick images from gallery
Camera::pickImages('images', false);  // Single image
Camera::pickImages('images', true);   // Multiple images
Camera::pickImages('all', true);      // Any media type

JavaScript (Vue/React/Inertia)#

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import { Camera, On, Off, Events } from '#nativephp';
 
// Take a photo
await Camera.getPhoto();
 
// With identifier for tracking
await Camera.getPhoto()
    .id('profile-pic');
 
// Record video
await Camera.recordVideo()
    .maxDuration(60);
 
// Pick images
await Camera.pickImages()
    .images()
    .multiple()
    .maxItems(5);

Events#

PhotoTaken#

Fired when a photo is taken with the camera.

PHP

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use Native\Mobile\Attributes\OnNative;
use Native\Mobile\Events\Camera\PhotoTaken;
 
#[OnNative(PhotoTaken::class)]
public function handlePhotoTaken(string $path)
{
    // Process the captured photo
    $this->processPhoto($path);
}

Vue

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import { On, Off, Events } from '#nativephp';
import { ref, onMounted, onUnmounted } from 'vue';
 
const photoPath = ref('');
 
const handlePhotoTaken = (payload) => {
    photoPath.value = payload.path;
    processPhoto(payload.path);
};
 
onMounted(() => {
    On(Events.Camera.PhotoTaken, handlePhotoTaken);
});
 
onUnmounted(() => {
    Off(Events.Camera.PhotoTaken, handlePhotoTaken);
});

VideoRecorded#

Fired when a video is successfully recorded.

Payload:

  • string $path - File path to the recorded video
  • string $mimeType - Video MIME type (default: 'video/mp4')
  • ?string $id - Optional identifier if set via id() method

VideoCancelled#

Fired when video recording is cancelled by the user.

MediaSelected#

Fired when media is selected from the gallery.

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use Native\Mobile\Attributes\OnNative;
use Native\Mobile\Events\Gallery\MediaSelected;
 
#[OnNative(MediaSelected::class)]
public function handleMediaSelected($success, $files, $count)
{
    foreach ($files as $file) {
        $this->processMedia($file);
    }
}

Capture date and location#

Photos taken with the camera and images picked from the gallery carry additional, optional payload keys on PhotoTaken and on each file in MediaSelected:

  • takenAt - capture date as an ISO-8601 UTC string (e.g. 2026-05-25T18:46:04Z)
  • latitude, longitude - GPS coordinates in decimal degrees

Keys are omitted when the value is unavailable, so existing consumers are unaffected.

takenAt is always read from the image's EXIF data and needs no extra permissions. GPS coordinates are only present if they are already embedded in the file. By default the plugin does not ask for any new permissions.

Opting into location#

Pass includeLocation: true to actively recover the location. This prompts the user for additional permissions the first time:

  • iOS: When-In-Use location access (camera) and Photo Library access (gallery), so the picker exposes the asset's original location.
  • Android: the ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION runtime permission (gallery), so GPS redacted by the Photo Picker can be recovered.
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use Native\Mobile\Facades\Camera;
use Native\Mobile\PendingMediaPicker;
 
// Geotag a camera capture
Camera::getPhoto(['includeLocation' => true]);
 
// Recover the location of picked images
(new PendingMediaPicker(['includeLocation' => true]))
    ->images()
    ->multiple()
    ->start();
Copied!
#[OnNative(PhotoTaken::class)]
public function handlePhotoTaken(string $path, string $mimeType, ?string $id = null, ?string $takenAt = null, ?float $latitude = null, ?float $longitude = null)
{
    // ...
}

PendingVideoRecorder API#

maxDuration(int $seconds)#

Set the maximum recording duration in seconds.

id(string $id)#

Set a unique identifier for this recording to correlate with events.

event(string $eventClass)#

Set a custom event class to dispatch when recording completes.

remember()#

Store the recorder's ID in the session for later retrieval.

start()#

Explicitly start the video recording.

Storage Locations#

Photos:

  • Android: App cache directory at {cache}/captured.jpg
  • iOS: Application Support at ~/Library/Application Support/Photos/captured.jpg

Videos:

  • Android: App cache directory at {cache}/video_{timestamp}.mp4
  • iOS: Application Support at ~/Library/Application Support/Videos/captured_video_{timestamp}.mp4

Testing#

The plugin extends the NativePHP testing suite with camera-specific helpers, so your app tests can assert capture/recording/picker activity without knowing any bridge internals.

getPhoto(), recordVideo(), and pickImages() only open the native camera or gallery UI — the result (PhotoTaken, VideoRecorded, MediaSelected, or a cancellation/permission-denied counterpart) arrives later as an async event that the bridge never answers synchronously. So these helpers assert that a request was made; there's no with* helper to preload a captured photo or picked media.

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use Native\Mobile\Testing\Native;
 
it('opens the camera when taking a profile photo', function () {
    Native::test(ProfileEditor::class)
        ->tap('Take photo')
        ->assertPhotoRequested();
});
 
it('opens the gallery picker for a single image', function () {
    Native::test(ProfileEditor::class)
        ->tap('Choose from gallery')
        ->assertMediaPicked(fn (array $p) => $p['mediaType'] === 'image' && $p['multiple'] === false);
});
 
it('does not touch the camera on a plain form save', function () {
    Native::test(ProfileEditor::class)
        ->tap('Save')
        ->assertNothingCaptured();
});

Helpers#

  • assertPhotoRequested() — assert a photo capture was started (Camera::getPhoto()->start()).
  • assertVideoRequested() — assert a video recording was started (Camera::recordVideo()->start()).
  • assertMediaPicked(?callable $filter = null) — assert the gallery picker was opened, optionally matching the decoded call params (e.g. mediaType, multiple, maxItems).
  • assertNothingCaptured() — assert no photo, video, or media picker request was made.

The helpers are available on Native::fakeBridge() and chain directly off Native::test(...). They register automatically while running tests (requires a core with a macroable FakeBridge; on older cores they simply don't register).

Notes#

  • Permissions: You must enable the camera permission in config/nativephp.php to use camera features
  • If permission is denied, camera functions will fail silently
  • Camera permission is required for photos, videos, AND QR/barcode scanning
  • File formats: JPEG for photos, MP4 for videos