Apple - iOS and iPadOS Overview

Mar 13, 2025
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Apple-iOS-Overview

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sryan1.5548589383693281E12, 3/13/2025 7:15 PM

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Dolby Audio™ and Dolby Atmos™

Dolby audio formats have been widely supported in Apple devices for several years, and are providing essential support for enabling Dolby experiences on hundreds of millions of iOS devices, including both iPhone and iPad. Both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Audio are used today to deliver immersive audio in a number of Apple applications and services, such as Apple TV+ and Apple Music.

Dolby Atmos support (via DD+ JOC, aka Dolby Digital Plus with Joint Object Coding) was rolled out in 2018 alongside iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, and is supported across a number of use-cases on Apple devices released in 2018 and later. Dolby Atmos enables the delivery of immersive audio experiences through the device's built-in speakers - when supported - as well as to headphones with Spatial Audio support.
Dolby Audio multichannel surround sound support goes back even further to iOS 9.3 in 2016, which added native support for audio formats like Dolby Digital Plus™ (also known as DD+ or E-AC-3) and Dolby Digital (aka DD or AC-3).

These audio formats are natively supported data types in Core Audio - the foundational audio framework for all Apple platforms, which means they are supported throughout the operating system and in all the high-level media frameworks such as AVFoundation or Audio Toolbox, enabling all third-party developers to also leverage the power of Dolby Audio and Dolby Atmos in their apps. Playback of Dolby content in AVPlayer, for example, is as simple as passing a file with a Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack, and the system handles everything from there.

Devices running iOS 18 or later are also able to play Dolby Atmos and Dolby Audio content in automobiles using CarPlay*, or while sharing wirelessly to home audio devices using AirPlay Audio*.

* Those cars and devices must also support Dolby Atmos and have adopted newer versions of CarPlay and AirPlay Audio.

Dolby Vision

iPhone X was the first iOS device to introduce support for Dolby Vision HDR on its Super Retina OLED screen in 2017, enabling a new generation of video content that can make full use of the display’s capabilities, with stunning, accurate colors, true blacks, high brightness, and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Dolby Vision playback is supported on almost all iOS devices since 2017.

Additionally, in October 2020 the iPhone 12 series introduced the ability to capture the video in Dolby Vision profile 8.4 (up to 4K at 30 fps on iPhone 12 models, up 4K at 60 fps on Pro models, and starting from iPhone 16 Pro, up 4K at 120fps). Capture, editing and playback is supported directly on iPhones that support Dolby Vision capture.

Support for capture and playback Dolby Vision content is integrated natively into iOS, including AVFoundation or Video Toolbox, making it simple for developers to add Dolby Vision capture and playback capability to their apps.

Device Support

iPhone

Device	Dolby Vision Playback	Dolby Vision Capture	Dolby Atmos (using Dolby Digital Plus with JOC)	Dolby Audio 5.1/7.1 (using Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus)
iPhone 16 series iPhone 15 series	Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 5 Dolby Vision profile 8.4 Support for the Dolby Vision profiles below is limited to devices running on the Apple A17 chip or newer. Dolby Vision profile 10 Dolby Vision profile 10.4	Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 8.4	Playback on built-in speakers (iOS 13.0+) Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (iOS 13.0+) Streaming over AirPlay (iOS 18.0+)	Playback on built-in speakers (iOS 9.3+) Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (iOS 9.3+) Streaming over AirPlay (iOS 18.0+)
iPhone 14 series iPhone 13 series iPhone 12 series	Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 5 Dolby Vision profile 8.4	Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 8.4
iPhone 11 series iPhone X series iPhone 8 series iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd gen)	Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 5 Dolby Vision profile 8.4	Not supported

iPad

Device

Dolby Vision Playback

Dolby Atmos
(using Dolby Digital Plus with JOC)

Dolby Audio 5.1/7.1
(using Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus)

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later)
iPad Pro 11-inch
iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
iPad (5th generation and later)
iPad mini (5th generation and later)

Supported Dolby Vision profiles:

Dolby Vision profile 5
Dolby Vision profile 8.4

Support for the Dolby Vision profiles below is limited to devices running on the Apple M3/A17 chip or newer.

Dolby Vision profile 10
Dolby Vision profile 10.4

Playback on built-in speakers (iPadOS 13.0+)
Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (iPadOS 13.0+)
Streaming over AirPlay (iPadOS 18.0+)

Playback on built-in speakers (iOS 9.3+)
Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (iOS 9.3+)
Streaming over AirPlay (iPadOS 18.0+)