Is AudioSession really the same as OpenAL?

They are completely different in purpose.

OpenAL is a low-level, cross-platform API for playing and manipulating sounds.

AudioSession, as stated in the documentation, is C interface for managing an application’s audio behavior in the context of other applications

. You can take a look at AVAudioSession, which is a handy alternative to AudioSession Objective-C.

Typically, you use Audio Sessions to retrieve audio hardware information, determine if other applications are playing sounds by indicating what happens to those sounds when your application also tries to play sounds, etc.

Audio sessions are meant to control the environment in which your application is played. Even sounds played using OpenAL are subject to the rules set by your application audio session.

You should really check the docs . There are many possibilities for coverage.