[HOWTO] Get Your BT Device to Control Your $*#(@ Non-"Music" Music Apps

[itlnstln]

Getting Bluetooth (BT) devices working properly with non-“Music” music apps can be tricky, especially if you use several on a regular basis. A common problem is a user might be listening to music, say, on Pandora and would like to skip the current song. The user pressed the “next track” button on their car stereo, for example, and an MP3 begins playing from the Music app. What is exposed here is an undesirable (in my brutally honest opinion) handling of app focus and interaction in Android. This manifests itself in a couple of ways:


1. Android always directs BT user interaction to the default music app regardless to whether another music app is in use, let alone if the app is in focus or not.
2. Android does not allow the user to change this behavior

a. The Music app does not offer an option to ignore this behavior like other music apps, but I don’t believe this is a problem with the Music app since these options are works-around the above issues.

In order to “trick” Android into behaving “properly” for BT interaction, users can pursue several options:

1. User only uses one music app

a. User accesses main Android settings > programs > default programs and selects the music app they use

2. User uses multiple music apps but does not listen to music stored on the phone*

a. Using Titanium Backup, uninstall the Music app, or alternatively, use Root Explorer to rename Music.apk to, say, Music.apk.bak (thanks, Khaid).

b. User accesses main Android settings > programs > default programs and verifies there is no default music app selected.

3. User uses multiple music apps and listens to music stored on the phone**

a. Using Titanium Backup, uninstall the Music app, or alternatively, use Root Explorer to rename Music.apk to, say, Music.apk.bak.
b. User installs an alternative music app and sets the default application in the global Android settings to the new application.
c. In the settings for the new music app, user turns off any “auto-start” options for “headset” or BT control. If the new music application does not have these options, this work-around will not work.

i. I prefer PlayerPro as it has extensive “Headset” (BT) control options including the “Auto Start” option.

Ideally, it would be preferable if Android behaved like other OSs where all user interaction were directed toward the app in focus; it’s unclear, to me anyway, why Google chose this route. Another puzzling choice is why Google uses a radio button list to choose the app vs. something like a mutually-exclusive checkbox. This forces the user to select an app (should there be one chosen) and does not allow the user to completely “opt-out” of a default app. Perhaps this might be addressed in future versions.

* I have not fully explored this method. It seems to work correctly, but YMMV.
** This method always works in my testing and can be used in lieu of work-around 2 should it not behave as anticipated.

UPDATE: The 1.5.27 changelog suggests that there might be functionality added to "fix" the default app behavior for "Music." I'll check it out when it's released and update this post accordingly.
UPDATE: As of 1.6.3, the problem still exists.

[khaid]

Instead of uninstalling miui music app, I just rename the file to miuimusic.apk.bak

[itlnstln]

Instead of uninstalling miui music app, I just rename the file to miuimusic.apk.bak

That'll work too. The unfortunate thing for some people is that in either case they won't be able to use the Music app.

[JasonK75]

Great write up! That sounds like you did some major research and testing to find out how to make this work for you!

[justs]

Very nice post! I am moving it to Development. Trying to keep all the threads that help us love our EVOs in that sub-forum and all the questions and rhetoric in the HTC EVO main forum.

[itlnstln]

Great write up! That sounds like you did some major research and testing to find out how to make this work for you!

Thanks. Driving around and having random music begin playing started driving me nuts (no pun intended).

[itlnstln]

Very nice post! I am moving it to Development. Trying to keep all the threads that help us love our EVOs in that sub-forum and all the questions and rhetoric in the HTC EVO main forum.

Will do. When I get to work, I'll clean it up for clarity. I was I was trying to rush through it to help the user on XDA right before leaving work yesterday.