I use a Nexus 6 on Lollipop. Sometimes I'll try to listen to music over Bluetooth while using Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation in my car. The volume on the music is reduced whenever Google Maps gives the next turn, which is irritating. I changed the settings in Google Maps to output using the device's speaker, but it still lowers the media volume over Bluetooth to give me turn information.
Is there any way -- ideally without needing root privileges -- to prevent this from happening?
From what I've read elsewhere, this functionality is generally handled by the application playing the music/audio. So, I've been testing out various players, and found a couple that does what the question is requesting, MX Player and Poweramp.
MX Player is primarily known as a video player, but it can also handle a number of audio formats (including Opus, which I happened to be looking for).
One drawback with MX Player is that it can't create dynamic playlists, so you have to have the songs ordered in folders to play in succession.
The other one that does what the question is requesting is the music player app Poweramp, which lets you choose in its settings, under Audio->Audio Focus->Short Audio Focus Change, between no ducking (unchecked), and pausing (checked). Poweramp isn't free, though.
Another app, Rocket Player, is a music player that will let you choose between ducking and pausing, but will not allow you to disable it completely, which is what the question is looking for. (The setting is under Settings -> Sound -> Audio Focus -> Temp Focus Action)
For myself, I've found that, especially for audiobooks and podcasts, I actually prefer pausing to ducking or no ducking, so I like Poweramp or Rocket Player for this purpose.
I'm not sure at what point it was added, but it is now possible to mute turn-by-turn navigation. This is not exactly ideal (I'd prefer to have the directions come out of the phone speaker and not pause Bluetooth), but it will do the job. Google provides instructions here:
You can silence voice navigation by touching the mute button.
- Open the Google Maps app maps.
- Start navigation.
- In the top right, touch Sound.
- Touch Mute.
To turn voice navigation back on, touch Mute > Sound.
Tip: You can also silence voice navigation by touching the volume controls on your device.
For Samsung devices, I found a solution to this issue by using an app called SoundAssistant. It has a "dual app sound" setting, if you turn it on and choose an app for dual sound (in my case it is Amazon Music), Google Maps will not mute the music.
On Samsung phones, there is a well-known app called Good Lock that can do the trick:
That's it!
Go to settings on your Android phone and search for "sound assistance". Then click on the toggle button to select "multiple audio sources". It works perfectly for Redmi Note 11S and some Samsung phones. Note, the feature may not be available for your Android device depending on the generation and/or software.
