Bluetooth paired with car: can I enable music but disable phone?
May 18, 2017 10:51 AM Subscribe
I get daily spam calls that I use an app (Hiya) to kill, but sometimes the app lets them ring once before killing them. The car interrupts music to notify me, even though I have the phone ringer on silent. I'd like to disable the phone from sending calls to the car, while still retaining the music/podcasting. Can I do that?
Also, what kind of car? One of our cars (a Toyota) allows you to connect each service independently (music, phone, and internet), but on the other one (a Honda), it's all or nothing.
posted by Betelgeuse at 10:55 AM on May 18, 2017
posted by Betelgeuse at 10:55 AM on May 18, 2017
Response by poster: Android; both the 'phone' and 'media' are unchecked for the car's bluetooth profile; Audi
posted by Dashy at 10:56 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Dashy at 10:56 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
So it looks like this behavior happens on the app level*, and I imagine it would be uncommon to find an app that toggles. (Perhaps even less common to find popular apps that have your desired behavior by default, but it's possible it exists! From a UX perspective, I mean, you'd likely not want to have your users have to stop playback before picking up a call... but I digress.)
My only suggestion is that you might try and test this from other apps. Maybe lesser-known, less-tested ones, if you're just doing local playback of files you have on your phone: it's possible they might have excluded this functionality. I'll have a look. I'm using Spotify Premium, which works great for me - and it does this, and I wish it wouldn't - so I'm right there with you on this.
* Reached this conclusion from a StackOverflow thread on how to implement this functionality into Android apps from a programming perspective.
posted by a good beginning at 11:48 AM on May 18, 2017
My only suggestion is that you might try and test this from other apps. Maybe lesser-known, less-tested ones, if you're just doing local playback of files you have on your phone: it's possible they might have excluded this functionality. I'll have a look. I'm using Spotify Premium, which works great for me - and it does this, and I wish it wouldn't - so I'm right there with you on this.
* Reached this conclusion from a StackOverflow thread on how to implement this functionality into Android apps from a programming perspective.
posted by a good beginning at 11:48 AM on May 18, 2017
> Android; both the 'phone' and 'media' are unchecked for the car's bluetooth profile;
I'm confused as to how this could be; the music is definitely using the "media" service. Check again at a time when your phone is connected to your car; your bluetooth settings screen, which displays your list of advices, should say something under your Car Devicename like "Connected for phone and media audio." Try checking/changing those settings when your car's connected.
When the phone rings through the car speakers, is it your usual ringtone, or does Hiya have its own audio notification? I've never used the app so I'm not sure. If Hiya is generating the ring, then it's doing so as media, which would indeed interrupt and come through. Try the app setting to disable sounds.
A good beginning, above, writes:
> So it looks like this behavior happens on the app level
Agreed-- apps can be made to interrupt other media or not; Google Maps interrupts my podcasts, but Clash Royale does not. But I'm talking about media interrupting other media; I'm not sure how much variation there is for phone interrupting media.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:57 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm confused as to how this could be; the music is definitely using the "media" service. Check again at a time when your phone is connected to your car; your bluetooth settings screen, which displays your list of advices, should say something under your Car Devicename like "Connected for phone and media audio." Try checking/changing those settings when your car's connected.
When the phone rings through the car speakers, is it your usual ringtone, or does Hiya have its own audio notification? I've never used the app so I'm not sure. If Hiya is generating the ring, then it's doing so as media, which would indeed interrupt and come through. Try the app setting to disable sounds.
A good beginning, above, writes:
> So it looks like this behavior happens on the app level
Agreed-- apps can be made to interrupt other media or not; Google Maps interrupts my podcasts, but Clash Royale does not. But I'm talking about media interrupting other media; I'm not sure how much variation there is for phone interrupting media.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:57 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Oop, spoke too soon! Unsurprisingly, Android might also control this on the OS level. Here's a free app called Don't Pause, which looks like it'll do what you need. It's got a Pro version of it priced at $1.43, supposedly enabling headset detection and starting the service on-boot – otherwise it'll need to be launched, if not already running, when you wish to listen to media.
Also, seconding Sunburnt, in that I think 'media' would indeed need to be checked for Bluetooth'd music and podcasts to work.
posted by a good beginning at 12:01 PM on May 18, 2017
Also, seconding Sunburnt, in that I think 'media' would indeed need to be checked for Bluetooth'd music and podcasts to work.
posted by a good beginning at 12:01 PM on May 18, 2017
Shot in the dark here, but maybe your music app has permission(s) to use the phone or needs it to block the phone.
posted by AugustWest at 12:10 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by AugustWest at 12:10 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Wild guess but I'd bet this happens at the car/head unit level. The car audio, radio, music needs to know what to do when a call comes in.
posted by fixedgear at 4:28 PM on May 18, 2017
posted by fixedgear at 4:28 PM on May 18, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kindall at 10:53 AM on May 18, 2017