[Q] Moto X and external bluetooth controls - Moto X Q&A

Hey guys, newcomer here. Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I've got some serious bluetooth flakiness going on with my Verizon Moto X (not rooted, 4.4.2).
Oddly, pairing is not the issue. The phone pairs with my Pebble and my LG HBS-700 bluetooth headphones just fine. But the media controls on both are super spotty. I'll start an app to play music or podcasts (MediaMonkey, Google Music, Pocket Casts, etc.) Typically I do this manually, start a track, then put the phone in my pocket and go about my business.
At first, the skip/pause/play controls on the headset and my watch work just fine, but after a few minutes, they often fail to respond. Sometimes pressing skip will seem to do nothing, then skip several seconds later. But most often, all controls fail to have any effect. To fix it I have to unlock the phone and perform the action manually. Usually this also "wakes up" the bluetooth controls, and they'll work again for a bit.
Sometimes, with the screen unlocked, when the skip fails it produces the message "No songs in now playing list." Is that a Google Music message? Could Google Music be trying to take control as the "active" media player when I'm listening to another app? That can't be the whole story because I've had the same problems with Google Music itself as well. I actually don't know how Android determines what the "active" media player app is at a given time.
ANY advice or links would be helpful. Thanks!

I have 2 links, persist+ & Google search workaround, in my signature.
They may help.

Thanks for the links! I don't think I found anything related to my problem, though. Persist+ looks cool, but my problems aren't volume related. Know of any app that monitors the active media player that external bluetooth controls should be controlling?

Don't have a Pebble, but controls on my LG HBS-730 have always been reliable. What happens if you connect only to the headphones?

Just tried it with the Pebble disconnected and I have the same issue. I did notice, though, that the volume controls on the headset continue to work, even when the play/pause/skip buttons stop working. Sometimes messing with the volume makes the pause button work again. Guess I should test with just the watch and no headset now to see if it's just a headset issue.

If this is some kind of conflict between Pebble and the LG, it is conceivable that whatever it is may still be on your phone. Might want to unpair both of them, wipe your phone's cache, and then just pair the LG, connect, and re-test.

Thanks, will do. When you say wipe the cache, do you just mean forget all the bluetooth connections, or is there something more specific I should do?

hexfield said:
is there something more specific I should do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://motorola-global-portal.cust..._id/94946/p/30,6720,8696/kw/cache/action/auth

No luck, unfortunately. I cleared the cache per those instructions, then just paired the headset. It seemed to be working better at first, but eventually I saw problems with the play/pause/skip buttons not being recognized, or taking upwards of 10 seconds to be recognized. At one point I pressed the play/pause button to pause a podcast in Pocket Casts, and instead it started a track in Google Music seemingly at random.
Solutions Etcetera, you've never seen anything like this with your LGs?

hexfield said:
you've never seen anything like this with your LGs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No... never. Not with my Kinivo BTC450 set up in my truck either (which has identical controls, sans volume).
While I primarily use Pocketcasts, no trouble with the occasional use of Play Music either.
I forget, did it always behave this way? If not, maybe a full reset is in order.

Blarg. Okay I'll give it a shot. This is the first time I've had to do a full reset on an android phone (had an iphone for a long time), are there any best practices you guys could point me too? I'm assuming I don't want to back everything up with Titanium because I may also back up the bug.

hexfield said:
Blarg. Okay I'll give it a shot. This is the first time I've had to do a full reset on an android phone (had an iphone for a long time), are there any best practices you guys could point me too? I'm assuming I don't want to back everything up with Titanium because I may also back up the bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. Turn off Automatic Restore in Backup and reset. Make sure photos, and anything that is on the phone and not elsewhere, is copied to your computer. If you want to backup call logs and SMS, there are apps on Play to do it. Don't know what to tell you re game levels and scores (never a priority for me). Some apps with complicated settings (Tasker, Aquamail, etc.) have the ability to export/back up settings for an easy restore. Copy those files to your PC as well.
Reset and set up as new. Hope it clears up your issue.

Took a while to confirm, but I think the issue is fixed! Resetting helped that and also seems to have improved performance overall. Thanks for the help!

Related

Music stops playing | Wiping the cache advice request!

Hey guys.
I'm having some trouble with the audio playback on my N1. If i start the music player, after 20-30 minutes it pauses the playback. It doesn't close the app, it just pauses. I can unlock the screen and press play again. The music player clearly is on pause because the time label blinks.
This started happening after 2 weeks of installing frf50. Now i'm on frf91 (came as OTA). Do you guys know why and if there's a solution?
In case there's none, can you please guide me how to wipe all the cache on the phone so i can factory reset it after?
Thanks.
PS: Running services: ListenService (Google Listen), Comment Service (Wordpress), StartAlarm_Service (EasyMoney), BatteryIndicatorService (Battery Indicator Pro), NetCounterService (Net Counter), FancyRefreshService (Fancy Widget), UpdateService (Pure Calendar Widget), Google Messaging Service (Google Services Framework), GenieRefreshService (News and Weather), MediaPlaybackService (Music), Smartkeyboard (Smart keyboard Pro).
Today, when i was getting ready to leave home, I started the music player and after putting the phone into my pocket (3 seconds) the music stopped in the same manner. While i was on my way home, everything worked ok.
Ok, maybe nobody has this problem.
Could you at least help me by explaining what cache do i need to clear before/after the factory reset. I don't really understand that stuff.
Thanks.
Nobody?!?!
Can't believe nobody is able to explain to me how to wipe the cache or at least point me to a thread that explains this.
I read about wiping the cache when you root and install a custom rom, but i would appreciate if someone can explain if the wiping is OK when doing a factory reset.
When should that be done... little details like this.
Thanks.
I've had this same problem. My player will stop randomly on me in music, Google Listen and Stitcher. I would doubt it's limited to just theses applications. I am pretty new to the Android thing too, just got an N1 about three weeks ago.
Not sure about the cache thing but you're not the only one having this issue.
It isn't a cache issue, wiping it probably won't help.
It is most likely your headphones. Specifically the plug in the phone. It is triggering the playback controls. The headset that came with the NExus has extra controls that send signals back to the phone, people have seen those being triggered accidentally with other headphone plugs, or when inserting or removing the plug.
Try playing without a headset when you have the time, I bet it won't stop randomly on you.
It could be that the plug is a little loose, or there is a small short in the wires. I would recommend trying different headphones.
I have this same problem, blocking headset commands didn't help (i was wondering if erroneous headset commands were being sent or something) but it happens both on bluetooth and wired, so it seemed unlikely.
I noticed in your listed services that Google Listen is listed. I ran a logcat on my phone for a few hours while listening to music until the pause suddenly happened. I looked at the log and what is happening is Google Listen kicks on to check if there are any podcasts in your queue that should be downloaded in the background. At the same time it also registers for media button events and requests audio focus for some reason even though it's just in the background - when it requests audio focus it causes other media players to pause.
I submitted this as a bug report to the Google Listen discussion group, but honestly, who knows if or when it will be fixed. I don't know of a work around other than uninstalling Google Listen.
-Dan

Music volume changing while listening to spotify

Hey guys,
Love my new S6, because of memory limitations, I'm using spotify more than the music player. I noticed that when I listen to music, the volume keeps changing by itself (but remains at the same "number" that I set), I believe it's an EQ problem due to the voice/instrument equalizer function that keeps adjusting one VS the other. I was able to downgrade the amazon appstore still has version 2.6.0.813 and it's better (but not perfect yet, I hope they fix this bug in the next spotify update, just wanted to share in case you though you were going crazy (as I did).
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/volume-changing-playing-music-t3089066
Solution
Just found the solution, please close topic
https://community.spotify.com/t5/He...-Distorted-playback-sound-levels/td-p/1028205
Disabling Nuplayer does not work
solution from the previous post does not work, I and others tested it and spotify volume is still messed up with Nuplayer disabled, downgrading seems to be the only solution as of now, sorry for the confusion
Remix22 said:
Hey guys,
Love my new S6, because of memory limitations, I'm using spotify more than the music player. I noticed that when I listen to music, the volume keeps changing by itself (but remains at the same "number" that I set), I believe it's an EQ problem due to the voice/instrument equalizer function that keeps adjusting one VS the other. I was able to downgrade the amazon appstore still has version 2.6.0.813 and it's better (but not perfect yet, I hope they fix this bug in the next spotify update, just wanted to share in case you though you were going crazy (as I did).
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/volume-changing-playing-music-t3089066
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually, I've noticed this problem with Google Play music as well.. I'm not using the equalizer.. for no apparent reason, at some points in certain songs, the volume will inexplicably lower, never quite recovering.. weird
same here. thought i was going deaf bc i had the volume up to 80%
Is it happening with your stock music player? I disabled Nuplayer and spotify is still misbehaving but the Samsung player works fine. I didn't find a Samsung user forum to report the problem but will look more into it.
old version works
Using S6 Edge, had this problem myself with spotify - can confirm using the previous version of spotify fixes the problem.
Agree there's points where it stoll changes volume ever so slightly but definatley a big improvement.
Can't post link to download due to new user restrictions.
Thanks to OP for posting his findings. Big help.
Peace.
I have been going back and forth with Spotify support for weeks on this issue, and it's been escalated to a Tier 2 person who I've been working with for almost a week now. Specifically, my problem is that the sound on any given song will vary throughout the song...it will start at whatever volume I have it set at, then suddenly get about 25% quieter for about 10-20 seconds, then go back up to original volume. This happens in almost a cyclical fashion my entire time listening to Spotify on my phone...whether it be through headphones, phone speak, or a bluetooth speaker. Spotify support even gave me another test account to try, which this issue also happen in on my phone....and they logged into my account on their end and done extensive listening tests, but are not able to replicate on their end. They had me try everything...clearing cache, trying with volume normalization ON, then trying with it OFF, WiFi only, data only, listening to cached music with no data turned on, re-installing, rebooting, updating, deleting all Spotify files/folders from the file manager, listening with corded headphones, bluetooth headphones, phone speaker, bluetooth speaker, etc. They really feel at this point that it's the Samsung Galaxy S6 that doesnt play nicely with Spotify, but they cannot figure out why. I'm still troubleshooting with them but so far no solution, only a ton of things ruled out as culprits. =(
This is a few days old but do you have sound alive enabled?
Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Bug: Headphones and Lock Screen

I've been meaning to post about this ever since the last OTA. I've been having a problem with audio coming out the phone speaker when headphones are connected.
Here are the steps to reproduce to bug:
1) Enable a pattern screen lock.
2) Plug in headphones and listen to music.
3) Hit "Lock your phone now" in the notification pull-down menu.
4) Unlock the phone using your pattern.
After 4), audio comes out of the phone speaker, not the headphones. Has anyone else noticed this? I usually use trusted devices with my Android wear watch to keep my phone unlocked. That effectively works around the bug most of the time. But, when I'm on a plane it's pretty annoying. If I want to skip past a song I need to first unlock the phone, which triggers the bug and tends to bother my seatmate.
I just tried it twice and it doesn't happen to me, maybe it has something to do with the app you are using for music? I'm using Google play music.
Big_Red77 said:
I just tried it twice and it doesn't happen to me, maybe it has something to do with the app you are using for music? I'm using Google play music.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odd. Thanks for trying. It happens to me with every app (including Play Music). And all system audio is redirected to the phone speaker.
Just to confirm, you're using a pattern unlock, not just a swipe, right?
Probably the only "weird" thing about my setup is that I have VPN credentials protected in the hardware keystore. But it doesn't seem like that should impact audio in any way.
Yup, I made sure it was a pattern...maybe the upcoming lollipop update will fix it

Crazy, useless Bluetooth on new device?

I just got a 128 GB OnePlus 3T a few days ago to replace a dead Nexus 6P. So far I'm very happy with the phone (performance, screen, etc, camera is almost as good, blah blah) except one thing.
My bluetooth is completely nuts. Sometimes I will turn it on via Settings or Quick Settings and it will not turn on at all (the slider moves to the right but stays greyed out, then moves back to the left). Other times I am "luckier" and it switches on and begins scanning, and I can see devices in the area. I pair to a speaker dock via NFC or my wireless headphones via tapping on them and the connection is established, you can hear the speakers go "hey something connected".
So that's all fine. But then you start playing music. About 40-60 seconds in it will skip, crackle, or pause the music entirely. Sometimes the device makes its disconnect noise immediately followed by its reconnect noise. At this point pressing 'play' again starts the cycle over again, usually, or sometimes it will just refuse to "talk to" anything any more until you reboot the phone.
The phone came with OOS 3.5.4 out of the box and immediately got an OTA to 4.1.1. I was suspect about the upgrade procedure and sighed and did a full reset and re-flashed the full 4.1.1 image using adb sideload, logged back in, did the barest of minimum updates to the Google apps to make it stop complaining, and then tried music again. More skipping and pausing. My headphones have a volume up/down key on them, pressing that pretty much immediately results in a disconnect.
It's like the AVRCP (command) bluetooth protocol is "fighting" the A2DP audio stream protocol? It doesn't make any sense. This would also explain why my car audio has NEVER worked, because my head unit uses AVRCP to read track names and my headphones and speaker dock don't have any sort of screen to speak of.
I want to love this phone and don't want to pay double for a similar Pixel, but I might just have to return it if it's effectively useless at one of the main things I have a phone for! :crying:
Hmmm...My Bluetooth connection never have that issues. I used Bluetooth headphones and my car head unit. Running oos 4.1.1 as well.
Try dirty flashing your ROM, there might be something wrong with the drivers. Bluetooth commands (volume, pause, voice assistant, skip, etc.) work find on my headset, I don't believe its a compatibility issue.
If that fails, it might be a hardware defect?
I don't have problems with Bluetooth im using sony wireless earphones everyday. Try reformat the phone
Hi!
Android Nougat has heavy issues regarding bluetooth connectivity. If you Google it you will see...
I have the very same Problems like you with my car radio...
This must be finally adressed by Google.
Assassin1985 said:
Hi!
Android Nougat has heavy issues regarding bluetooth connectivity. If you Google it you will see...
I have the very same Problems like you with my car radio...
This must be finally adressed by Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? Must be an compatability issue between the BT device and your phone. I have 6 active BT devices I use all the time with this phone and my tablet. Car stereo, fitnessband, speakers and inear plugs.
Only issue I sometimes face is the 'stuck in connecting to last used device' where BT needs to be turned off and on again. Wouldn't call it a heavy issue.
bluetooth perfect here. better than my lg g3 that i had previous.
So, more info. If 2.4 GHz WiFi is active in ANY WAY, the bluetooth goes nuts. AVRCP (bidirectional commands) make it worse. Putting the phone in airplane mode to disable the "ambient" wifi location scanning and such, then turning bluetooth on manually and playing some downloaded music, seems to work fine. Switch the WiFi on though (even though my access point is 5 GHz), bam down the toilet. Ugh.
I did a complete reset and flashed OOS 4.1.1 from adb, no improvement. I'm trying the Open Beta 4 right now but I doubt it will be any better.
Did you turn off the scanning feature?
Happens to me like once every 3 days. I usually reboot by then
evilspoons said:
I just got a 128 GB OnePlus 3T a few days ago to replace a dead Nexus 6P. So far I'm very happy with the phone (performance, screen, etc, camera is almost as good, blah blah) except one thing.
My bluetooth is completely nuts. Sometimes I will turn it on via Settings or Quick Settings and it will not turn on at all (the slider moves to the right but stays greyed out, then moves back to the left). Other times I am "luckier" and it switches on and begins scanning, and I can see devices in the area. I pair to a speaker dock via NFC or my wireless headphones via tapping on them and the connection is established, you can hear the speakers go "hey something connected".
So that's all fine. But then you start playing music. About 40-60 seconds in it will skip, crackle, or pause the music entirely. Sometimes the device makes its disconnect noise immediately followed by its reconnect noise. At this point pressing 'play' again starts the cycle over again, usually, or sometimes it will just refuse to "talk to" anything any more until you reboot the phone.
The phone came with OOS 3.5.4 out of the box and immediately got an OTA to 4.1.1. I was suspect about the upgrade procedure and sighed and did a full reset and re-flashed the full 4.1.1 image using adb sideload, logged back in, did the barest of minimum updates to the Google apps to make it stop complaining, and then tried music again. More skipping and pausing. My headphones have a volume up/down key on them, pressing that pretty much immediately results in a disconnect.
It's like the AVRCP (command) bluetooth protocol is "fighting" the A2DP audio stream protocol? It doesn't make any sense. This would also explain why my car audio has NEVER worked, because my head unit uses AVRCP to read track names and my headphones and speaker dock don't have any sort of screen to speak of.
I want to love this phone and don't want to pay double for a similar Pixel, but I might just have to return it if it's effectively useless at one of the main things I have a phone for! :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I have the exact same phone and been having stuttering performance with Bluetooth and Sony MDR-X330BT and worked fine with the 1+ 3. I decided to tell the phone to forget the headphones and start afresh; big mistake headphones kept refusing to pair. I noticed they have the NFC symbol on one of the earpads so I enabled NFC and used app I had downloaded a while back, 'Tap-and-Pair' that did not work either. I did a search today and found a great app that worked - 'NFC Easy Connect' from the Play Store. Now all I need is stable connection from car system which appeared to be tied in with length of screen life before going to sleep but think it may be faulty Twingo as been on the car forum and found others with similar issues but different smartphone to the 1+ 3T. Hope this helps.

Youtube Music suddenly runs without any interaction

Hello everybody,
First of all : Happy new year !
I own a Pixel 4 XL running a stock ROM with the bootloader still locked (I actually don't flash my phones anymore since I'm a team Pixel member haha). I use Android Auto very often because of my job.
Here is my problem : Since the december update (I guess) when I disconnect my phone from my car (using the cable & bluetooth), and put my phone in my pocket, the song from the last music suddenly runs very loud (max volume) even if I manually stop the music player beforehand. I tried a lot of things to stop this problem that seems very random : I cleared the YT Music cache, I disabled motion sense gestures, I even did a factory reset but the problem is still here.
I have to think every time I get out of my car to low the volume before this bug comes out..
Have you encountered that problem ? Do you guys have any idea that could help me ?
Thanks in advance !
Nobody can help me ?
I don't know, what does team Pixel say?
I don't think there is a solution and you aren't alone. I don't use YT for audio, but all music apps have the same pain in the ass behavior because they don't close automatically and most often you have to use "recents" to kill them off. This is the same with Spotify and Pandora. I find myself having to close AA itself sometimes because it stays open long after I've left the car. Sometimes 20 minutes later I look down and notice it is still running. If it can start up automatically when BT connects, or even when "hearing" driving noises like the engine, the reverse should be true. You turn the car off, unplug, exit the vehicle WHY does it continue running? Not one of the top 3 music apps will kill itself.
Thanks for answering !
I actually didn't know anyone else would have the same problem so this is reassuring me hah
Yes that is so annoying having your phone waking up with music with the volume toaximum whereas 10 minutes ago you thought you did everything to shut it up
I think I've had this happen literally once and I do use YouTube Music. Have never had it replicated. Is it still happening with the happened with the January update?
EeZeEpEe said:
I think I've had this happen literally once and I do use YouTube Music. Have never had it replicated. Is it still happening with the happened with the January update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, yes it still happens despite the last update. The only thing that seems help me avoiding the problem is when I manually stop the music in my car before unplugging the phone. Then, for safety I put the media volume to the minimum so if the music starts again in my pocket, I won't hear it.
!J2B! said:
Unfortunately, yes it still happens despite the last update. The only thing that seems help me avoiding the problem is when I manually stop the music in my car before unplugging the phone. Then, for safety I put the media volume to the minimum so if the music starts again in my pocket, I won't hear it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, so you're connected via Bluetooth to your car, turn off the ignition, and it'll still be playing? At that point, that's when my YouTube Music pauses.
EeZeEpEe said:
Interesting, so you're connected via Bluetooth to your car, turn off the ignition, and it'll still be playing? At that point, that's when my YouTube Music pauses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually no. I plug my P4XL to my car through USB then it connects via Bluetooth and Android Auto runs on my car's screen. Everything work fine. When I'm arrived, I unplug my phone, turn of the ignition and the sound normally stops and YTM pauses. But something like 10 minutes later, when I'm far from the car, the last song I was playing in the car restart through the phone with absolutely no interaction on it.
!J2B! said:
Actually no. I plug my P4XL to my car through USB then it connects via Bluetooth and Android Auto runs on my car's screen. Everything work fine. When I'm arrived, I unplug my phone, turn of the ignition and the sound normally stops and YTM pauses. But something like 10 minutes later, when I'm far from the car, the last song I was playing in the car restart through the phone with absolutely no interaction on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah okay. Thanks for the clarification. Yeah I use Android Auto just on my phone.
!J2B! said:
Thanks for answering !
I actually didn't know anyone else would have the same problem so this is reassuring me hah
Yes that is so annoying having your phone waking up with music with the volume toaximum whereas 10 minutes ago you thought you did everything to shut it up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a similar problem. I drive a lot throughout the day and Stream SiriusXM on my Phone through the BT on my work van. Very often, I get out and within an unspecified period of time, Sirius will start playing, full volume for no reason. It's as annoying as the Google Assistant suddenly responding to something I said without me using the OK Google prompt.
The fix is to close Sirius and swipe away the player controls in the status bar dropdown
HipKat said:
I have a similar problem. I drive a lot throughout the day and Stream SiriusXM on my Phone through the BT on my work van. Very often, I get out and within an unspecified period of time, Sirius will start playing, full volume for no reason. It's as annoying as the Google Assistant suddenly responding to something I said without me using the OK Google prompt.
The fix is to close Sirius and swipe away the player controls in the status bar dropdown
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your feedback ! I don't have the Google Assistant problem you have but the exact same problem for the media. So it's not due to YT Music or Sirius. It's an overall media problem.
Unfortunately, I can't close the app because when I unplug the phone, YouTube Music isn't even open. And swiping right the player controls doesn't seem to work.
The only thing that seems to work is to stop the stream through Android Auto before turning off the engine and unplugging. But I have to think every time I leave my car
!J2B! said:
Thanks for your feedback ! I don't have the Google Assistant problem you have but the exact same problem for the media. So it's not due to YT Music or Sirius. It's an overall media problem.
Unfortunately, I can't close the app because when I unplug the phone, YouTube Music isn't even open. And swiping right the player controls doesn't seem to work.
The only thing that seems to work is to stop the stream through Android Auto before turning off the engine and unplugging. But I have to think every time I leave my car
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried stopping it before I turn off the van, but that's an idea. I think when I turn off the engine, it pauses the stream on the device, sure, but what causes it to just start playing again??
TBH, that and the random dead spots around the edges of my phone since Android 11, I'm getting a little aggravated.
HipKat said:
I haven't tried stopping it before I turn off the van, but that's an idea. I think when I turn off the engine, it pauses the stream on the device, sure, but what causes it to just start playing again??
TBH, that and the random dead spots around the edges of my phone since Android 11, I'm getting a little aggravated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I absolutely don't know what causes it to start the music again. But closing it before turning off the engine and then force closing the streaming app does help. That way, the phone has nothing to turn back on
Regarding the dead spots since the update I don't have this problem... Yet. But yeah, Android 11 is one of the worst major update the past few years. Hope they will fix these problems soon.
IsaacDavidson said:
Have you tried to write them in customer support? I think that it is a system bug
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I already tried but the support didn't even seem to understand the real problem. We were speaking in my native language though. Seems like french support sucks

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