Why is my music stopping when I open an app?
It’s a common frustration that when you’re listening to music on your phone and open another app, the music suddenly stops playing. This phenomenon of the music pausing when launching a new app is familiar to many smartphone users.
In this article, we’ll explore the reasons why music and other audio stops when opening a separate app on both iPhones and Android devices. We’ll look at how mobile operating systems handle audio sessions between apps, priorities apps based on usage, optimize system resources, and balance user experience. Understanding what causes this audio interruption can provide solutions for both developers and users on how to create a seamless audio experience across multiple apps.
App Prioritization
When a new app is opened, mobile operating systems like iOS and Android will often pause or mute background audio from other apps in order to prioritize the newly opened app. This allows the new app to take control of audio playback without interference from other apps.
For example, if you are listening to music on a streaming app and then open a game, the game will be given priority access to audio playback. The music app will be paused or muted while the game plays any sounds or music.
This is by design on mobile operating systems to optimize the user experience. The assumption is that the newly opened app requires the user’s focus and any audio from that app, like game sound effects, should take priority over background audio like music playback.
While convenient in many cases, this app prioritization can be frustrating if you want to continue listening to background music [1]. Some apps allow you to disable their sounds to avoid interrupting your music, but not all apps have this setting.
Operating System Design
Operating systems like iOS and Android are designed to pause background audio during certain intensive tasks in order to optimize system resources. When an app needs to use more processing power or memory, the OS will pause background audio streams temporarily so those resources can be allocated to the foreground app (Apple Discussions). This gives the active app priority access to ensure smooth performance, at the expense of briefly interrupting background audio.
Both iOS and Android use the concept of “audio sessions” to manage audio resources and determine which app has priority access at any given time. When a foreground app requests an audio session, the OS will pause any background audio and grant the foreground app exclusive access until its audio session ends. This prevents multiple apps from playing audio simultaneously and overloading the system (GitHub).
While inconvenient for music listeners, this design is intentional to deliver the best possible performance for foreground apps. The alternative would be glitchy, stuttering audio/video in active apps if background music was not paused. Overall the OS prioritizes foreground active use over background passive listening (Reddit).
Resource Optimization
One of the key reasons an app may stop playing music when another app opens is that the operating system is optimizing how device resources like RAM and CPU are allocated between apps. Modern mobile operating systems like Android and iOS are designed to efficiently manage limited resources across all running apps. When a new foreground app is opened, the OS may restrict resources to background apps to prioritize the foreground experience.
For example, when you open the camera app, the OS will try to allocate more RAM and CPU cycles to the camera to ensure fast performance, while restricting resources to background apps like music players. This prevents the active foreground app from competing over resources with inactive background apps. As a result, background music playback may stutter or pause temporarily while other demanding apps are open.
Device makers like Samsung include additional “battery optimization” features that aggressively limit background app resources to save battery life. So music may pause when the OS and device settings are trying to restrict background app resource usage.
Overall, resource optimization keeps apps from fighting over limited resources and improves the experience using foreground apps. But it can sometimes come at the cost of background apps getting less resources and pausing.
User Experience
A key aspect of the user experience when it comes to mobile apps playing music or audio is avoiding clashes, interruptions, and confusion. As discussed in Sound User Interactions: The Sonic User Experience in UI Design, “Keep it simple: Audio feedback should be concise and unobtrusive to avoid overwhelming users or distracting them from their primary tasks.”
When a user opens a new app, if that app automatically begins playing audio or music, it can be jarring and disruptive to the experience the user was already engaged in. This can cause cognitive overload and frustration for the user.
Best practices recommend app developers avoid starting audio playback automatically when an app is opened. If audio must be played, it should be preceded by a user-initiated action or confirmation to minimize clashing with existing audio sessions.
Following user experience principles around avoiding confusion and destructive actions can create a more seamless audio experience for mobile users.
Developer Control
Both Android and iOS give developers control over audio focus and prioritization to handle multiple audio streams gracefully. On Android, developers can request audio focus for a particular audio stream using the requestAudioFocus() method before starting playback. The app indicates the duration of the focus request and callbacks if focus is gained or lost. This allows coordinated handoff of audio resources between apps.
Similarly, iOS provides the AVAudioSession API for developers to manage audio sessions. Developers can set the audio session category and mode appropriate for the app. The system invokes callbacks when another app interrupts your audio session, so the app can pause playback accordingly and resume later. Overall, the developer APIs on both platforms aim to enable smooth audio handoffs between apps.
Audio Sessions
When developing apps, developers should be aware that iOS and Android handle audio sessions differently. As Apple’s developer documentation explains, iOS uses AVAudioSession to manage audio sessions and define separate audio channels for different types of audio, like music playback or sound effects. Android relies more on requesting audio focus when needed.
On iOS, according to the Audio Session Support guide, AVAudioSession allows developers to specify intended audio behavior and choose options like mixing app audio with other audio or muting other audio. This allows iOS to intelligently handle multiple audio streams.
In contrast, Android apps must explicitly request audio focus when needed, as noted in the W3C Audio Session explainer. Android audio sessions are more temporary and focused on resolving focus requests between apps. iOS audio sessions are more persistent and focused on managing defined channels.
Solutions
There are a few ways users can prevent their music from stopping when opening other apps on iPhone or Android devices:
On iPhones, go to Settings > Music and turn on the “Play in Background” setting. This will allow music to continue playing even when opening another app.[1]
For Spotify on iPhones, enable “Background Audio” in Spotify’s settings to keep music playing across apps. Adjust audio settings in individual apps that pause music – like muting or lowering volumes.[2]
On Android, go to Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > App permissions > Audio focus. Configure which apps have priority audio playback control.
Android users can also try enabling “Don’t pause music” in Developer options. Or use an app like Musicolet that is designed not to pause playback.[3]
Adjusting OS and app settings can prevent music stopping across devices. But ultimately app developers have control over pausing behaviors, so user options are sometimes limited.
Developer Guidelines
Apple provides specific guidelines for audio app developers to follow to optimize the audio experience. The Human Interface Guidelines outline audio best practices for recording, playback, and background audio.
For recording audio, developers should ensure the recording interface is simple with easy access to start/stop and pause functions. Playback audio should give users playback controls and display the duration. For background audio, apps should remember the user’s preference and not restart unexpectedly.
The Audio Session Programming Guide provides technical details on implementing robust audio sessions that properly handle interrupts and routing.
Following Apple’s guidelines helps developers optimize the audio experience in their apps and avoid frustrations for users like unexpected stopping.
Conclusion
There are a few key reasons why one’s music may stop playing when opening another app on a mobile device. First, operating systems are designed to optimize resources and prioritize the foreground app over background audio. Developers also have significant control over audio sessions in their apps. However, the experience can be frustrating for users who just want uninterrupted music playback. With thoughtful design and following best practices around background audio, developers can provide a better user experience. In summary, operating system design, resource optimization, and developer control over audio sessions all contribute to interrupting background audio playback when launching another app. Yet solutions exist, whether at the system level or in how developers manage sessions in their apps.