Begin Playing Audio immediately after clicking 'Play Audio'

Discussions around the Android version of the Gospel Library application.
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lrrasmussen
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Begin Playing Audio immediately after clicking 'Play Audio'

#1

Post by lrrasmussen »

Audio playback now requires an extra step.

Previously the app could play audio by clicking the three dots in the upper right hand corner and choosing 'Play Audio'. Now you have to click the ▶️ triangle play button below additionally after doing that.

'Play Audio' no longer initiates audio playback.

'Play Audio' instead now displays audio controls.

This extra step seems unnecessary and potentially dangerous if you're in a vehicle. If this behavior was changed for some other reason perhaps defaulting to the original behavior(immediate audio playback) could be a preference to be toggled in the audio settings.

Thank You!
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sbradshaw
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Re: Begin Playing Audio immediately after clicking 'Play Audio'

#2

Post by sbradshaw »

There are two ways to open the audio player in Android Gospel Library:
– When you're at the top of the chapter, you can tap the floating audio button (with a headphones icon) in the bottom right. This is the most common way to listen to audio.
– In the overflow menu in the top right (three dots), you can choose "Play Audio." I think this is the option you're using.

Android and iOS Gospel Library have traditionally required two taps to play audio. The reason for this is because we found that it was common for users to accidentally hit the audio button and start playing audio when they didn't mean to – for example, at Church or in a class.

In Android Gospel Library 5.12.0 (July 2021), the behavior was changed as an experiment, allowing audio to start playing with a single tap on the headphones icon, but more recently in 6.1.x this change has been reverted. Two taps are required again, to prevent accidentally audio playback and to align with the behavior in iOS Gospel Library.

Opening the audio player through the overflow menu is actually three taps, so technically we could make it play immediately if the audio player is opened using the overflow menu, but not play immediately if the audio player is opened using the button in the bottom right. However, the two behaviors would be inconsistent, which could be confusing for users. It would also be extra code for the developers to maintain, if they behaved differently. Adding a setting would also increase complexity.

The development team is exploring ways to improve the audio experience – one thing being looked at (but still in an exploration phase) is Android Auto. Hopefully the experience in the car will improve in the future.

In the meantime, if you open the audio player using the button in the bottom right, it will reduce the number of taps from three to two.

Hope this helps!
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
lrrasmussen
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Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2022 5:18 am

Re: Begin Playing Audio immediately after clicking 'Play Audio'

#3

Post by lrrasmussen »

Hi Samuel, thank you for taking the time to outline the history of the feature and suggesting a workaround to reduce UI interaction. Using 'advanced preferences' or adding an additional option to playback controls a user could potentially allow a revert to the earlier behavior present in Gospel Library 5.12.0-6.1.x., and then the users could choose for themselves how to use the app.

I've also been wondering if I could initiate playback of a given GC address using speech, and it sounds like the Android Auto integration is focusing, at least in part, on having a safer experience while operating a vehicle.

In the meantime I'm more frequently using a cross platform solution called Pocket Casts. It has larger controls and is more focused on playback. I'm also able to resume playback of a given talk where I left off(streaming or local playback), a feature provided for audio, but not video, nor for audio text-to-speech in GL. I can also share playback with others of a given talk at a specific timestamp.

It seems the Gospel Library project/teams has many other priorities to balance and audio and video playback are less mature as a result. I'm also unable to cast a video from GL, for example.

Perhaps a focus on granular playback controls is, in large part, best left to other applications, and providing RSS feeds for audio and/or video of General Conference addresses in multiple languages could better meet those specific needs for the time being.
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