Tutorial: Quick test of quick(er) access to muting sounds (alarms, calls, calendarm, emails, etc.) on Android

[Arlen Holder]

Tutorial: <https://i.postimg.cc/Dz8kBhD2/mute01.jpg>

Quick test of quick(er) access to muting sounds on Android
(alarms, calls, calendar, emails, etc.)

o *Sound OFF*, by Jonghwa Jo
o free, no ads, GSF independent
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rannsoft.soundoff>

o *Silent Mode Toggle*, by cug apps
o free, no ads, GSF independent
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc7.SilentModeToggle>

o *Mute*, by MNO Company
o free, no ads, GSF independent
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=muter.muter>

Please be warned this is a completely _different_ type of app!
o SOUND OFF, by Sound Off (for mental health questions)
o free, no ads, GSF _dependent_
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.soundoff>

BACKGROUND:
This week, it was recently suggested to install apps that allow for easy
tailored muting of sounds in this "quickaccess" icon thread:
o What half dozen quick access icons do you have set on Android 9?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/mMTNgCE-3gM>

So that it has its own thread for questions, suggestions, and improvements
and for permanent Usenet archival, I re-post the related information here.
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/mMTNgCE-3gM/O-Ci-Jv6AwAJ>

If you have suggestions for improvement, please add further value!

QUICKTEST:
<https://i.postimg.cc/Dz8kBhD2/mute01.jpg>

1. A quick test of *Sound OFF*, by Jonghwa Jo is you press the icon.
That's it. You press it, and you see "Sound OFF" or "Sound ON"
I didn't see any options, although I may have missed them.

2. A quick tap on *Silent Mode Toggle*, by cug apps, popped up
settings with three "Do Not Disturb" options of:
a. (none)
b. Total silence
c. Alarms only <== default

There were other settings such as the
o Toggle order
o Priority mode ringer
o Listen to changes made outside the app
o Do Not Disturb permissions

3. A quick tap on *Mute*, by MNO Company, asked first for
permission to modify system settings (which the others didn't ask).

Subsequent taps on the shortcut acted almost exactly as did the
"Jonghwa Jo" app, with "Mute On!" and "Mute Off!" showing up.

In addition though, the "Mute Off!" setting temporarily shows
the Android slider for the alarm and sound settings, which,
at this point, I'm not sure if they're useful, and, anyway,
they disappear quickly so you have to know what you want to set them to.

If you know of other, similar apps, please advise us all so that every
thread adds useful technical value to the Android users' tribal knowledge.
--
Usenet allows purposefully helpful adults to share solutions with others.

[Arlen Holder]

Update

See this post just now from "badgolferman" asking whether a hardware
one-click "mute" switch exists, native or if it can be set up, on Android.

o What functionality you do on iOS you wish you could do on Android?
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/Y5Hy7T8cNtw>

This is badgolferman's post:
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/Y5Hy7T8cNtw/m/e2hT9W59EAAJ>
"Not an app, but are there any Android phones that have a physical
Mute switch like iPhones? I find that feature extremely useful since
I use it a lot. Don't even have to unlock the phone to use it."

And this is my off-the-cuff response (as I don't really know muting well):
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/Y5Hy7T8cNtw/m/9HpP0XaIEAAJ>

Where I made these screenshots of what is on my $100 Moto G7 (Android 10):
o <https://i.postimg.cc/JhCps71N/mute01.jpg> VolDown button on Moto G7
o <https://i.postimg.cc/xC0gPsNq/mute02.jpg> Does about 30 things
o <https://i.postimg.cc/RFXdpcwd/mute03.jpg> As do mute apps on Android

Do any of you folks use a one-click hardware activated mute on Android?
--
Posted so that those researching this question have a reference to benefit.

[Arlen Holder]

On Mon, 14 Dec 2020 01:19:52 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

> And lastly, on Android, I'm pretty sure you can remap any button you like
> to do whatever you want it to do (although I'd have to doublecheck that).

Hi badgolferman,

I'm pretty sure even the absolute newest iOS will never be able to do what
even a five year old Android device can do, for the simple logical,
sensible, and factual reasons that Apple limits what apps will be on the
App Store, while neither Google nor the OEMs can... so I'm pretty sure no
matter what you want to do, if it can be done, it's already done on Android
(for free).

With that confidence in mind, I ran just one search, which found a lot
(see below) on hardware muting for Android (with the screen on or off).

I've only myself remapped my (soft) Home button on Android (so that a long
press on Home takes a screenshot after a five-second delay, which I use all
the time because a lot of my screenshots require this time-delay feature).

To be further purposefully helpful, as I always am (except with apologists)
o I ran a quick search on remapping the hardware buttons, which found this:
o How to Remap the Buttons on Your Android Device to Do Nearly Anything You Want
<https://gizmodo.com/how-to-remap-the-buttons-on-your-android-device-to-do-n-1834942538>

"To change what a button does, tap on it then pick your preferred
function. Available options include going to the home screen,
going back a screen, returning to the last app, taking a screenshot
and turning the flashlight on.

*You can also mute your phone*, skip through audio tracks,
or launch something in Tasker (which lets you automate a variety
of tasks on Android)."

That review is of this free app on Google Play
o (I got it from the Aurora Store as I don't use Google apps, as you know.)
o Button Mapper, free, ad free, GSF free, Google free, etc.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=flar2.homebutton>

Which says, in their advertising on Google Play:
"Long press to toggle "do not disturb" mode"

And, it says on Google Play: Actions that can be mapped to buttons or keys:
o "Adjust volume or mute"

The article specifically mentions you can map a HW switch to "mute":
o "you can also mute your phone"

Specifically, they write of the example of muting via hardware buttons:
"So, to give you one example, you can tap Volume Up, then Customize,
then Double tap to choose an action - *Mute volume*, maybe,
or Split screen.

The newly remapped function stays in place until you change it again,
turn customization for the button off, or uninstall the app from your
phone."

You have to run an extra step, if not rooted, for the remapped hardware
button to work with the screen off, but most people have adb (I do):
"Root is not required for most actions, however some require an adb
command from a connected PC if not rooted. Button Mapper does not work
when the screen is off unless your device is rooted or you run an adb
command."

While almost everyone already has adb on their desktop (it's useful for
many things as it talks to Android over USB absolutely beautifully), the
article also mentioned "some" actions require adb so that they run when the
screen is blanked out.
"The app is restricted in that remapping won't work while the screen
is off, unless you're prepared to use some developer tools on your
computer to get deeper hooks into Android..."

Luckily they provided instructions for those "developer tools", over here:
o <https://setup.buttonmapper.app/>

Everyone I know already has the free adb, so you can just cut and paste
their commands and it should work on the mute, according to the article.

Meanwhile, the article mentions another similar free tool, which is:
o Buttons remapper, free, ad free, GSF free, Google free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.irishin.buttonsremapper>

And a quick search on the Aurora Store (which is a skin over Google Play
that spoofs the phone's personal information, and doesn't need an account)
found other apps which seem similar in hardware-key remapping functions:
o Keyboard/Button Mapper, free, ad free, GSF free, Google free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.github.sds100.keymapper>

That app's Google advertisement page mentions "mute" for Android 6+ only:
"Mute/unmute/toggle mute (Android 6.0+)"

I'm not gonna try these because I'm currently working on the Android Studio
tutorial to help others code their own apps on Android, for free, where I'm
testing out all the myriad free Android emulation tools (there are tons!):
o Tutorial creation apps in Android Studio 4.1.1 on Windows 10 (AMD CPU)
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/g3ymz5CPsIk>

Plus, I don't need this Hardware Mute capability myself, but from what I
found by that quick search, it sure 'seems' like you can set any hardware
switch to mute, even with the screen blanked out (correct me if I err).
--
Posted, as always, out of the goodness of my heart, to help others learn.