Media Controls Stopped Working

[Matthew Redmond]

For as long as I have had my Nexus 5, I have been able to use the media controls in Tasker to play, pause, skip tracks, and fully control the music I listen to in Google Play Music. However, recently these controls have just stopped working unless the Google Play Music app is open or music is already playing. I haven't changed any settings in Tasker, and looking at the run log shows that the commands are indeed being sent, just nothing happens.

By contrast, the media controls in the Power Toggles app still work fine, even if the Google Play Music app is not open or hasn't even been opened since restarting the phone.

Any idea what may be causing this, or how I may correct it?

[Marta Hintz]

Upgrade software? What changed? Another app that controls media added?

[Matthew Redmond]

Nothing changed that I'm aware of. Two days ago I restarted my phone, and immediately after that the profile I use to automatically start playing music (headset plugged in) stopped working, and after thorough testing, now none of the media controls in tasker work unless music is already playing.

[Brandon Horwath]

Google play music was updated a few days ago.

There's a chance the update broke a functionality of your action flow setup.

What are you working with?

To export a profile as description:

1) Disable beginner mode.
Go to menu > preferences > UI tab > Beginner mode and uncheck it.

2) A profile must be named to export
Long press on the profile that you want to name and a menu bar should appear at the top of the screen.
Select the "A" icon to open a dialog to name the profile.
Note: You can change tasker's profile creation sequence to request a profile name when creating a profile with:
menu > preferences > UI > scroll down to Main Screen section and find 'Ask For New Profile Name' and check it.

3) Post the Tasker description of the profile or task that you are having trouble with.
To do that you long press on the profile name (or task name) and then go to menu > export > description to clipboard (don't select export XML). Then paste the clipboard contexts into a post.

[Matthew Redmond]

Here's one example of a simple profile that no longer works:

Profile: Headset In (No Mic) (32)
Notification: no
State: Headset Plugged [ Type:No Mic ]
Enter: Anon (123)
A1: If [ %MediaApp ! Set ]
A2: Media Volume [ Level:15 Display:Off Sound:Off ] 
A3: Media Control [ Cmd:Play [Simulated Only] Simulate Media Button:Off ] 
A4: End If 

[Brandon Horwath]

Try:

Profile: Headset In (No Mic) (32)
Notification: no

State: Headset Plugged [ Type:Any ]

Enter: Anon (123)
A1: If [ %MediaApp ! Set ]
A2: Media Volume [ Level:15 Display:Off Sound:Off ]

Load app: Google Play

[Matthew Redmond]

That was actually the first solution I tried as a workaround. It only works if Google Play Music is in the list of recently opened apps. If I restart my phone or swipe Play Music away from recent apps and then run this task, Tasker loads the Play Music app but music does not start playing. However, if I try to run the task again after that it works. 

My only problem with that solution is while Play Music is my primary audio listening app, I occasionally use others, and I'd like plugging in the headphones to just start playing the last listened to audio.

My main question is why do the media controls in Power Toggles work fine, but the ones in Tasker do not?