easyMute: Pause Music Playback On Android By Covering Proximity Sensor
We have previously covered a lot of Android apps that bring your device’s proximity sensor into play to help you easily accomplish various tasks. For instance, ShakeCall lets you receive and hang up calls by shaking your device, SpeakerProximity is capable of determining when to switch calls between your device’s earpiece and speaker, whereas Wave Control supports various gestures to let you control music playback totally hands-free. New to the Play Store, easyMute is yet another handy addition to the list of apps from this genre. Just like Wave Control, this particular app can prove to be a godsend for music enthusiasts who are looking for a viable solution to temporarily pause music on their devices without having to unlock them. easyMute uses your device’s proximity sensor to automatically pause music once the sensor is covered. That’s not all; it also presents you with the option to set a volume level to which your music should automatically be shifted after you cover the sensor. Although most Android music players these days support integration with your device’s lockscreen or notification panel to present you with quick playback controls, why go through the tedious process when you can achieve your goal without even having to touch your device. Same applies to situations where you are required to pause or lower the music volume with the help of your headphone or Bluetooth device controls.
There are so many scenarios where you might be required to react quickly to halt music playback on your device to listen to someone or concentrate on something, and in all such circumstances, easyMute can offer way more efficiency than any other alternative means. After all, what could be more convenient than just raising your finger/hand to your device’s proximity sensor to temporarily stop music from playing. That’s like shushing a well-disciplined child by raising your finger! The best part about the app is that it’s free and works with pretty much every Android music player.
Configuring the app is as simple as you’d hope for. On the main screen, there are just a couple of toggles: one for triggering the app’s service and the other for adjusting its settings. Talking from the configuration viewpoint, you can set the app to automatically launch on system reboot. In addition, there is the option to avail the app’s services only when your device is lying in flat position, as in when it’s resting on a table or any still surface. You may want to keep this option disabled to make sure that your music isn’t stopped by the app every time you put your device in pocket, or accidentally cover the proximity sensor.
As mentioned earlier, there is also an option in the app to lower the music to a user-specified level upon covering the proximity sensor, rather than fully muting it. This particular option can come in handy where stopping the music from playing isn’t entirely mandatory. Should you decide to avail this feature, there is an option for you to select the volume level preset at which your music should be played for as long as you keep the sensor covered.
easyMute has been successfully tested with a number of music players, including the stock Android music app, Jet Audio, N7 and few others. Needless to say, the app works flawlessly irrespective of whether your device’s screen is locked or unlocked. Given the astounding tricks that we have already seen with several aforementioned proximity sensor-based Android apps, we won’t be surprised to see easyMute bring in Wave Control-like gesture control for complete music playback in a future update, instead of just the play/pause or volume adjustment options.
