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Forum Discussion
Play audio files from mobile app
I have uploaded many audio files and when I play them back with the mobile app on my Android phone if it "loses focus" or you switch to another app or close your phone the audio stops playing. Can you fix this?
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi Brian Battles, I’d be happy to clarify the expected behavior for audio playback in our app.
When you play an audio file in our app, you should be able to minimize the app and still hear playback.
However, the Dropbox app is not designed to be a fully-featured media player, so if you’re playing items from a folder of audio files, it will not progress automatically to the next file. Playback will also stop if the app is open and you load a different file or exit from the playback screen.
If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.
When you say "exit from the playback screen", that's what I'm talking about. Why does it stop playing if I change focus to another app, like Facebook or a browser or whatever, or if I close (fold) my phone to put it down or in my pocket? That doesn't happen with YouTube, Spotify, VLC, Facebook, etc. Can this be fixed in the DropBox app? After all, I'm paying for the service.
- Hannah
Hey Brian Battles, have you recently started seeing this behavior, or has it always been the case when playing audio files on the Dropbox app?
It's always been this way as long as I've had a Dropbox account (2 or 3 years).
I do a weekly radio show on WINY and I record an aircheck of the show every Sunday, and then when I'm driving around during the week I listen to it in the car to critique the show. If I play it from the built-in audio player in the app it stops playing as soon as I get a notification from another app, or if I attempt to fold the phone shut...it especially drives me nuts if I happen to inadvertently touch or move the phone and it "thinks" I minimized the Dropbox app or opened some other app. The it won't even resume where it left off, I have to start the download and playback from scratch at the beginning.
I'm a developer myself, and I shouldn't think this would be hard to fix.
- Hannah
Thanks for your reply, Brian.
We do appreciate your feedback on this, and I will make sure to pass your comments along to our devs team.
Let me know if you need anything else.
