Playback Audio Won’t Pause for Notifications in Apps Built for Android 8.0

We may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.

Audio ducking on Android refers to the volume of audio decreasing when another audio source (usually notifications) starts playing. When a notification ducks the audio of the already playing audio source, it’s taking the audio focus away from the app, just like Pokemon Go does you start it up while music is already playing. A way to fix that was detailed here, by the way. Apps do have the choice to duck audio or even entirely stop playback; for example, if you play a song on Spotify then open a YouTube video, Spotify stops music playback entirely. However, for any apps that target Android Oreo (SDK level 26), that will be changing as playback audio will no longer pause for incoming notifications.

Android Oreo has Changed the Way Playback Audio Respond to Notifications

Now with Android Oreo, apps targeting the latest release will no longer stop playback whenever another app, or a notification, takes audio focus. Instead, these apps will simply duck the audio by default. For example, the Podcast Addict application will stop media playback briefly whenever a new notification comes in, then resume playback afterwards. If Podcast Addict instead is updated to target SDK level 26 (AKA Android 8.0 Oreo), then it’s volume will be lowered (audio ducking) rather than completely paused when a notification is received.

This among other changes such as Rescue Party and Project Treble are showing how Android Oreo is more about optimization and behind-the-scenes improvements, rather than large scale changes. It’s great to see Google making improvements in smaller areas and paying attention to the little parts of the operating system. The smaller bugs of Android have been the subject of criticism for years.

We’ll continue looking for other changes that have been made. Stay tuned to the XDA Portal using our XDA Labs app to keep up to date with all of the latest Android 8.0 and other Android related news.