question

Marcelo Kopmann avatar image
Marcelo Kopmann asked

How to show an Audio Player on Alexa mobile App when playing an audio stream skill?

I'm building a Radio Station app for Alexa Skill and I haven't figured out how to show an audio player inside the Alexa App when the skill is playing my audio stream.

For example, when playing the iHeart Radio skill, it shows an audio player bar in the bottom of the mobile app, which allows it to pause or change the volume. (check image below)

However, when playing my Radio, it just plays out the audio, but it doesn't show anything else.

I've been using the following projects as reference:
https://github.com/alexa-samples/skill-sample-nodejs-audio-player/blob/mainline/lambda/index.js
https://github.com/dabblelab/3-alexa-audio-streaming-example-skill/blob/master/lambda/custom/index.js


1639405037275.jpeg

alexaaudioplayercustom skill
1639405037275.jpeg (336.4 KiB)
10 |5000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

1 Answer

Andy Whitworth avatar image
Andy Whitworth answered

I would imagine that the iHeart Radio player isn't a normal custom skill like the type you're creating as the instructions to activate it states:

  • From the Amazon App, tap on the More tab
  • Select Settings > Music & Podcasts. A list of music services available on Amazon appears.
  • Tap on iHeartRadio, click “Link Account”, and login

Which isn't the route for normal skill acivation.

Some providers close to Amazon have access to "special" capabilities not provided to other devs.

That's just my thoughts though, I don't work for Amazon so can't state that with 100% confidence.

3 comments
10 |5000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

Marcelo Kopmann avatar image Marcelo Kopmann commented ·

Thanks for answering, Andy!

While the skill can be linked to an account, it doesn't require one to work.

I've just tested another skill, Radio New York, that does not need activation and its audio controller appeared in the mobile app as well.


file.jpg

Maybe it's something related to the audio stream itself?

0 Likes 0 ·
file.jpg (163.4 KiB)
Andy Whitworth avatar image Andy Whitworth Marcelo Kopmann commented ·

Or perhaps they're using the Radio / Podcast API rather than the Audio Player interface ?


https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/music-skills/understand-the-music-skill-api.html


Having said that, I'm in UK and can play the Radio New York Live skill wheras the API docs above mention US only.

When I play the Radio New York Live skill on my Andriod Alexa app, I don't get the radio player control at the bottom of the app but do get a control in the status bar which has Prev / Pause / Next controls. The Prev / Next controls don't do anything.

radionewyork.jpg

0 Likes 0 ·
radionewyork.jpg (206.0 KiB)
Marcelo Kopmann avatar image Marcelo Kopmann Andy Whitworth commented ·
Yeah, it's not appearing it to me anymore. I think it was due to a specific flow, like opening iHeart Radio before and then calling Radio New York afterwards.

Since iHeart Radio is an Amazon's First Party, I think we can do much on this topic.

Thanks for trying it out!


0 Likes 0 ·