question

David T. Schaller asked Apr 23, '14

How to stop audio when FireTV switches to screensaver

We've got a problem with our Unity game; when the device switches to the screensaver, the in-game music should stop playing, but it does not. We don't have any idea how to tell the game to shut off the music. Is there any signal from the device that the game can listen for?

fire tv

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jhample answered Apr 23, '14

I have not tried it yet, but I assume that the app becomes the background process when the screensaver starts. So that may be something to check for. I actually disabled the screensaver for my game to get around any screensaver related issues like this.

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Sujoy@Amazon answered Apr 25, '14

Fire TV is essentially an Android API level 17 device (4.2). The screensaver will call onWindowFocusChanged(boolean) on the point in which it is turned on. You can implement that callback in their activity to be able to pause your app gracefully when this happens. Thanks.

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Mark Sebesta answered May 11, '14

As far as I know Unity3d does not have access to this function. At this point there seems to be no possible way for a Unity3d game that uses sound to be certifiable on the Fire TV. Please add an exception for this requirement as was done for the Media button requirement.

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jhample answered May 12, '14

There is already an exception for this. I was given the following feedback for my app. Observation:- App continues to play audio after the system enters screen saver or standby mode (exception is granted for music apps) : Ensure that the app stops playing audio once the device begins displaying a screen saver (dream state) or enters standby mode. Note that if your app uses a framework such as Unity, you may ignore this requirement, as apps built on Unity3D do not receive DreamService intents.

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David T. Schaller answered May 12, '14

Actually, you can mute the audio, using OnApplicationFocus.

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Sujoy@Amazon answered May 12, '14

Thanks David, yes OnApplicationFocus of all game objects receive a callback when the player gets or loses focus in unity. http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/ScriptReference/MonoBehaviour.OnApplicationFocus.html You can stop the player when this method is called back focusStatus is sent as true.

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