How to have two applications play sound simultaneously?

Question

I want the music to keep playing in the background while I practice Spanish on the Duolingo app. The music player stops while Duolingo is trying to play sound as of now.

Is this possible?

Duplicate: How can I prevent an app from interrupting audio playback of some other app? — Irfan Latif, May 21 '22 at 22:39

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:28

9

As for my device, whenever I play Duolingo and music at the same time, then the audio fades slightly with CM 12 built-in player

Now if you are OK with any third-party application, here is what you need to do.

Install and open Poweramp Music Player
Go to Settings
Then click on Audio
Select Audio Focus
Uncheck Short Audio Focus Change

_{(Click image to enlarge)}

edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:28

Andrew T.

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answered Oct 08 '15 at 05:45

reachrk

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Thanks. That almost works for me. I want to play something in Poweramp and a song in Pandora at the same time. If I start Pandora first and then start Poweramp playing with any combination of the Short and Permanent AF Changes boxes unchecked, they both play until Poweramp changes tracks. Then Poweramp must grab focus back since Pandora halts. Is there any other way to fix this? – FrankH Feb 27 '16 at 21:11
sorry to say that Pandora isn't available in my country and so i couldn't check. – reachrk Feb 28 '16 at 08:28

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:28

You CAN play two audio simultaneously. I don't think it's possible with the stock Music player. You can install a third-party music player. In Rocket Music player, you can configure the Audio Focus to ignore the other audio apps while this player is playing. You can do so by setting the option under the Rocket Player Settings > Sound > Audio Focus,

_{Screenshot - Rocket Player (Click to enlarge)}

While I tried to play a song in the Google Play Music app and played a song in the ES File Explorer, the Play Music song stopped. But while doing the same in Play Music and then in Rocket Player, the songs never paused. They both played simultaneously.

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 23 '21 at 13:37

5

Samsung's SoundAssistant does this and allows you to adjust the volume of both apps separately.

Not sure if Samsung's app store (Galaxy Store) or the app itself is available for non-Samsung devices, but it may be possible.

edited Nov 23 '21 at 13:37

Andrew T.

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answered Jun 10 '20 at 02:59

Graham Thomas

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 19 '23 at 12:20

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MPV for Android continues playing audio as well. If you connect an external keyboard, you can adjust the volume independently of other apps with the 9 and 0 keys.

answered Oct 19 '23 at 12:20

Dominik

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score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:28

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For a free app alternative that allows playing in the background: SoundAura

SoundAura can also switch between an audio focus respecting mode, and a 'play in background' mode that ignores audio focus rules and allows SoundAura to play audio alongside other apps.

edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:28

Andrew T.

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answered Jun 23 '23 at 13:37

TeNNoX

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score -3 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:28

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As far as I am aware, I don't think this is possible as yet. The OS can only play one sound at a time through the speakers (i.e. it cannot play multiple sound streams simultaneously).

edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:28

Andrew T.

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answered Oct 07 '15 at 20:58

Shanes927

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We expect technical answers. There is nothing wrong in mentioning your personal experience but such experience should be technical and not just any opinion. In short, backup your claim with something that cannot be disregarded instantly. Example, in this case, tell us why Android cannot play multiple sound streams at a time. It would be best to cite technical sources too. See [answer]. – Firelord Oct 07 '15 at 21:04
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There are many audio streams available in Android. As said in the dev doc audio streams are available for alarms, DTMF tones, music, notification, ring, system sound and voice call. If apps use different streams to play different sound then this possible and that is what most app exploit to support this feature. – Narayanan Oct 08 '15 at 06:02
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Not true. I play games where I had situations when the music from my Music player and the game sounds play simultaneously. I also can play two different tracks at the same time using my music player and my File Manager. – Lucky Oct 08 '15 at 06:41

score -4 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:29

-4

You can play multiple videos on YouTube or stream audio in multiple tabs in Mozilla Firefox, but it gets closed after some time around 15 minutes, maybe due to low memory.

edited Jun 23 '23 at 15:29

Andrew T.

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answered Sep 07 '16 at 08:28

Siddharth Poonia

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This might be useful if the questioner only wanted multiple YouTube videos, but they specifically asked for it to work with multiple apps. – Dan Hulme Sep 07 '16 at 08:35

How to have two applications play sound simultaneously?

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