CODEWITHSUNDEEP
android
Borce Ivanovski
Borce Ivanovski

Reputation: 571

How to check whether microphone is used by any background app

I have been searching for couple of days now and havent been able to find a suitable solution.

I am trying to check if any app in the background is using the microphone, so my app can use it, otherwise i want just to show message "Microphone in use by another app".

I tried checking all the applications in the background and their permissions but that doesnt solve my problem, since there is package wearable.app which asks for the permissions but it doesnt affect the audio, or it is not using it.

I tried the other solutions that i was able to find here or on google, but none of that seems to be the proper way.

All i want to check if the microphone is not being used, so my app can use it.

Any suggestion i will appreciate.

Upvotes: 6

Views: 39112

Answers (5)

Nijat Ahmadli
Nijat Ahmadli

Reputation: 899

Since sharing audio input behaviour varies depending on Android versions, this answer aims to provide a complete solution based on the docs.

Pre-Android 10

Before Android 10 the input audio stream could only be captured by one app at a time. If some app was already recording or listening to audio, your app could create an AudioRecord object, but an error would be returned when you called AudioRecord.startRecording() and the recording would not start.

So, you can use this function to check if the mic is used by another app for pre Android 10 versions.

private fun isAnotherAppUsingMic(): Boolean {
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.Q) return false

    createRecorder().apply {
        try {
            startRecording()
            if (recordingState != AudioRecord.RECORDSTATE_RECORDING) {
                return true
            }
            stop()
            return false
        } catch (e: IllegalStateException) {
            return true
        } finally {
            release()
        }
    }
}

private fun createRecorder(): AudioRecord {
    return AudioRecord(
        MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC,
        SAMPLE_RATE_HZ,
        AudioFormat.CHANNEL_IN_MONO,
        AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT,
        2 * AudioRecord.getMinBufferSize(
            SAMPLE_RATE_HZ,
            AudioFormat.CHANNEL_IN_MONO,
            AudioFormat.ENCODING_PCM_16BIT
        )
    )
}

const val SAMPLE_RATE_HZ = 44100

Android 10 and above

Android 10 imposes a priority scheme that can switch the input audio stream between apps while they are running. In most cases, if a new app acquires the audio input, the previously capturing app continues to run, but receives silence.

So, for Android versions 10 and higher, in most cases your app will take priority if there is another app like voice or screen recorder is already running and then you start using mic in your app. But you will need to check for Voice/Video call as it has higher priority and mic won't be available for your app (it will receive silence). You can use below code to check if there is an active call:

private fun isVoiceCallActive(): Boolean {
    val audioManager = context.getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE) as AudioManager
    return audioManager.mode in listOf(
        AudioManager.MODE_IN_CALL,
        AudioManager.MODE_IN_COMMUNICATION
    )
}

In summary you can merge above two function to check if mic is available before you want to use it.

fun isMicAvailable() = !isAnotherAppUsingMic() && !isVoiceCallActive()

Upvotes: 1

Abdalla Tawfik
Abdalla Tawfik

Reputation: 151

AudioManager.AudioRecordingCallback()

        am.registerAudioRecordingCallback(new AudioManager.AudioRecordingCallback() {
        @Override
        public void onRecordingConfigChanged(List<AudioRecordingConfiguration> configs) {
            super.onRecordingConfigChanged(configs);
            try {
                isMicOn = configs.get(0) != null;
            }catch (Exception e)
            {
                isMicOn = false;
            }
            if (isMicOn) {
                //microphone is on
            } else {
                // microphone is off
            }
            Toast.makeText(context, isMicOn ? "Mic on" : "Mic off", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

        }
    }, null);

Upvotes: 1

Spoot
Spoot

Reputation: 1

I know this may sound a bit tedious or the long way... But have you considered recording a logcat? Record a log for both Kernel and apps. Recreate the issue, then compare both logs to see what program is occupied when the kernel utilizes the mic.

Upvotes: 0

Borce Ivanovski
Borce Ivanovski

Reputation: 571

After searching more i found the solution and i am adding it here for anyone that needs it to find it easier.

private boolean validateMicAvailability(){
    Boolean available = true;
    AudioRecord recorder =
            new AudioRecord(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC, 44100,
                    AudioFormat.CHANNEL_IN_MONO,
                    AudioFormat.ENCODING_DEFAULT, 44100);
    try{
        if(recorder.getRecordingState() != AudioRecord.RECORDSTATE_STOPPED ){
            available = false;

        }

        recorder.startRecording();
        if(recorder.getRecordingState() != AudioRecord.RECORDSTATE_RECORDING){
            recorder.stop();
            available = false;

        }
        recorder.stop();
    } finally{
        recorder.release();
        recorder = null;
    }

    return available;
}

Upvotes: 17

Konstantinos Michael
Konstantinos Michael

Reputation: 391

You can do it the other way around.

Get the microphone in your app.

Get a list of the installed apps, who have a RECORD permission.

Then check if one of these apps is on the foreground and if there is one release the microphone so that the other app can use it (for example when a phone call occurs).

A bit dirty practice but I think it is what you are looking for.

Cheers!

Upvotes: 2

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