Volume button lock for ringtone volume

[murraybowles]

In this particular case, it seems like a better solution would be not for apps to try to patch around the problem but for Android itself allow the option of disassociating the side buttons from the ringer volume altogether. Is that a (political) possibility?

[MCSolutions]

In this particular case, it seems like a better solution would be not for apps to try to patch around the problem but for Android itself allow the option of disassociating the side buttons from the ringer volume altogether. Is that a (political) possibility?

I would doubt that. People associate that with how they control the volume.

Hopefully in Android 2.2 (Froyo), they'll include broadcast notifications when the volume changes at all. Even if they did do this, most phones won't end up with this update for a year or so. In the mean time, we have a limited way of dealing with this.

There are a number of ways to do it, but I've chosen a passive way that seems to work 99-100% of the time without lowering the battery life of the phone. This only applies to certain events except when in vibrate or silent mode.

There is an active way to do it, but if you were to poll the volume level fast enough to catch everything, your phone's batter life would be horrible.

Hopefully we'll see some new things in 2.2 regardless.

[nsd3]

There are lots of apps that I've found out there that lock or reset the phone volume, but I found a problem:

The one that I tried didn't recognise a deliberate action to silence the phone. Each time I silenced the phone, this app would kick in and pump up the volume again! Could just be the app I installed, but I'm living without for now and will see how it goes.
Nigel

[murraybowles]

My idea was to disassociate it from the RINGER volume. This already happens when an app that legitimately needs a volume control is running.

The scary thing about the current arrangement is that even "silent mode" doesn't work -- accidentally touching the volume buttons takes the phone out of silent mode. The only option to guarantee silence is to turn the phone off, at least for a Droid.

LOL a "solution" that would work for me, come to think of it, would be a widget that toggled between my "real" ringtone and an MP3 of silence. (Or would that render as a loud hiss?)

[MCSolutions]

There are lots of apps that I've found out there that lock or reset the phone volume, but I found a problem:

The one that I tried didn't recognise a deliberate action to silence the phone. Each time I silenced the phone, this app would kick in and pump up the volume again! Could just be the app I installed, but I'm living without for now and will see how it goes.
Nigel

You can try out my MC RingLock. The widgets have a button that allows you to toggle the mode from Ring > Vibrate > Silent and back to Ring.

Since MC RingLock is controlling the volume levels, you are assured that it won't pop back out of vibrate or silent accidently.

If another application tries to change the volume, MC RingLock puts it right back into Vibrate or Silent immediately.

You can see the web site for more information @ android.memphiscomputers.com.

My idea was to disassociate it from the RINGER volume. This already happens when an app that legitimately needs a volume control is running.

The scary thing about the current arrangement is that even "silent mode" doesn't work -- accidentally touching the volume buttons takes the phone out of silent mode. The only option to guarantee silence is to turn the phone off, at least for a Droid.

LOL a "solution" that would work for me, come to think of it, would be a widget that toggled between my "real" ringtone and an MP3 of silence. (Or would that render as a loud hiss?)

Actually, my MC RingLock does make sure that when you lock it and set it to vibrate or silent via the widget, that you will never bring it out of the vibrate or silent mode.

When it comes to keeping it at a specific volume of ring, only an active program will be able to keep it at a specific ring volume. This will need to run constantly and function every x seconds... lowering your battery life.

I'm still considering an active option for MC RingLock, but I'm first adding the ability to customize ring and notification volumes per contact to allow overriding vibrate and silent modes for important people.