# On Screen Volume Control App



## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

I found an app in the Android Market that allows you to control the volume on screen at all times. It's called (surprisingly enough) Volume Control. I first read about it on Mobilereads.

It places a narrow blue bar at the edge of your screen, so you can adjust the volume at any time. It works well!

https://market.android.com/details?id=rubberbigpepper.VolumeControl&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInJ1YmJlcmJpZ3BlcHBlci5Wb2x1bWVDb250cm9sIl0.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Mary, does it show up on the splash screen?  the screen with the sliding yellow thingy?

Betsy


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

It doesn't show up on the splash screen (when the splash screen is on, none of the apps are "active" in Android), but shows up as soon as you get to the main screen.










It's circled in green. It's small enough that when watching a video or playing a game it's non-intrusive, but easy to slide. I haven't found an app where it doesn't work yet. On mine, I left it in the default location, but you can move it anywhere you want, make it larger or smaller, change the color, etc.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Thanks...music still plays with the screen up...and it's too many steps to change the volume when the splash screen up.  

That's about the only time I really wish I had easier access....but, hey, half the time I keep the thing muted anyway...

Betsy


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

> Thanks...music still plays with the screen up...and it's too many steps to change the volume when the splash screen up.
> 
> That's about the only time I really wish I had easier access....but, hey, half the time I keep the thing muted anyway...


Yes, music still does play. Just tested, and with music playing you still don't get the volume on the splash. But it's just a quick swipe to change it. You could also install No Lock, which removes the splash screen altogether, so that when you press the on button, you're right at the main screen. Then you'd just have to hit the on button and volume. With no lock, you can enable/disable it easily.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Hoosiermama said:


> Yes, music still does play. Just tested, and with music playing you still don't get the volume on the splash. But it's just a quick swipe to change it. You could also install No Lock, which removes the splash screen altogether, so that when you press the on button, you're right at the main screen. Then you'd just have to hit the on button and volume. With no lock, you can enable/disable it easily.


Hmmm...no lock sounds like what I need... I'll look around.

Betsy


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

This blue bar may save a step.... but you have a blue bar.

I'm sure you know already, but for others: from everywhere except the splash, you can also bring up the configuration menu (press the gear at the top of the screen) and Volume is the control selected.

What the Fire needs is a new splash screen with this volume control (or another volume control) built-in.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Malweth said:


> This blue bar may save a step.... but you have a blue bar.
> 
> I'm sure you know already, but for others: from everywhere except the splash, you can also bring up the configuration menu (press the gear at the top of the screen) and Volume is the control selected.
> 
> What the Fire needs is a new splash screen with this volume control (or another volume control) built-in.


Exactly...I don't mind taking the step to tap the gear, then change the volume, it's fumbling through the splash screen when a song starts that is suddenly much louder than the last one...or for when I'm listening without headphones and the phone rings and it's my sister-in-law who can't hear with background noise.

I do wish the audio control had a mute check box...tap the gear, mutr, then tap the gear, tap unmute. I frquently want to turn the sound off while on the phone.

Betsy

Betsy


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

> This blue bar may save a step.... but you have a blue bar.
> 
> I'm sure you know already, but for others: from everywhere except the splash, you can also bring up the configuration menu (press the gear at the top of the screen) and Volume is the control selected.
> 
> What the Fire needs is a new splash screen with this volume control (or another volume control) built-in.





> Exactly...I don't mind taking the step to tap the gear, then change the volume, it's fumbling through the splash screen when a song starts that is suddenly much louder than the last one...or for when I'm listening without headphones and the phone rings and it's my sister-in-law who can't hear with background noise.
> 
> I do wish the audio control had a mute check box...tap the gear, mutr, then tap the gear, tap unmute. I frquently want to turn the sound off while on the phone.


I know. I only posted it because some had complained about having to go into settings to adjust volume.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm glad you did--it's a good option for some folks, it's good to know about!

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Um. . .ignorance on display here:  what are you meaning when you say "splash screen"?  Are you talking something that shows while music plays?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The screen with the sliding yellow thingy...

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Oh.

O.K.

Are you saying you can't get to that when you're listening to music and that's why this blue bar thing is useful?

Obviously, I've not done much with music yet. . .even if I did get almost all the free Christmas stuff last month.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The blue thing doesn't show up on the screen with the yellow slider, so it doesn't resolve my issue... 

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

'kay. . . .now I'm really confused.  If you have the yellow slider, why do you need the blue thing.  I thought they both did the same thing.

Maybe I need to re-read more carefully from the beginning of the thread. LOL!


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

> If you have the yellow slider, why do you need the blue thing. I thought they both did the same thing.


The on screen (blue thing) volume control lets you lower the volume from within an app. For instance, my grandson LOVES the Charlie Brown Christmas app, but if I try to change the volume using settings, that app locks up the entire Fire and I have to reboot. With the on screen volume (blue thing), I can raise and lower the volume and the app doesn't lock up.

What it DOESN'T let you do is raise/lower the volume when the screen is locked (yellow slider). You have to unlock it for it to work, and from Betsy's perspective, that isn't what she wants.

An alternative would be to download "No Lock", which removes the slider, so she'd just have to hit the on button and her Kindle is unlocked, and then she can adjust sound as needed.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Hoosiermama said:


> The on screen (blue thing) volume control lets you lower the volume from within an app. For instance, my grandson LOVES the Charlie Brown Christmas app, but if I try to change the volume using settings, that app locks up the entire Fire and I have to reboot. With the on screen volume (blue thing), I can raise and lower the volume and the app doesn't lock up.


O.K. That makes sense to me.



> What it DOESN'T let you do is raise/lower the volume when the screen is locked (yellow slider). You have to unlock it for it to work, and from Betsy's perspective, that isn't what she wants.
> 
> An alternative would be to download "No Lock", which removes the slider, so she'd just have to hit the on button and her Kindle is unlocked, and then she can adjust sound as needed.


Nope. Now I'm confused again.

O.K. I did just play with the music player. . . ..

There's a volume slider on the screen when you start a song. . .so you can adjust it up and down.

There's also a 'song list' icon. . .just looks like 4 horizontal lines. If you click that it goes to a different screen without the slider.

You can tap the settings gear and get the slider but it doesn't work.  I guess therein lies the problem.

But I can make that go away and then tap again on the tiny icon that shows what is actually playing and the screen with teh 'album cover' and the volume slider comes back.


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## Tip10 (Apr 16, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Nope. Now I'm confused again.


Okay maybe this will help. This is what I think the problem to be (based somewhat upon personal experience)..... And I agree with Betsy -- a mute button would be wonderful

Betsy likes music.
Betsy starts her Fire playing some music for her.
Betsy is be bopping along to the music and working away on her iPad.
Betsy is still be bopping along and her Fire times out and locks the screen.
The Fire doesn't, however, shut down her music soooo
Betsy is still be bopping along working on her iPad.
Ann picks up the phone and calls Betsy.
Betsy's phone rings.
Oh darn Betsy's Fire is screen locked, she swipes, enters her password, unlocks the Fire, opens settings, jumps to the volume settings and mutes the music and then grabs for her phone. 
Meanwhile, Ann gets tired of waiting for Betsy to pick up the phone and hangs up.... 

Now a nice little app like the blue bar is cool -- problem is is disappears when the Fire screen locks so it really doesn't help Betsy answer her phone any faster. With a mute button or an outside volume control Betsy would be able to shove the volume down and answer her phone. As it is now he only option is to blast Poor Ann with her be bopping music until she gets in to shut it down.....

Make sense now?

What Betsy needs is a mute button that will sit on the lock screen and still be active even though the Fire is screen locked -- something she can reach up and pop real quick so Ann doesn't catch her be bopping to some ugly Rap or something.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Tip10 said:


> Okay maybe this will help. This is what I think the problem to be (based somewhat upon personal experience)..... And I agree with Betsy -- a mute button would be wonderful
> 
> Betsy likes music.
> Betsy starts her Fire playing some music for her.
> ...


Ah! O.K. . . . . .

I totally didn't get that the problem was that when the Fire goes to sleep and you want to quiet the music it's a complete pain. Gotcha.

I think I need a beer.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

It's gotta be beer-thirty somewhere!  

I just installed Volume Control, though I don't have a lot of need for it really.  Nifty to have though.  It doesn't work well with a stylus, though, finger is best.

I'm more interested in the No Lock app mentioned here, which I also installed though I keep getting errors.  Looking forward to seeing how it works!

Thanks for the heads-up!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I couldn't get no lock to work...  

And Tip10 explained it perfectly...I don't want Ann to know about my gangsta rap obsession.  

Except that I don't have my Fire passworded, but in my panic to keep my musical bsession secret, I keep mis-swiping the yellow thing on the lock screen.  

Volume Control is only available through the Android Market?

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

In Amazon's store, there are some:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Dmobile-apps&field-keywords=volume+control&x=0&y=0&sprefix=volume+control

The first three, at least, which are also free, say they are compatible with the Fire.


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I couldn't get no lock to work...


Me either, I keep getting errors before 'time out', then it locks to the yellow slider thingy anyway. I got my copy from 1mobile, where did you find yours? (Just curious if maybe we got a same bad copy...I haven't rooted my Firefly to get anything direct from the Android marketplace, I'm only using GetJar and 1mobile so far...)

I got Volume Control at 1mobile also, it seems to be on Firefly okay, though I haven't really tested it. In fact, now that I say that, I don't see it 'hovering' (as in the photos above) over the SBTV Mobile app, for instance...


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

Sorry about No Lock...it keeps force closing on me, too. 



> Except that I don't have my Fire passworded, but in my panic to keep my musical bsession secret, I keep mis-swiping the yellow thing on the lock screen.


Do you usually play music with the Fire plugged in? Another option would be Screen On, which doesn't let the display go off. I would imagine it would eat the battery, tho, since the display remains on. But at least you'd be able to keep your music obsession somewhat secret (unless someone saw the screen ).

The odd thing is that Amazon's built-in music player has an option to enable playback controls when the device screen is locked, but it doesn't work on the Fire. When the screen is locked, there's no music controls on the Fire.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> In Amazon's store, there are some:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Dmobile-apps&field-keywords=volume+control&x=0&y=0&sprefix=volume+control
> 
> The first three, at least, which are also free, say they are compatible with the Fire.


I looked at those, but they don't seem to be the same thing as Mary posted about, just more control over different apps and stuff...

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Steph H said:


> Me either, I keep getting errors before 'time out', then it locks to the yellow slider thingy anyway. I got my copy from 1mobile, where did you find yours? (Just curious if maybe we got a same bad copy...I haven't rooted my Firefly to get anything direct from the Android marketplace, I'm only using GetJar and 1mobile so far...)


No, I got it from Appbrain...
I thought....Not working to download from there now...

Betsy


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## enodice (Jul 29, 2010)

This might be helpful.  From the music player on the Fire, press the menu button below and then press Settings.  Check the box next to "Lock Screen Controls".  Now when you're playing music and the screen is locked, you will quickly be able to access the music player controls including volume.


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

> Check the box next to "Lock Screen Controls". Now when you're playing music and the screen is locked, you will quickly be able to access the music player controls including volume.


Did that work for you? My lock screen showed no controls when I checked that.


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## enodice (Jul 29, 2010)

You still have to unlock the screen, but it then should give you immediate access to the player controls.  You can adjust the volume from there without any extra step.  This will only work if the music player is active.


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## Hoosiermama (Dec 28, 2009)

> You still have to unlock the screen, but it then should give you immediate access to the player controls. You can adjust the volume from there without any extra step. This will only work if the music player is active.


Ah hah! Thanks. I had the player on, locked the screen and didn't see the player controls. Then I decided to go back to home, lock the screen, and when you unlock, the music player is maximized. Now I get it! Sometimes it takes me awhile....


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

enodice said:


> This might be helpful. From the music player on the Fire, press the menu button below and then press Settings. Check the box next to "Lock Screen Controls". Now when you're playing music and the screen is locked, you will quickly be able to access the music player controls including volume.


That's better, for sure....thanks for the tip.

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

OK, out of curiosity and a quest for knowledge, I installed the Volume Control app.  It's actually pretty cool.  You can customize the color (mine's purple with a green background) and you can set it to Auto hide, so it's only visible when you touch the area where the bar is supposed to be.

And as soon as I get out of the lock screen, it's accessible, so it's good for any app.

I think this is a good app to know about!

Betsy


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Or you could use the "hardware mute button": when the phone rings, push a headphone plug into the headphone jack, thereby cutting off the speaker sound, then answer the phone on the second ring and you can unlock the screen and access the on-screen controls at your leisure.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Dragle said:


> Or you could use the "hardware mute button": when the phone rings, push a headphone plug into the headphone jack, thereby cutting off the speaker sound, then answer the phone on the second ring and you can unlock the screen and access the on-screen controls at your leisure.


You're assuming I can find my headphones, LOL! I need something guaranteed to be with the device. But a good tip for organized folk. 

Betsy


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Betsy, you could keep a small adapter with the Fire - either one that makes it so you can plug in two things or one that sizes down from the 1/4" plug.  It would have the same effect as plugging in headphones.


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## ellesu (Feb 19, 2009)

Okay. I've confused myself again (no surprise here!). I downloaded the Volume Control App from my Fire and....it installed flawlessly - on my phone.  For the life of me I can't think of how to get it on my Fire.  Help!

I do have "allow unknown sources" enabled. I also have dropbox on my Fire. Can I get it through dropbox? I seem to be having a brain you-know-what.

BTW, I love it on my phone! Bejeweled was soooo loud.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Andra said:


> Betsy, you could keep a small adapter with the Fire - either one that makes it so you can plug in two things or one that sizes down from the 1/4" plug. It would have the same effect as plugging in headphones.


LOL! If I can't keep track of my headphones, what makes you think I can keep track of something smaller?  (I don't use a cover on the Fire.) Y'all really are confusing me with someone who is organized. But it's really not a MAJOR issue, and, really, the blue bar of silence (well, mine is green since I changed the color) pretty much solves the problem well enough, and has the added advantage of staying with the Fire at all times.

ellesu--

You can certainly put it on dropbox. But I went to 1mobile and downloaded it directly onto the Fire. But if you can put it in dropbox, you can get it onto your Fire.


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## ellesu (Feb 19, 2009)

Thank you (once again), Betsy! Wow - it literally only took a minute to get it on my Fire! How did I miss hearing/reading about 1mobile? Got it now tho.


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## jekoby (Dec 8, 2009)

Could someone post a link to where this "Volume Control" apk can be found?  I've looked, but I'm not finding anything that sounds like what has been talked about. I'm sure I'm missing something here.  

BTW: I think this is my 1st post - and - I LOVE this board.  Been lurking for a long time and have learned so very much here! You all do a great job and have created a really top notch board.

Thanks!  
Kim


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

In the first post of this thread, there's a link to it on the Android Market...here's that link.

https://market.android.com/details?id=rubberbigpepper.VolumeControl&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInJ1YmJlcmJpZ3BlcHBlci5Wb2x1bWVDb250cm9sIl0

If, like me, you can't get it from the Android Market, you can find it at 1Mobile.
http://www.1mobile.com/volume-control-150852.html

In either case, navigate on the Fire to the link and download it directly.

Betsy


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## jekoby (Dec 8, 2009)

Got it! Thank you.  I knew I had to get it from 1Mobele, but I could not get it to come up on a search.  Thank you for the link!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Glad to help!

Betsy


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