Basically, what the title says. Do you use any app, that is proprietary, but either has no OSS alternatives or they're all not good enough? If there is an alternative, what keeps you from switching?

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[–] enix@reddthat.com 14 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I'm not sure if this fits but here is mine:

I want to get away from Samsung but the "Sound Assistant" app let's me control the volume of every app, kind of like a mixer. Sometimes an app doesn't have a mute option, I can set the volume of that app to 0 without effecting the volume of whatever music I'm listening to.

I also like to listen to my local police scanner and music at the same time. I can set the volume of the scanner app low enough to not really bother the music but loud enough that if something happens I can still hear it and pause the music.

I can't believe Samsung and their app is the only way, but I haven't found an alternative.

[–] winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My Motorola has it built into the sound settings so you should be able to find other alternatives

[–] enix@reddthat.com 5 points 2 months ago

Good to know, thank you for the heads up.

[–] Kelly@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

This is something I've taken for granted as per app volume control is integrated into the OS on Motorola phones and I've been using mid range Motorolas since the Moto G 4 in 2016 (they offer a reasonable price, reasonable performance, microSD card and headphone jack).

Then I was setting up a Samsung tablet last weekend and was horrified to see I had to use the Samsung store to download Sound Assistant for something I had just assumed was a standard OS feature for close to a decade.

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 2 points 2 months ago

I'm using audio changing Magisk mods on my phone, and recently stumbled upon an issue (already fixed by a setting) that made me realize that audio mods work on an app-by-app basis.

The reason I wanted to tell this is if you are fine with tweaking your phone a little, an audio mod could do what you need.
A quick search has shown me these:

[–] myersguy@lemmy.simpl.website 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm not super well versed in the world of app development, but I would assume due to the way apps are sandboxed, this isn't something that could be done with a third party app.

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

system apps can do it. android has an API for audio mods that allows such things

[–] myersguy@lemmy.simpl.website 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Right, that's what I meant when I said "third party apps". Samsung can write an app to do this, but your average app installed from the play store likely cannot.

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

you can have third party apps as system apps. you can even write your own, but the API docs are somewhat harder to find. nowadays you install them with magisk modules (not all of them contains an app), so that it is easier to revert and also to hide from those looking for it with a bad intent