Media session integration

Version   v2.0 of the SDK integrates Android's MediaSession API for a richer player experience within your Android projects.

Media sessions create a way for your Android application to interact with the audio and video of the Wowza Flowplayer. They expose information to the platform about what media is playing in your application and define how it can be controlled. Your application can reveal media playback externally and receive playback commands from different sources, such as physical buttons, media buttons, or voice commands. The media session assigns these commands directly to the Wowza Flowplayer Android SDK so it can handle them internally.

With MediaSession integration, users can enjoy these out-of-the-box benefits when using the player in your Android applications:

• Google Assistant — Users can interact with the player and control media playback using voice commands.
• Background media — Users can control media even if the application is running in the background. For more, see Background playback .
• Locked screens — The system can display on-screen media controls and artwork on the lock screen.
• Accessory devices — Your application can respond to media buttons on Android and other accessory devices like Bluetooth headsets.

You can see media session integration in action when using the player's media session notifications with the player's background playback capabilities.

More resources

• Media3 MediaSession: The Player Interface
• Control and advertise playback using a MediaSession
• Introduction to Jetpack Media3
• Controlling media through MediaSession