Using AVAudioSession AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord disables all push notifications sounds and vibrations. Even with the app in the background

Question

I am developing an application that takes some notes when the application is in the foreground and in the background. What works. However, I noticed that the “system” sounds like alarm sounds and the vibrations are muted whenever my audio session is active (see below). This is true even if the application is in the background.

As a result, I stop receiving / vibe notification sounds for standard things like text messages while my application is in the background and recording is on.

The audio session is set as follows:

AVAudioSession* session = [AVAudioSession sharedInstance]; [session setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord withOptions:AVAudioSessionCategoryOptionMixWithOthers error:&error]; 

Obviously these sounds / vibrations do not mix, so I think they are muffled.

Is there any way around this (while keeping an active record)? . How can I record and allow the user to receive sound notifications and vibrations?

Answer 1

You can try the following:

 [[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord withOptions:(AVAudioSessionCategoryOptionDefaultToSpeaker | AVAudioSessionCategoryOptionDuckOthers) error:nil]; 

Alternatively, you can experiment with deactivating the audio session using this:

 [[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setActive:NO withOptions:AVAudioSessionSetActiveOptionNotifyOthersOnDeactivation error:nil]; 

And then reactivate it:

 [[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setActive:YES error:nil];