Changing default video player in Lollipop

[sleepyyyy16]

Hi all,

How do you go about changing the default video player, or making that prompt appear when playing a video?

At the moment, the photos app defaults to the default android player. Is this a bug?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! You can go to Settings>Apps, tap Menu, then Reset App Preferences. This will clear all app defaults (and it will also re-enable any disabled apps).

 

[sleepyyyy16]

Hi,

I did that and it still didn't do it. In KitKat, I would put videos on my phone, play them via gallery and it would ask if I wanted to play them with another player.

Since lollipop no longer has gallery, doing the same through photos does not being up that prompt, it will just play it through the default android player.

 

[B. Diddy]

What other video players have you installed?

 

[daihard2008]

I see the same issue. When clicking a movie file in Astro File Manager, I see the selection dialog popping up, letting me choose between Photos and MX Player. However, if I click the same movie file in Photos, it will start playing it using its internal player without asking. Worse yet, Photos does the same thing even after I chose MX Player with the "always" option in Astro. This is the first thing I've encountered in Lollipop that I consider a bug.

 

[sleepyyyy16]

Exactly what daihard said. Unless Google are forcing people to use the internal video player, then it could be a bug.

B. Diddy, I use MX player and vlc.

 

[B. Diddy]

It might make sense. If the video player is incorporated into the Photos app, then selecting a video to play from within the Photos app will make it think that you want to use the Photos app to play it. If, however, you select the video from a file manager app, then the options will come up, as daihard2008 mentioned.

 

[daihard2008]

It might make sense. If the video player is incorporated into the Photos app, then selecting a video to play from within the Photos app will make it think that you want to use the Photos app to play it. If, however, you select the video from a file manager app, then the options will come up, as daihard2008 mentioned.

Does Android come with a native file manager? I always install and use Astro File Manager like it's second nature, but if the OS doesn't provide a native way for the user to access movie files other than in Photos, then I believe Photos shouldn't assume they intend to use the internal player.

 

[B. Diddy]

On Nexus devices, there is a file manager of sorts, but it's not easily accessible. I usually install Total Commander.

I'm not saying it's ideal--just that I think that's why Photos doesn't give you the option to pick a separate app to play a video. It'd be like opening MX Player, selecting a video to play, and then seeing the "Complete Action With" dialog box pop up.

 

[Shivaanand Nadar]

i have rooted lollipop to my samsung n7000 ,after rooting ...while playing video songs or any video can't able to see the video only listen the audio of the video song ..same issue with youtube.plz help

 

[Bazza1]

A variation of B Diddy's post -

Go to Settings > Apps > scroll over to All. Find the 'default' player (Google Play and Movies for video, Photos for, well, photos) and click on it to open it's info page. Look to the bottom of the page for 'Launch By Default'. Click 'Clear Defaults'. This will do what B Diddy suggested, but specifically for each app.

This should, at the very least, force a choice box to display when you open a file to set a preferred app. That said, I've been running my video through MX Player Pro, GoneMAD Music Player for audio and QuickPic for photos on my Nexus 7 since before the KitKat install and never had to reset the preferences.

A slightly more extreme Plan B: You might want to try disabling the offending app (back to Settings > Apps > All > the app involved. Clear 'Launch by Default', Clear Cache, Clear Data, uncheck Notifications (you're okay with the warning that pops up), Force Stop, Disable (you're okay with it going back to factory install). This will place the app in the Disabled list here - always available for re-enabling (no such thing as Delete for built-in apps) and should remove the app from consideration by Android entirely.

If none of this is working for you, there might be a bug in your install?

 

[mako79]

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Lollipop (it will apply to others).
Settings (cog icon) > Application manager > find the application that opens that particular file > scroll down to "launch by default" and "CLEAR DEFAULTS". If the "CLEAR DEFAULTS" is greyed out then you need to find the correct application that is opening it.

 

[TheChuckles]

When going to files and open a video file I choose VLC and make that default. If I go to gallery and choose a video file it again ask if I want to make VLC default player. If I do, then the next time I try to open a video file in files I get the same question. The same for gallery. If I only use gallery or only use files, then it stays default. The two, gallery and files, cancel my effort to make VLC the overall default player. Is it supposed to be that super annoying? Any advice would be very much appreciated. Cheers

Oh..btw, this is on Galaxy s5