This is primarily a note to my future self, since I run into this issue once a year.
Issue Description: When using my Macbook, I usually listen to Spotify. I often use the media key (Play/Pause button / F9) to control music playback in Spotify. If I also have a tab open in my browser (Chrome) which has media, for example a Youtube video, then I have to open Spotify to regain focus for the media key. In other words, Chrome always steals the media key focus for its own media playback.
Desired Behavior: The MacOS media keys always control playback on Spotify, never on Chrome.
Solution: Chrome hijacks the media keys, so let’s disable that.
- Open a new Chrome tab.
- Navigate to
chrome://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling. - Select ‘Disabled’ from the menu on the right of the page.
- Relaunch Chrome as prompted.
Solution originally posted on OMGChrome.
Leave a Reply