Suggestions for improved full screen behavior on Android

[Ghengis]

I've been using the Android version for a while now and noticed a couple quirks with the way it implements full screen. I compared its behavior to that of Netflix and YouTube, for reference.

First, when navigating media, the app is already using full screen mode. This means that to use my "back" soft key, I need to swipe up first to show the key row. Neither of the other apps do this, and I can't think of any advantage to behaving this way.

Second, during playback, the entire screen is used for swipe gestures. This means that it's impossible to swipe to show the navigation buttons without also rewinding the video. On the other apps, when you tap to show the control overlay, it includes a button in the upper left hand corner to either minimize video or go back. This world be a good solution. Alternately, disabling swipe gestures while the controls are showing, or on the left hand edge of the screen, might also be a good idea.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

1) When playing in fullscreen, it seems obvious to take as much space as possible. I don't understand your point.

2) You don't need to swipe. Touching the screen will show the navigation buttons.

[Ghengis]

Both of these could be related to the fact that I just got a new phone (LG G7 ThinQ) and I think it has some customizable behavior regarding when the soft-key row is shown. I will try to find these settings and see if I can do anything to fix the behavior; I will also test this behavior on another device and see how it differs. With that said:

1.) I'm not referring to playing. I mean, when I first launch the app and browse my media library, the navigation buttons are already hidden. On my phone, I have the option to force the soft-key row to stay visible, but as soon as I start playing media, they are hidden again, and do not come back when I stop playback and return to the library-browse view.

2.) When I touch the screen, it does not show navigation buttons. I can press the button that's supposed to force the soft-key row to remain visible, but it does not actually work.

Again, my phone may be the cause of this strange behavior, but I don't think any other apps on my phone experience the same problems. I'll report back if I find more information. That said, would you consider adding a "stop playback and close this video" button, either in the main control row, or floating in the top left corner?

[Ghengis]

I spent some time with this yesterday and I think most of the blame falls on LG's "Hide Home touch buttons" setting. I don't know how it got turned on, but it looks like it forces applications into full screen / immersive mode even if they already control that behavior on their own. Sorry for the confusion.

It might still be beneficial to include a dedicated stop/back button on the player controls, and I'm not sure how much margin you use for the gesture region but a little extra dead zone around the edges could still help avoid unintended swipes. Just my opinion, though.
Oh, and also, thanks for the great app!

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

We'll see what we can do, but it's a bit hard/annoying to do.

[Dekans]

VLC App is not fullscreen (except video player), controls depend on your firmware.