I’ve found that Android has never been very consistent in controlling headsets with buttons. The main issue that I’ve seen is when I plug in one of these headsets, a.) the button control doesn’t work at all or b.) double clicking while listening to a track will not only skip to the next song, but it will also dial your last contact in your call log. It seems that, I wasn’t alone, all Android versions have been plagued with issues, especially the autodial problem, just Google “Android headset button autodial” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Typically my go-to app for this has been, RemoteControl, which I’ve written about before at my previous gig. Ever since moving to Jelly Bean though, this app never seemed to work right and I was stuck. I tried a few other apps, but they seemed to have the same non-responsiveness as RemoteControl, until I tried Headset Button Controller by Christoph Kober.
Headset Button Controller is simple to use and setup. It recognizes whether you have a single button or a three button controller and each can be configured accordingly. Please note that just any triple button headset will not work with Android unless it has been specifically designed for it, such as the HTC Smart Wired Headset. Also note that three button headsets made for certain fruity devices have been known to be incompatible with Android, so research what you buy to prevent disappointment.  Anyway, button actions on Headset Button Controller can be set to perform various functions. Jelly Bean hogs use of the long-press and uses that exclusively for Google Now voice actions, you’re stuck with single, double, triple, and quadruple clicks which is more than enough though. Additionally, profiles can be set along with widgets.Â
A full list of button actions includes:
[quote]* Stop
* Play / pause
* Next track
* Previous track
* Previous track (2x)
* Mute / unmute
* Voice command
* Voice search
* Redial last number
* Say current time (Text-To-Speech required)
* Launch app
* Launch shortcut
* Tasker task (requires Tasker app)
* Switch profile [/quote]
Check out Headset Button Controller for yourself with the fully-functioning trial version to see how it works with your devices. If you’re satisfied, drop the dev some beer change and purchase the full version.
Application: Â Headset Button Controller Trial
Developer: Â Christoph Kober
Application: Â Headset Button Controller
Developer: Â Christoph Kober