https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2021/03/an-update-on-androids-audio-latency.html * Jetpack Kotlin Docs News # Platform Android Studio Google Play Jetpack Kotlin Docs News # Platform Android Studio Google Play Jetpack Kotlin Docs News More # Android Developers Blog The latest Android and Google Play news for app and game developers. An update on Android's audio latency 05 March 2021 [Android-up] Posted by Don Turner - Android Developer Relations Engineer Header image of audio waves going through phone This article takes a look at what's changed in the Android ecosystem for audio developers recently, the audio latency of popular Android devices, and discusses Android's suitability for real-time audio apps. What's changed? Over the past four years we have taken a number of actions that have improved audio latency. timeline of key events which have had an impact on the audio latency of Android devices. Pre-2017: Google working directly with OEMs to reduce audio latency. Start 2017: AAudio - new high-performance audio API is released. Mid-2018: Oboe - an open source, C++ wrapper for AAudio and OpenSL ES is released. Mid 2019: Pixel 3A is the first 10ms Android phone. Mid 2020: OpenSL ES is deprecated. Start 2021: Oboe has 4bn+ installs Latency reduction These actions, coupled with a renewed focus from device manufacturers on audio latency, have led to significant improvements in the device ecosystem. The average latency of the most popular Android phones has dropped to under 40ms, which is well within the range required for real-time applications. bar graph showing average audio latency of 20 most popular Android phones. In Jan 2017 it was 109 milliseconds. In Jan 2021 it was 39 milliseconds. device popularity source: appbrain.com Greater consistency Digging into the data we can see that in 2017 there was a significant difference between the highest and lowest values (222ms). bar graph showing audio latency of most popular Android phones in Jan 2017. There are 19 in total, all of which are Samsung Galaxy models. The average latency is 109ms, smallest value is 36ms, highest is 258ms, range is 222ms. device popularity source: appbrain.com Compare that to the data for 2021. The range has reduced by a factor of 8 to just 28ms, providing a far more consistent audio experience. This is more impressive when you consider that there are now multiple OEMs on the most-popular list, compared to only a single manufacturer in 2017. In addition, many of the devices on the list are not high-end flagship models. bar graph showing audio latency of most popular Android phones in Jan 2021. There are 20 in total, with models from Samsung, Redmi, Oppo, Huawei and Vivo. The average latency is 39ms, smallest value is 28ms, highest is 56ms, range is 28ms. device popularity source: appbrain.com Tap-to-tone latency Up to now I've been referring to round-trip audio latency. Round-trip latency involves three components in the audio chain: audio input, audio processing and audio output. Many real-time audio apps generate audio from screen tap events rather than relying on input audio. These kinds of apps are sensitive to "tap-to-tone" latency - the time taken from tapping on the screen to hearing a sound. The latency introduced by tapping the touch screen is anywhere from 10-35ms, with 20ms being fairly typical on modern Android devices. To estimate tap-to-tone latency given round-trip latency, you can subtract the audio input latency (typically 5ms), and add the touch latency (typically 20ms). In other words, add 15ms to the round-trip latency. Given the numbers above, this means the average tap-to-tone latency of the most popular android phones is also well under that required for most real-time audio applications. Looking to the future Despite the significant reductions in audio latency across the Android ecosystem our work is nowhere near complete. 20ms round-tip latency is required for Android professional audio apps, and 10ms remains the long term goal. And at this time some less popular devices still have high audio latency. However, if you have been holding back on developing an Android app because of audio latency, it might be time to reconsider. To get started, check out the Oboe getting started guide or video tutorials. Data sources and tools OboeTester WALT appbrain.com superpowered.com/latency gsmarena.com juce.com/maq various internal data sources Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share by email Google Labels: Android audio latency , musician apps , pro audio , real-time audio , virtual instruments [ ] [ncccFICB87] Labels * Android O * Android Studio * Design * Develop * Google Play Archive * March 2021 (5) * February 2021 (11) * January 2021 (3) * December 2020 (7) * November 2020 (7) * October 2020 (7) * September 2020 (9) * August 2020 (18) * July 2020 (18) * June 2020 (18) * May 2020 (4) * April 2020 (7) * March 2020 (9) * February 2020 (9) * January 2020 (3) * December 2019 (8) * November 2019 (12) * October 2019 (11) * September 2019 (5) * August 2019 (9) * July 2019 (8) * June 2019 (6) * May 2019 (15) * April 2019 (10) * March 2019 (11) * February 2019 (5) * January 2019 (6) * December 2018 (11) * November 2018 (9) * October 2018 (13) * September 2018 (5) * August 2018 (13) * July 2018 (9) * June 2018 (16) * May 2018 (16) * April 2018 (8) * March 2018 (8) * February 2018 (7) * January 2018 (9) * December 2017 (9) * November 2017 (13) * October 2017 (14) * September 2017 (11) * August 2017 (19) * July 2017 (11) * June 2017 (13) * May 2017 (21) * April 2017 (12) * March 2017 (14) * February 2017 (11) * January 2017 (12) * December 2016 (17) * November 2016 (16) * October 2016 (9) * September 2016 (6) * August 2016 (7) * July 2016 (12) * June 2016 (14) * May 2016 (16) * April 2016 (14) * March 2016 (8) * February 2016 (8) * January 2016 (9) * December 2015 (9) * November 2015 (13) * October 2015 (19) * September 2015 (15) * August 2015 (13) * July 2015 (9) * June 2015 (8) * May 2015 (10) * April 2015 (10) * March 2015 (12) * February 2015 (8) * January 2015 (3) * December 2014 (9) * November 2014 (13) * October 2014 (11) * September 2014 (6) * August 2014 (2) * July 2014 (9) * June 2014 (10) * May 2014 (4) * March 2014 (4) * February 2014 (3) * January 2014 (2) * December 2013 (3) * November 2013 (2) * October 2013 (7) * September 2013 (2) * August 2013 (5) * July 2013 (5) * June 2013 (4) * May 2013 (9) * April 2013 (3) * March 2013 (2) * February 2013 (3) * January 2013 (3) * December 2012 (5) * November 2012 (3) * October 2012 (3) * September 2012 (1) * August 2012 (1) * July 2012 (2) * June 2012 (5) * May 2012 (1) * April 2012 (5) * March 2012 (5) * February 2012 (5) * January 2012 (5) * December 2011 (7) * November 2011 (7) * October 2011 (5) * September 2011 (5) * August 2011 (3) * July 2011 (7) * June 2011 (2) * May 2011 (5) * April 2011 (6) * March 2011 (8) * February 2011 (8) * January 2011 (4) * December 2010 (8) * November 2010 (3) * October 2010 (4) * September 2010 (7) * August 2010 (6) * July 2010 (10) * June 2010 (11) * May 2010 (11) * April 2010 (2) * March 2010 (3) * February 2010 (2) * January 2010 (5) * December 2009 (7) * November 2009 (5) * October 2009 (5) * September 2009 (8) * August 2009 (2) * July 2009 (1) * June 2009 (2) * May 2009 (5) * April 2009 (12) * March 2009 (5) * February 2009 (8) * January 2009 (3) * December 2008 (3) * November 2008 (1) * October 2008 (4) * September 2008 (6) * August 2008 (4) * June 2008 (1) * May 2008 (5) * April 2008 (4) * March 2008 (5) * February 2008 (2) * January 2008 (5) * December 2007 (3) * November 2007 (5) # [rss_feed_g] Feed [news_grey6] Newsletter Android Developers Android Developers on YouTube Android Developers on Twitter Google Play Google Play Apps & Games on LinkedIn Google Play Apps & Games on Medium Follow GooglePlayDev on Twitter Global Google developer blogs Google Developers Blog Programa con Google (Spanish LATAM) Codigo (Portuguese LATAM) Developers Italia Google Developers Indonesia Blog Google Developers Korea Google Developers Japan * Privacy | * License | * Brand guidelines Get news and tips by email Subscribe