With our work becoming more and more web-dependent, web browsers such as Google Chrome have found increasing importance in our usage. The development of PWA (progressive web apps) has led to the browsers Being able to handle many complex tasks such as opening files and playing media from platforms like Spotify and YouTube.
If you have noticed, Google Chrome now has media keys support. This means that Chrome can use keyboard media keys when you play music or media using the browser. One obvious downside to this is when users see Chrome hijacking media keys.
Here, I shall discuss how you can fix if you see keyboard media keys not working when Chrome is open.
[FIXED] Chrome Hijacking Media Keys
Introduced back in Chrome version 73, media key handling is one of the most appreciated features in the browser. This allows users to use the keyboard media keys to control the media being played through the browser and works on many websites such as Spotify and YouTube.
However, the browser tends to hijack media keys. This has resulted in many users complaining about their keyboard media keys not working properly when Chrome is running in the background. You can make a simple change to make Chrome ignore the media key input, allowing you to use the media keys to control the local media player.
This change involves making a simple change in the chromium flags page, where the experimental features are tested. This technique also applies to other chromium-based browsers such as the Brave browser and the new Microsoft Edge based on chromium.
Ignore Chrome Media Keys
To make Chrome ignore the media key inputs, follow the steps:
- Open Google Chrome on your computer.
- Switch to the address bar, by clicking on it or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + L.
- Here, type the following to directly jump to the intended experimental flag:
Chrome://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling - Change the status for this flag to Disabled using the drop-down menu next to the flag.
Note: To use this address in other browsers, replace Chrome with the name of the browser. For example, in edge visit the following address instead: edge://flags/#hardware-media-key-handling
Now save all your work and click on the relaunch now button that appears in the bottom part of the browser to restart the application. Upon restart, you will see Chrome ignoring the hardware media keys on your keyboard.
Wrapping Up
So there you have it. Now you know how to prevent Chrome hijacking media keys using the simple trick provided above. If you wish to undo this change, simply change the status of the experimental flag back to default. Comment below if you found this useful, and to discuss further the same.
