Inconsistent behavior after using macOS control mute button while full screen YouTube in Safari

andrejfavia · July 4, 2019, 6:11pm

Greetings, I am trying to use my customized Touch Bar controls, with the short macOS control strip on the right, with BetterTouchTool on a 2017 Pro MacBook 15".

Running macOS 10.14.5 - Mojave
BetterTouchTool version: 3.097

I'm not sure what the changes to the latest release did, but, I am having problems with the custom controls staying consistently displayed in the Touch Bar, while I am operating the macOS volume controls while browsing a YouTube video via Safari, full screen.

Sometimes, a few seconds after I press the macOS control strip mute button (sometimes repeatedly on and off, other times just unmute... also can happen with other buttons, including customized BTT buttons, but let's just start with mute), during full screen video play, the customized portion of the control strip will change to either the macOS default timelapse finger scroll. Other times, a few seconds after I press the macOS control strip mute button during full screen video play, the customized portion of the control strip will change to a blank white line, and the only way to get my customized controls back is to restart BetterTouchTool, toggle BTT off, restart BetterTouchTool, and toggle BTT back on. But other times, a few seconds after I press the macOS control strip mute button during full screen video play, my custom controls will stay on the Touch Bar like they always have and should be. But it's just not consistent. Sometimes it just works, sometimes it doesn't. This inconsistency is particularly when browsing a YouTube video via Safari, full screen.

This problem has been going on for a few days. I already restarted BTT and my Mac.

So, after going into the BTT settings, for Safari, I tried changing the settings for "Touch Bar Configuration For: (Safari)" to the Default, and then I tried, "Show BetterTouchTool Touch Bar •• SHOW macOS Control Strip," but that didn't improve the consistency.

I'm not sure how else I can summarize my settings or describe my experience in a way to help debug this.

Affected input device (e.g. MacBook Trackpad, Magic Mouse/Trackpad, Touch Bar, etc.):
2017 Pro MacBook 15", Touch Bar

Screenshots

Device information:
2017 Pro MacBook 15".
Running macOS 10.14.5 - Mojave

BetterTouchTool version: 3.097

smileBeda · July 5, 2019, 11:32am

Other times, a few seconds after I press the macOS control strip mute button during full screen video play, the customized portion of the control strip will change to a blank white line,

...And the image you attach confirmed it.
I see the same:

I think this is a BUG in safari or Mac itself. Even without BTT, at some points, mac starts to (automatically, independently) show the HUD for sound volume and start to diminish volume.
This is a problem in mac OS that you can read widely in the net about.

I believe, this somehow triggers BTT's volume sliders (but incompletely) and that's then when you "do random things" and suddenly you see that white line taking over.
What works for me to solve it is to actually pretend the slider is there and slide with few fingers on the touch bar left and right.
The line is then gone and all works again.

Andreas_Hegenberg · July 5, 2019, 11:40am

That's interesting. The white line is used for BTT gestures, but should only ever be shown when two or more fingers are swiping the Touch Bar.

I'll see whether I can reproduce this.

smileBeda · July 6, 2019, 2:14pm

If it helps - I have those exact gestures defined in BBT (2 fingers swipe and 3 fingers for volume and brightness)
And it seems to be the volume slider, because when I "solve" the issue as described before, it's the volume HUD that pops up

It may happen hence only if you actually have such gestures defined, AND have groups to open close (as that is what I do to make the line appear: open and close my groups many times repeatedly)

Let me know if some debug log or else can help.

andrejfavia · July 6, 2019, 3:32pm

I am not aware of any special defined swipe gestures or groups within BTT. But more often than not, the video timeline will appear, more frequently than that white line, when the bug does occur in YouTube full screen.

The inconsistency (e.g., whether custom BTT buttons stay, or whether it's the video timeline, or whether the white line appears) also occurs in Chrome full screen. So, it's not just Safari.

This all just started happening with BTT within the last week. Before then, none of the updates were causing this behavior.

I even created some custom volume control buttons (e.g., softer, louder) within BTT. Same degree of (in)consistency.

Not sure how I can submit a debug log. How do I do that?

Andreas_Hegenberg · July 8, 2019, 6:08pm

I made some changes in v3.102 alpha, would be great if you'd check whether that helps in your case.

andrejfavia · July 8, 2019, 8:48pm

I just installed the latest 3.102 alpha, then restarted my Pro MacBook.

The inconsistencies are not fixed. The Safari video timeline will sometimes still appear after touching either the macOS-supplied mute button or the custom-created volume up/down buttons via BTT.

I've tried several dozen YouTube videos anywhere between 2 and 30 minutes long. Same issue before and after update.

Andreas_Hegenberg · July 8, 2019, 8:49pm

Ah wait I think I may have misunderstood. So this is a Safari thing that appears on the Touch Bar? Not a BTT view? In that case this might not be related to BTT at all, as BTT shouldn't be able to influence the default apps Touch Bars. Does this not happen if you quit BTT?

andrejfavia · July 8, 2019, 9:08pm

Well I have BTT set to Enable Touch Bar Support, and to launch on startup so that it shows the BTT in the background, with "Show macOS Control Strip" and "Show BetterTouchTool Icon in Control Strip" and "Show BetterTouchTool Icon on the left side" all three are checkmarked... so, if I quit BTT altogether, then, I lose my customized buttons...

I see what you mean by groups, the custom touch buttons are in the "Groups & Top Level Triggers" column in All Apps. I thought that when smileBeda mentioned groups that there were some "groups" elsewhere in BTT or groups of buttons/actions. No, each item in that Groups/Triggers column is its own "button" in the Touch Bar.

So, basically, with BTT on, and Safari full screen, nothing is supposed to change on the Touch Bar. It's just supposed to show those buttons (in "Groups & Top Level Triggers") in the BTT view, and not show the Safari timeline, unless I press into it via macOS control strip while I'm watching the video.

andrejfavia · July 8, 2019, 9:16pm

Let me try to explain further with screenshots, of what my BTT view looks like:

So, the volume controls on the left are the buttons... I have them customized for fine control, for reasons related to my current audio setup. And there is the mute button on the right.

Here is what I am trying to explain. Sometimes, when I press on "softer" or "louder" or the mute icon on the right, this:

changes to this:

smileBeda · July 9, 2019, 10:13am

@Andreas_Hegenberg I installed the Alpha and for me, I was not able to replicate the reported issue anymore.
I'll keep looking if it pops back up.

andrejfavia · July 10, 2019, 12:11am

K, also noticing now that the bug still happens, but in other scenarios as well. When I'm playing a YouTube-embedded video, or even a non-YouTube video, such as at this website (for example):

OR... when I'm not playing any videos at all, but have a video open in Safari,

OR... when I'm using Firefox to play the videos.

So, it's not just limited to Safari and full-screen. But as soon as the Touch Bar recognizes video timeline content, then pressing the volume control buttons will cause the inconsistent (10% of the time) behavior within BTT.

Is there any specific technical debugging info that I can submit that would help clarify and help catch this?

andrejfavia · July 14, 2019, 5:52pm

So not to jinx it but since I updated to 3.108, the problem appears to be remedied.