UX improvement: Allow only one voice message to play at a time

[pranavmishra90]

Is your suggestion related to a problem? Please describe.

When using the Element Labs "voice message" feature, it is possible to have multiple voice messages playing back at the same time. Additionally, when while one voice message is playing, if the user goes to a different room, then returns to the original room with the voice message, it is not possible to stop playback.

Describe the solution you'd like.

Starting the playback on any voice message stops playback on any previously playing voice message.

Describe alternatives you've considered.

Adds voice message playback to a queue.

Additional context

Multiple playback at once

After switching to another room, and returning to this one, all three files continue to play, despite looking like they are in a resting state

[gaelledel]

@turt2live

---> Deffered Post MVP Put in place a queuing system. If the user plays a new recording, it pauses the current recording playback at the time that it was left e.g: 1:21 and plays the new one. Once the new one is finished playing, the other one plays again from where it paused at 1:21.

Instead-
[ ] Only allow one message to play at a time. If users happen to press on a voice message whilst one is already playing, doing so, stops the current one (goes back to default state) and the new one starts playing. At the end of the playback - no other behaviour is expected at this stage.

• If the user navigates out and back to the room, the recordings should simply stop playing and return to their default state.

[ShadowJonathan]

Re: last one, I'd argue that a user press "play" on a voice message and then expects it to keep playing in the background, to multi-task and "play incoming voicemail", of sorts.

Though that would need a new design and behaviour for it (and so a new issue), maybe it could re-use the same modals as VoIP? And then show a mini-player in the corner of the screen, thus place it orthogonally alongside other "voice" or "multimedia connectivity"-related things.

[gaelledel]

Based on research, not for typical users of voice messages. For this iteration of the MVP we will not include this functionality. Rest assured that we will be monitoring general feedback after the first release and if significant enough, we will consider it for the next iteration.

[ShadowJonathan]

Alright, thanks, I was going off of personal assumptions, but that sounds right as well. Thanks for correcting! 👍

[turt2live]

Conclusion from an internal call: We'll do the above minus the queuing, which has been broken out to #17961

[turt2live]

@ShadowJonathan I would encourage your concern to be a new issue ftr