Add option to disable/hide audio mute button on tab

[Brave-Matt]

Description

I've had a surprising number of users report that they very frequently mute a tab playing audio in the background on accident when moving or switching between tabs:

Note that there used to be a Chromium flag to enable/disable the mute tab button that was removed.

It may be good for future releases to add the option to disable or hide this feature should users continue to have this issue.

Miscellaneous Information:

User reports:
https://community.brave.com/t/please-add-an-option-to-disable-the-tab-audio-muting-button/89927
https://community.brave.com/t/how-do-i-turn-off-the-new-mute-sound-button-in-tabs/87439/3
https://www.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/dow6hb/muteunmute_tabs/
https://www.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/dirtje/tab_disable_mute_toggle_functionality/

[pSub]

Note that this is especially annoying in combination with pinned tabs. I've a pinned tab with my subsonic instance and it is really tough to switch to it. Let alone to know which tab it is as the mute button hides the favicon.

[bsclifton]

Good call, @pSub - I've got that captured in #6358 if you wanted to give it a thumbs up 😄

[pSub]

Thank you @bsclifton, I gave it a thumbs up.

[TheSarnowski]

Was just lookin' for a way to disable it, as I'm keeping muting tabs instead of closing them, or toggling...
Additional idea: let it ignore middle click on tabs (when someone wants to close tab with middle click...)

[th317erd]

I am with you on this. Pinned tabs are especially annoying. Maybe just have the mute button not visible unless the tab is active?

[davidhq]

Very annoying indeed... as much as Brave helps you "stay in the flow" by recently working reliably enough, this thing ejects you out of "the flow" in a split-second... then you say: ah yes, I clicked the mute button again, that's what happened... I would rate this feature 1 out of 10 or even less. Please consider fixing if possible and thank you for great work :)

[DrewDogComputers]

I am literally switching back to chrome because of this. Let me guess, one developer wanted the feature and here we are dealing with it... in what world do i want a fucking mute button the size of the 'x' and almost as big as the whole tab so i can fat finger it every, single, fucking, time...

[NejcZdovc]

@rebron can we maybe up priority on this one?

[bradleyrichter]

@rebron Perhaps the best solution is to only allow the click-action to occur if the tab is selected. Then you retain the mute/play indicator status and the button usefulness where it's really important.

[DrewDogComputers]

Or, hear me out: put a toggle to remove this useless 'feature'

[th317erd]

@bradleyrichter I think having it only show up on an active is a good idea, but I think it will still have the same level of frustration in some cases. For example, the situation is REALLY bad for pinned tabs, and would still be present for users who are trying to rearrange pinned tabs. It is only one extra click to alt-click and select "Mute Site". I feel this "feature" should just be removed altogether, as it will likely be frustrating to most users even if it shows up only on the active tab.

There are also "Mute Tab" extensions on the extension store for users who really want a "fast click" option to mute the tab.

[bsclifton]

@rebron what do you think about adding a toggle for this (not sure where- appearance? we almost need a new tabs section in settings) and setting the default to OFF (matching Chrome default behavior). For folks wanting it, they could opt-in

[whitespacecode]

I'm on Version 1.3.118 Chromium: 80.0.3987.116 (Official Build) (64-bit) and the problem is gone!
They fixed it.
#2025

[felixsanz]

Any update? It's so annoying

[bartkdm]

Any update? It's so annoying

I did an update and this is fix for me.

[felixsanz]

I'm using Version 1.10.93 Chromium: 83.0.4103.106 (Official Build) unknown (64-bit) and it's still not fixed

[eljuno]

+1 from Community https://community.brave.com/t/tab-mute-button/150875?u=eljuno

[tacosuzy]

Since Brave is chromium based, would it be a chrome thing or would it be possible for Brave to implement this themselves? In chrome latest version and for a while the mute tab button doesn't do anything. I don't know if mute tab is apart of chrome in button form on the tab itself. This is the feature or ability that we or some are looking for for those of us that have many tabs open. Maybe chrome can be looked at to why the mute function doesn't do anything in chrome and try to see if it can be applied to Brave.

I see people saying not to remove it, it could be looked into to only be able to disable it completely but enabled by default for those that find it useful.

If Brave could make this happen then I would be using Brave full time but until the mute function can be disabled I am unable to use it and am stuck with chrome.

[donnybystrom]

+1, I click on this icon almost every time I want to switch to a tab with sound. It is very annoying and an UX mistake, this is not what the user wants most of the time he click on a tab, and the icon occupies most of the space property. Make it a right click feature for god sake.

[fallaciousreasoning]

Okay, I just worked out what's going on - Chromium set the tab-audio-muting flag to expire after 107. As a temporary solution, if you enable chrome://flags/#temporary-unexpire-flags-m107 then you should be able to use the #tab-audio-muting flag again. I'll look into a more permanent solution.

[bradleyrichter]

ok, here is the proposed solution. I'll let you all find it and comment. (the toggle would be available in Appearance for now and off by default)

[MadhaviSeelam]

Verification PASSED using

Brave | 1.48.131 Chromium: 109.0.5414.87 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | 2dc18eb511c56e012081b4abc9e38c81c885f7d4-refs/branch-heads/5414@{#1241}
OS | Windows 11 Version 21H2 (Build 22000.1455)

Case 1: Mute indicators are not clickable -PASSED

1. Install 1.48.131
2. launch Brave
3. open brave://settings/appearance
4. confirmed Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is available and toggled Off as a default
5. open few audio playing tabs
6. click on the speaker icon of an audio playing tab
7. confirmed audio is muted as expected
8. return to brave://settings/appearance
9. toggle On Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting
10. click on the speaker icon of audio playing tab

Confirmed speaker icon is not clickable when the setting is enabled

ex1	ex2	ex3

Case 2: Mute tab/Unmute tab in the context menu - PASSED

1. new profile
2. Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is disabled as a default
3. right click on audio playing tab to open context menu
4. confirmed Mute tab is available above existing Mute site option
5. confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
6. clicked Unmute tab in the context menu
7. confirmed audio played again

Confirmed Mute tab/Unmute tab works as expected.

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4

Case 3: Mute site/Unmute site in the context menu - PASSED

1. continue from Case 1:
   • Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is enabled
   • Mute indicator is not clickable
2. right click on audio playing tab to open context menu
3. confirmed Mute site is available above existing Mute site option
4. confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
5. clicked Unmute site in the context menu
6. confirmed audio played again
7. click again Mute site and click Unmute tab

Mute site/Unmute site worked as expected and Mute tab/Unmute Tab over rides the option

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4

Case 4: Mute/Unmute audio playing pinned tabs and multiple tabs open - PASSED

1. new profile
2. Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is disabled as a default
3. pin couple of tabs
4. play media on one of the pinned tab
5. switch to another pinned tab
6. Mute the pinned tab with audio playing
7. confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
8. activate the pinned tab with audio playing
9. clicked Unmute tab in the context menu
10. confirmed audio played again

Confirmed Mute/Unmuting audio works on pinned tabs

Confirmed when audio playing tabs are clicked, tabs are activated instead of muting the audio

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4	ex5

[stephendonner]

Verification PASSED using

Brave	1.48.131 Chromium: 109.0.5414.87 (Official Build) beta (x86_64)
Revision	2dc18eb511c56e012081b4abc9e38c81c885f7d4-refs/branch-heads/5414@{#1241}
OS	macOS Version 11.7.2 (Build 20G1020)

Case 1: Mute indicators are not clickable -PASSED

1. installed 1.48.131
2. launched Brave
3. opened brave://settings/appearance
4. confirmed Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is available and toggled Off as a default
5. opened a few audio playing tabs
6. clicked on the speaker icon of an audio playing tab
7. confirmed audio is muted as expected
8. returned to brave://settings/appearance
9. toggled On Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting
10. clicked on the speaker icon of audio playing tab

Confirmed speaker icon is not clickable when the setting is enabled

ex1	ex2	ex3

Case 2: Mute tab/Unmute tab in the context menu - PASSED

1. new profile
2. Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is disabled as a default
3. right click on audio playing tab to open context menu
4. confirmed Mute tab is available above existing Mute site option
5. confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
6. clicked Unmute tab in the context menu
7. confirmed audio played again

Confirmed Mute tab/Unmute tab works as expected.

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4

Case 3: Mute site/Unmute site in the context menu - PASSED

1. continue from Case 1:
   • Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is enabled
   • Mute indicator is not clickable
2. right click on audio playing tab to open context menu
3. confirmed Mute site is available above existing Mute site option
4. confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
5. clicked Unmute site in the context menu
6. confirmed audio played again
7. click again Mute site and click Unmute tab

Mute site/Unmute site worked as expected and Mute tab/Unmute Tab over rides the option

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4

Case 4: Mute/Unmute audio playing pinned tabs and multiple tabs open - PASSED

1. new profile
2. Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is disabled as a default
3. pin couple of tabs
4. play media on one of the pinned tab
5. switch to another pinned tab
6. Mute the pinned tab with audio playing
7. confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
8. activate the pinned tab with audio playing
9. clicked Unmute tab in the context menu
10. confirmed audio played again

Confirmed Mute/Unmuting audio works on pinned tabs

Confirmed when audio playing tabs are clicked, tabs are activated instead of muting the audio

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4	ex5

[MadhaviSeelam]

Verification PASSED using

Brave | 1.48.137 Chromium: 109.0.5414.87 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | 2dc18eb511c56e012081b4abc9e38c81c885f7d4-refs/branch-heads/5414@{#1241}
OS | Linux

Case 1: Mute indicators are not clickable -PASSED

1. Install 1.48.131
2. launch Brave
3. open brave://settings/appearance
4. confirmed Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is available and toggled Off as a default
5. open few audio playing tabs
6. click on the speaker icon of an audio playing tab
7. confirmed audio is muted as expected
8. return to brave://settings/appearance
9. toggle On Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting
10. click on the speaker icon of audio playing tab

Confirmed speaker icon is not clickable when the setting is enabled

ex1	ex2	ex3

Case 2: Mute tab/Unmute tab in the context menu - PASSED

1. new profile
2. Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is disabled as a default
3. right click on audio playing tab to open context menu
4. confirmed Mute tab is available above existing Mute site option
5. clicked Mute tab and confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
6. clicked Unmute tab in the context menu
7. confirmed audio played again

Confirmed Mute tab/Unmute tab works as expected.

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4

Case 3: Mute site/Unmute site in the context menu - `PASSED`

1. continue from Case 1:
   • Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is enabled
   • Mute indicator is not clickable
2. right click on audio playing tab to open context menu
3. confirmed Mute site is available above existing Mute site option
4. click Mute site and confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
5. clicked Unmute site in the context menu
6. confirmed audio played again
7. click again Mute site and click Unmute tab

Mute site/Unmute site worked as expected and Mute tab/Unmute Tab over rides the option

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4

Case 4: Mute/Unmute audio playing pinned tabs and multiple tabs open - PASSED

1. new profile
2. Disable mute function in tab speaker icons setting is disabled as a default
3. pin couple of tabs
4. play media on one of the pinned tab
5. switch to another pinned tab
6. Mute the pinned tab with audio playing
7. confirmed audio playing tab is muted successfully
8. activate the pinned tab with audio playing
9. clicked Unmute tab in the context menu
10. confirmed audio played again

Confirmed Mute/Unmuting audio works on pinned tabs

Confirmed when audio playing tabs are clicked, tabs are activated instead of muting the audio

ex1	ex2	ex3	ex4	ex5

[rubyFeedback]

I also encountered this issue - just providing more information, although in Thorium. I ended up here, via a Google search though. :-)

I started to research this because it happened for the third time now. Especially when I have many tabs open.

The feature is not useless, but it conflicts with my browsing behaviour, and since it interfered once too often in my case, I decided to invest time into researching how to get rid of it. Going back to the roots, keeping it simple. :-) (Actually, if it is a video I am playing such as on youtube, I tend to click on the video to stop it; and if I have to insta-close it, I just close the tab directly via mouse or keyboard command, so the disable audio button isn't too terribly useful anyway in my case.)

[fallaciousreasoning]

@rubyFeedback in Brave we have a setting for enabling/disabling this behaviour if you want to try it out?

1. Open brave://settings/appearance
2. Turn the Disable clickable tab mute indicators setting on:
   

[User198263321]

Thank you for fixing this!

[rguerrettaz]

Thank you! 🙏

[wesleysd1989]

I think this function should be disabled by default, my god, I spent a few minutes researching whether it is possible to disable it, annoying feature, you keep missclick, I imagine that many people prefer to change browsers instead of using Brave , why keep a feature with usability problems enabled by default?