Home

How to Disable Lock Screen Album Art in Android Lollipop

Mar 26, 2015 09:21 PM

Smartphone displaying time and music player interface.

Since version 4.4 (KitKat), Android has taken the album artwork for any song that's currently playing, as well as videos, podcasts, and other media, then used it as the background image for your lock screen. While many users have enjoyed this little tweak, others aren't quite as fond of it.

Having your lock screen wallpaper replaced at random times can be irksome to many folks. Complicating matters even further is a bug on Android Lollipop that sometimes causes the album artwork to remain as the lock screen wallpaper even after a song has finished playing.

So developer chaimc created an Xposed module that will disable the lock screen album artwork feature on Lollipop devices. No matter your reasoning, if you're not fond of this new feature, you'll definitely want to give this one a try.

Requirements

Install Lockscreen Album Art Remover

To begin, head to the Download section of your Xposed Installer app and search for Lockscreen Album Art Remover, then tap the top result.

Lockscreen Album Art Remover app interface on a mobile device, featuring a title and input field.

How to Disable Lock Screen Album Art in Android Lollipop

From here, swipe over to the Versions tab, then hit the "Download" button next to the most recent entry.

App description page for Art Remover on Android.

Within a few seconds, Android's installer interface should come up, so tap "Install" on this screen.

Loading screen prompt for an application installation.

App verification screen for Loadscreen Album Art.

When that's finished, you'll get a notification from Xposed telling you that the module hasn't been activated yet and that a reboot is needed. Simply press the "Activate and reboot" button on this notification to take care of both requirements at once.

Remove Album Art

When your phone finishes booting back up, you'll be all set to go. From now on, your regular lock screen background image will be displayed at all times, regardless of whether or not you have music or other media playing.

Before (Album art displayed)

Music player interface showing currently playing track and time on a smartphone screen.

After (regular wallpaper shown)

Before (Album art displayed)

After (regular wallpaper shown)

The module fixes what is admittedly a very minor quibble, but that's exactly why we have Xposed installed in the first place, right? What are some other minor tweaks in Android Lollipop that you'd like to see? Let us know in the comment section below, or drop us a line on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter.

You already know how to use your phone. With our newsletter, we'll show you how to master it. Each week, we explore features, hidden tools, and advanced settings that give you more control over iOS and Android than most users even know exists.