Automatically Start Your Music Player When Connecting a Bluetooth Device on Linux

Want to effortlessly launch your favorite music player when connecting a Bluetooth headset or speaker to your Linux system? This tutorial demonstrates how to automate this using systemd and a simple Bash script. We'll use Rhythmbox as an example, but you can easily adapt it for other music players. This setup was successfully tested on a Debian 12 Cinnamon desktop with a Fingers Bluetooth headset.

Table of Contents

• Automating Music App Launch on Bluetooth Connection
  • Finding Your Bluetooth Device's MAC Address
    • Enabling Your Bluetooth Device
    • Listing Connected Bluetooth Devices
  • Creating a Bluetooth Connection Detection Script
  • Setting Up a systemd Service
  • Preventing Unwanted Restarts After Manual Closure
  • Troubleshooting
    • Manual Script Execution Check
    • Verifying systemd Service Status
    • Examining Logs for Errors
    • Checking the Script Path in Systemd
    • Restarting the Service
• Conclusion

Automating Music App Launch on Bluetooth Connection

1. Finding Your Bluetooth Device's MAC Address

Before creating the automation, you need your Bluetooth device's unique MAC address.

• Enabling Your Bluetooth Device: Ensure your Bluetooth device is powered on and discoverable.

• Listing Connected Bluetooth Devices: Open a terminal and run:

bluetoothctl devices

This displays connected Bluetooth devices and their MAC addresses. Locate your device's MAC address (e.g., 01:B6:ED:14:1F:8F).

2. Creating a Bluetooth Connection Detection Script

Create a script to check for your Bluetooth device's connection and launch Rhythmbox (or your chosen player) if it's not already running.

Create a new file using a text editor:

nano ~/bluetooth-music.sh

Paste the following script, replacing 01:B6:ED:14:1F:8F with your device's MAC address and rhythmbox with your music player's command:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Script to auto-launch music player on Bluetooth connection
DEVICE_MAC="01:B6:ED:14:1F:8F"
APP="rhythmbox"
FLAG_FILE="/tmp/bluetooth_music.flag"

# Check Bluetooth connection
bluetoothctl info "$DEVICE_MAC" | grep -q "Connected: yes"
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    # Launch Rhythmbox if not running and not manually closed
    if ! pgrep -f "$APP" > /dev/null && [ ! -f "$FLAG_FILE" ]; then
        DISPLAY=:0 "$APP" &
    else
        # Remove flag on Bluetooth disconnect
        rm -f "$FLAG_FILE"
    fi
fi

Save the file (Ctrl X, Y, Enter), then make it executable:

chmod +x ~/bluetooth-music.sh

3. Setting Up a systemd Service

Create a systemd service file to run the script in the background:

nano ~/.config/systemd/user/bluetooth-music.service

Add this configuration:

[Unit]
Description=Auto-launch Music Player on Bluetooth Connect
After=bluetooth.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c 'while sleep 2; do ~/bluetooth-music.sh; done'
Restart=always
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
Environment=XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/%U

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Save the file (Ctrl O, Ctrl X). Enable and start the service:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable bluetooth-music.service
systemctl --user start bluetooth-music.service

4. Preventing Unwanted Restarts After Manual Closure

To prevent the script from automatically restarting Rhythmbox after you manually close it, create an alias:

bluetoothctl devices

Now, use closemusic to close Rhythmbox and prevent automatic relaunch.

5. Troubleshooting

• Manual Script Execution Check: Run ./bluetooth-music.sh to test the script. Verify your Bluetooth device is connected using bluetoothctl info <mac_address></mac_address>.

• Verifying systemd Service Status: Check the service status with systemctl --user status bluetooth-music.service.

• Examining Logs for Errors: Use journalctl --user -u bluetooth-music.service -n 50 --no-pager to view logs.

• Checking the Script Path in Systemd: Ensure the path to bluetooth-music.sh in the systemd configuration is correct.

• Restarting the Service: After making changes, restart the service using systemctl --user restart bluetooth-music.service.

Conclusion

This setup provides a seamless way to automatically launch your music player upon Bluetooth connection, offering greater control over its operation on your Linux system. Remember to replace placeholders with your specific details.

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