Set up nomus on Android

nomus filters music out of what other apps play. To hear only the filtered sound, nomus has to silence the original. Android allows that only with a permission you grant once. You grant it with a free tool from Google called adb, either from a computer or from the phone itself.

You do this once. It lasts until you uninstall nomus. It does not need root, and it does not unlock or change your phone.

• What happens without it. nomus still captures and filters, but it cannot silence the original, so you hear each app twice: the original and the filtered copy a fraction of a second later. The music stays audible. The app shows "Filtering, but the originals are not muted" while this is the case.

• What the permission does. Its name is DUMP. It lets nomus read the list of audio sessions that Android keeps (the same list adb shell dumpsys media.audio_policy prints), so it can find the apps you are playing and turn their original sound down. nomus has no internet permission, so nothing it reads leaves the phone.

Pick one way:

• With a computer (any phone with Android 10 or later): about 10 minutes, most of it installing adb.
• Without a computer (Android 11 or later, on Wi-Fi): about 10 minutes, with a terminal app on the phone.

Step 1: turn on Developer options

1. Open Settings, then About phone.
2. Tap Build number 7 times. Enter your PIN if asked. You see "You are now a developer".

Where Build number is on some phones:

Developer options now appears in Settings, usually under System.

Step 2 (with a computer): USB debugging

1. Open Settings, System, Developer options and turn on USB debugging.
2. Xiaomi, Redmi, POCO only: also turn on USB debugging (Security settings). Without it the grant fails with a security error. Xiaomi may ask you to sign in to a Mi account and insert a SIM for this switch.
3. OPPO, OnePlus, realme only: if the grant fails later, turn on Disable permission monitoring in Developer options and try again.

Step 3 (with a computer): install adb

adb comes in Google's "SDK Platform Tools", a small zip for Windows, macOS and Linux: developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools. Unzip it anywhere. You do not need Android Studio.

• macOS with Homebrew: brew install --cask android-platform-tools
• Debian or Ubuntu: sudo apt install adb
• Windows with winget: winget install Google.PlatformTools

Step 4 (with a computer): run the grant

1. Connect the phone with a USB cable. On the phone, tap Allow on "Allow USB debugging?".
2. Open a terminal (on Windows, PowerShell) in the platform-tools folder, then run:

   adb devices

   You should see one line ending in device. If it says unauthorized, look at the phone and tap Allow.
3. Run:

   adb shell pm grant com.agrohi.nomus android.permission.DUMP

   It prints nothing when it works. On Windows in the platform-tools folder, type .\adb instead of adb.

Go to Step 5.

Steps 2 to 4 without a computer (Android 11 or later)

Android 11 added wireless debugging, which a terminal app on the same phone can connect to. You need Wi-Fi turned on and connected to a network (no internet needed).

1. Install Termux from F-Droid (f-droid.org/packages/com.termux) or its GitHub releases.
2. In Termux, run: pkg install android-tools
3. Put Termux and Settings side by side (split screen), or use the pairing notification, because the pairing code disappears when you leave the Settings screen.
4. In Developer options, turn on Wireless debugging, open it, and tap Pair device with pairing code. You see a 6-digit code and an address like 192.168.1.20:37015.
5. In Termux, run adb pair localhost:37015 (use the port from your screen) and type the 6-digit code. It prints "Successfully paired".
6. Back on the Wireless debugging screen, note the port under IP address & Port. It is a different port from the pairing one, for example 192.168.1.20:41613.
7. In Termux, run:

   adb connect localhost:41613
   adb shell pm grant com.agrohi.nomus android.permission.DUMP

8. Turn Wireless debugging off again if you like. The grant stays.

Xiaomi and OPPO phones need the same extra switches as in Step 2.

Other apps can do the same thing: LADB (a paid app on Google Play, open source), or Shizuku with a shell app such as aShell. nomus has no connection to any of them.

Step 5: check it in nomus

1. Open nomus. The card Mute the original audio now says Ready.
2. If nomus was already filtering, tap Stop and Start filtering again.
3. Play a video in YouTube. nomus lists YouTube under Filtering, and you hear only the filtered sound.

If the card still shows the steps, tap Check again. If it says the permission is granted but the phone did not give a readable list of audio sessions, please write to us with your phone model and Android version.

Which apps work

nomus can only filter apps that allow audio capture. Most video apps, podcast apps and games do. Some apps block it, usually music and film services. nomus never silences an app it cannot capture: that app plays normally, unfiltered, and nomus shows it under Not filtered while it runs.

• Tested: YouTube, filtered in our tests. Tests on real phones are still running; this list will be updated.
• Allow capture according to their app settings (not yet played through nomus): YouTube Music.
• Reported to block capture by other users of the same Android feature: Spotify, SoundCloud, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video.
• Browsers: not settled yet. We are checking Chrome and other browsers on real phones.
• Most other video, social and podcast apps should work, because Android allows capture unless an app opts out.

Calls, notifications and alarms are never touched. If an app you use works or does not, tell us with the app, your phone model and Android version.

Things to know

• Android asks for screen-capture consent every time you start filtering. nomus uses it only for audio.
• On Android 15 and later, capture stops when the screen locks. Start again after unlocking.
• The filtered sound comes a fraction of a second after the picture, so lips and voice are slightly out of step.
• To undo the setup: uninstall nomus, or run adb shell pm revoke com.agrohi.nomus android.permission.DUMP.

Download nomus for Android ·Support · Privacy