How to control mplayer/vlc (under Debian) via lirc from Android

Question

I installed lirc, and stared it with systemctl lirc start. Edited the /etc/lirc/hardware.conf as follows, and added ~/.lircrc and ~/.lirc/mplayer as follows. Installed several LIRC clients for Android such as irdroid, AMOTE Free, LIRC-Client, but none of them were able send remote signal (could be that I did not know how to use them).

I tried configuring according to http://www.lirc.org/html/configure, but the website seemed so daunting to me. I would like to have a simple configuration that does NOT necessarily rely on Wifi etc., but only uses LIRC that is built in to the Linux kernel.

# /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
#
# Arguments which will be used when launching lircd
LIRCD_ARGS=""

#Don't start lircmd even if there seems to be a good config file
#START_LIRCMD=false

#Don't start irexec, even if a good config file seems to exist.
#START_IREXEC=false

#Try to load appropriate kernel modules
LOAD_MODULES=true

# Run "lircd --driver=help" for a list of supported drivers.
DRIVER="default"
# usually /dev/lirc0 is the correct setting for systems using udev 
DEVICE=""
MODULES="lirc_dev lirc_serial"

# Default configuration files for your hardware if any
LIRCD_CONF=""
LIRCMD_CONF=""




# ~/.lircrc
include "~/.lirc/mplayer"
include "~/.lirc/vlc"



# ~/.lirc/mplayer
begin
     button = VOLUME_PLUS
     prog = mplayer
     config = volume 1
     repeat = 1
end

begin
    button = VOLUME_MINUS
    prog = mplayer
    config = volume -1
    repeat = 1
end

begin
    button = CD_PLAY
    prog = mplayer
    config = pause
end

begin
    button = CD_STOP
    prog = mplayer
    config = seek 0 1\npause
end