AntennaPod starts playing episodes in the background by itself

[abustany]

App version: 1.6.2.3 from F-Droid

Android version: Android O developer preview

Device model: Nexus 5X

Expected behaviour: AntennaPod should not start playing random episodes in my pocket

Current behaviour: After finishing an episode, and sending AntennaPod to the background (with home button/whatever), it sometimes, after a couple of hours, starts playing sound by itself. This basically means that I'll suddenly get my phone blaring in my pocket wherever I currently happen to be. Only workaround so far is to set the mutlimedia volume to 0 after using AntennaPod (so that at least I don't get embarassed :-) ).

First occured: Version 1.6.2.3

Steps to reproduce:

1. Upgrade to Android O Developer Edition
2. Play an episode to its end
3. Put the phone to rest and wait... Sorry, can't tell how long.

Enviroment: Default settings, "use sonic player" disabled.

Note: since I upgraded to that build of Android, my phone seems to lag much more, and it kills background apps very quickly (I hope the final release is better :-/). This means that the AntennaPod service/process probably gets killed, and maybe restarted for whatever reason. Could it be some state management error, where AntennaPod believes it was stopped while playing (not the case), and attemps to restart when the process comes back?

[mfietz]

Is it possible that your Smartphone re-connects to a bluetooth device (headset, speakers, car) and you have enabled to resume audio when that happens?

[abustany]

Hmm that's a good hypothesis, but bluetooth is disabled, and "resume playing when bluetooth reconnects" is turned off in the settings.

I really suspect a change in Android O to cause that, since it didn't happen before (as far as I can remember), is there any way I could get more logs to diagnose the root cause? I'm familiar with adb and the like (and could potentially do a custom build if required, I have the SDK set up).

[mfietz]

The builds from the Play Store and F-Droid do not contain any logging.
Maybe the app receives some media keys and decides to start playback. For example, I think there are versions of android that have custom behaviour when the volume keys are pressed. Or the play button on the lockscreen notification is pressed somehow (disable persistent controls?)

[rumpeltux]

I experienced the same issue in Android O.

Seems like this is triggered by the ConnectivityActionReceiver broadcast which starts the playback.

---------------------Logs---------------
06-21 17:48:06.638 1000 1254 22374 I ActivityManager: Start proc 19302:de.danoeh.antennapod/u0a132 for broadcast de.danoeh.antennapod/.receiver.ConnectivityActionReceiver
06-21 17:48:08.197 1000 1254 1952 I MediaFocusControl: AudioFocus requestAudioFocus() from uid/pid 10132/19302 clientId=[e-mail]$1@59ea54c req=1 flags=0x0

Another time, this happened shortly (within a minute I think) after plugging the device into a charger. I didn’t look at the logs, so not sure it was triggered by the same broadcast intent in this case.

[Triton-11]

I have the same issues with Android O.

Very often it's only the AntennaPod playback notification reappearing again with no apparent reason why, without starting to play the podcast. Sometimes the AntennaPod also starts playing.

Bluetooth is always turned off.

[rattkin]

This happened to me on final version of O as well, so it's not a developer preview issue.

Also, i have disabled all playback related options (continue after headphones reconnect, continue after call etc)

[nick3193]

I'm having the same problem. Pixel XL with Oreo. Usually I can stop the playback from the notification area, but a couple times I've had to reboot to get it to stop playing. One other difference from other reports is that it's playing episodes that I haven't finished listening to yet, but is starting playback from the beginning each time instead of the middle. It seems to be more of a problem with episodes that haven't downloaded yet and I've been streaming.

[kaidadragonfly]

I'm having this problem with my Pixel (non-XL) on Oreo as well.

While I have not tried to deliberately reproduce it (because I haven't figured out the timing around when it starts to play) I have noticed that the times I have had the bug appear have involved:

1. Pausing an episode.
2. Playing that episode to the end later.
3. Dismissing the Antennapod notification.

One of my co-workers also has a Pixel with Antennapod and said it hadn't occurred to him, but he doesn't pause episodes often. This was happening to me about daily before, since I started leaving the notification around all of the time I haven't had this bug reproduce.

(Also, if you don't want the notification on your lockscreen which makes it easy to trigger playing accidentally if Antennapod has been force stopped it doesn't seem to start playing again either.)

EDIT: My co-worker clarified that he doesn't dismiss the notification in addition to pausing episodes somewhat rarely.

[jxn]

I've also been seeing this since the Oreo upgrade. More anecdotal data: it seems to coincide for me with connecting to a WiFi network (maybe Bluetooth or charging, too?). I have blootooth reconnect setting disabled and headphone reconnect setting enabled. I always listen through Bluetooth headphones, but find antennapod starts unexpectedly when my headphones are off and there is no active Bluetooth connection. Mention me if anyone has a bunch they want tested, and I can try.

[wligtenberg]

I also experience this issue and I have android programming experience. So I will try to add info about the problem and will check the code for the possible reason.
Any hints and tips are appreciated. :)

[Nemmic]

I'm also having the same issue on my Nexus 5X since upgrading to Android O two days ago. I never use any bluetooth devices, so that's always turned off. But I can confirm it could possibly be related to connecting or disconnecting to/from a WiFi network. This morning it started playing right after leaving home (so just after disconnecting from my home WiFi network) - I stopped the app by dismissing it in the Recent Apps window. When I arrived at work a few minutes later it started playing again, probably just after logging into the WiFi network there.
Since I only noticed this issue in the morning or in the evening and not during the day, I want to mention, that I had set the interval for automatic updates of the podcasts to 12 hours. So maybe that could also be related to the issue. Unfortunatly I'm not sure what that option is called in the english version of the app. In german it's called 'Aktualisierungsintervall oder -tageszeit', which could be translated to 'update-interval or -daytime' or something similar. It's the first option under 'network'. I have now deactivated this to try and see if that helps with the issue.

[BenBergman]

I am also having this issue with a Pixel running Android O. I upgraded to O a few weeks ago but only just started having it start up in the background today. It has already happened three times today. I did notice a couple days ago that when I went to finish a podcast I had started in the morning that it had rewound me about 10+ minutes in the episode, but that may be unrelated.

If there are steps I can follow to help diagnose this let me know. I would be open to running debugging builds.

[blokeley]

AntennaPod started itself twice today. The app was closed and wasn't even in the recent apps list!

Bluetooth was turned off in android settings. No charger or USB cable was connected or disconnected.

AntennaPod version 1.6.2.3,
android version 8.0.0
Device: Nexus 5X

[mfietz]

@blokeley what is your update refresh rate? Did it only start itself (which is totally fine, when it needs to update feeds) or did it also start playing?

[blokeley]

@mfietz AntennaPod is set to update at 20:00 each day, and this does not match the times at which AntennaPod started itself playing. AntennaPod can start itself playing even if the phone is left on a desk with the screen off.

Also, I noticed that when it starts itself, it's not at the same point in the podcast that it was paused last. It seems to rewind 20 minutes or so but I'm not sure if that is repeatable.

[mfietz]

some rewinding is deliberate.
the more time has passed since you played the episode last, the more seconds antennapod rewinds automatically

[blokeley]

I thought that 10 seconds or so was about the right duration to rewind. This is rewinding 10 minutes or so, which is really annoying because I have to fiddle with the progress slider to find where I left off manually.

[dsaul]

I would like to add that my Nexus 6p running Oreo has the same issue.

[ckujau]

This started to happen on my Nexus 5X with Android 8.0.0 since last week or so. Running AntennaPod Beta from the Google Store.

[b2p0]

I also seem to have this happen when connecting to WiFi. It occurs a lot at work, which is a large building with multiple routers, some dead zones, etc.

I am using a Nexus 5x on 8.0, with bluetooth disabled, and without usb or headphones connected.

[divtxt]

Started happening to me after I upgraded my Nexus 5X to Oreo this week. Plays from the start of the episode even if it's just been 10 or 20 mins.

Under the theory that this issue involves the last media playing app, I'm trying a workaround of briefly play a song on Spotify after stopping AntennaPod.

While trying to reproduce this, I found a possibly related issue:

1. Play and then pause an episode
2. Clear the player notification
3. Stop the app using normal methods (open the app list using square button and swipe the app away)
4. Toggle wifi off
5. AntennaPod player notification reappears! (but podcast is not playing)
6. Clicking the notification opens AntennaPod with the cursor showing at 0:03
7. Pressing the play button rewinds to 0:00 and starts playing

Importantly, if you skip step 3, the app retains the position in the current episode. This makes me wonder if Oreo has changed the notification send to the app when the app is stopped.

[PeteLawler]

I've found the easiest way to stop this behaviour is to reboot the device after one's finished playing anything with AntennaPod. Not optimal, but it seems to work.

[peterjanes]

I'm seeing the same behaviour on the current Play Store beta on my Oreo Nexus 6P, and similar behaviour with a twist: often the random playback starts playing a completely different podcast episode that I've already finished and which should, theoretically, have already been deleted. Just now it even started playing both the old/deleted episode and the current one (which I'd paused) over one another!

[hoelzro]

FWIW, I switched off the "Use built-in Sonic Media Player" option over a week ago and I haven't seen this problem since (Pixel XL with AntennaPod 1.6.4.1)

[PeteLawler]

@hoelzro I've had that turned off by default for quite some time. Can't quite remember when I turned it off, but I'm pretty sure it has happened numerous times since. Will certainly keep an eye out for it now, and stop rebooting my phone.

[jxn]

For what it's worth, I have been having this problem, then after reading @hoelzro 's comment, I disabled the Sonic Media player setting, and waited. The problem has occurred four times for me since disabling the Sonic Media player, so that hasn't solved it for me (Nexus 5x, Oreo 8.0).

[cz8s]

Had the same problem. But it was very easy to reproduce: antennapod would start playing random stuff when connecting to the charger. After switching off the Sonic media player, everything seems to be back to normal. no autoplay anymore yet

[hoelzro]

Ok, I spoke too soon, I guess - this happened to me again last night after I plugged my phone in to charge.

[BenBergman]

Update for me: I only ended up having sudden playback on a single day. I don't believe I changed any settings after the last time it occurred. It just went away on its own some how (perhaps there was a software update that fixed my particular error).

[blokeley]

Still happening on Android 8.1.0, AntennaPod 1.6.4.2 (from Google Play) on Nexus 5X.

It just started randomly whilst in my pocket at full volume in my open plan office. Very embarrassing.

I've had to uninstall AntennaPod and switch to "Podcast Player" until this issue is fixed.

[BenBergman]

I had forgotten about this issue. Since my last update I have experienced the issue again. It seems like it was triggered by playing music through another app after pausing AntennaPod (I think it was either Soundcloud or Play Music).

[f-sauer]

This is still happening on Android 8.1.0, AntennaPod 1.6.4.2 (from Google Play) on a Nexus 6P.

[nick3193]

I'm still seeing the issue, and it's definitely tied to episodes that I stream instead of downloading. It doesn't matter which media player I use. Whenever I have an episode that was streamed and is either stopped or paused, it will start playing when I plug the phone in (wall or computer, doesn't matter). This is even when the episode is completed and no longer in the queue. At times it will play the whole episode and the rest of the queue, removing all the downloaded episodes in the process. It's very annoying.

[mfietz]

@nick3193 does this also happen when "Headphones Disconnect" is not enabled? (Headphones can be connected via USB now. I suspect that Android is unable to distinguish between Charger and USB Headphones...)

[blokeley]

It happened to me on downloaded podcasts: I never streamed.

I think that it also happened with "headphones disconnect" not enabled. [I can't check because I had to uninstall AntennaPod due to this issue]

AntennaPod started randomly even if no USB was connected or disconnected, or real headphones. It literally started whilst it was asleep in my pocket yesterday.

[mfietz]

Yeah, there are probably two unrelated issues here:

• Playback starts when charger is connected #2408
• Random playback, probably caused by the playback background service

[slartibart-de]

I can confirm both problems on Samsung Galaxy 8.0.0 Oreo beta 4, AntennaPod 1.6.4.2.
No issues on Sony Xperia Z5 32.4.A.1.54 Nougat.

[nick3193]

@mfietz - The headphones disconnect is enabled. Headphones reconnect and Bluetooth reconnect are both disabled. You're probably right that there's more than one issue causing the problem.

[peterjanes]

Seems to have been resolved in the most recent beta; commit f8343773db22a7bab3cfbb87525f9712cd8dbc39 appears to have been the fix.

[ByteHamster]

This bug should now be fixed.

If you are still experiencing the bug in AntennaPod 1.6.4.5, feel free re-open this issue.