I’m running into this bug frequently listening in the Android app. It occurs at random times, often 30-40 minutes into the podcast. The audio will stop briefly - sometimes only a second or two, other times longer, like 10 seconds. Then the podcast starts over completely. Very frustrating, and for me it usually happens multiple times per podcast.
I can’t say for sure that it’s Android-specific, it’s just I always listen to podcasts on my Android phone. Anyone else running into this?
I’m running into this issue, haven’t been able to find a setting for it, it’s almost like an idle timeout.
Same thing happens to me. It doesn’t start at the beginning though. The app as a whole crashes. I get back in it, reselect the podcast, and luckily for me, it picks up where I left oft.
Same here. Always around the 30-40 minute mark into every podcast. Playback stops and it starts the next podcast in the queue or if it’s the only thing in the queue, as mentioned, the podcast from the beginning (more annoying of the two as Plex then loses your place in the podcast)
Android version: 8.0.0
Model: ONEPLUS A3003
OxygenOS version: 5.0.4
Issue happens:
edit #1: Typo
edit #2: Reproduced error and attached log
21:44 - Started streaming podcast “Show 60 - The Celtic Holocaust” on home WiFi. Left phone playing. Screen off the entire time.
22:26 - 42 minutes later playing stopped and it started playing “Show 61 - Blitz Painfotainment”
plex-podcasts-skipping-issue.txt (234.1 KB)
edit #3: Reproduced error again the following day using totally different podcast and attached log
10:11 - Started streaming podcast “Thursday Afternoon Monday Morning Podcast 8-23-18” on mobile data. Screen off the entire time except from 10:19-10:21 when paused via inline earphone button to pay for fuel.
11:14 - Playing stopped. Nothing else queued up. Several minutes later I get my phone out and the app is no longer open. No signs of the app crashing from Android. Plex app has saved my place in the podcast too.
plex-podcasts-skipping-issue-2.txt (377.2 KB)
The line in both logs that looks to be when the audio stops is
[AudioService] destroying service
I hope this is of use to somebody to help fix this problem as pretty much all my podcasts overrun into the “danger zone” and it’s not easy to restart them even if the position is saved (motorcycle rider).
I’m also experiencing this issue on my OnePlus 6 mobile phone. For me it seems to be related to a change of connectivity while the phone is playing a podcast and otherwise idle.
The change of connectivity can be roaming from SSID to another SSID, from wifi to 4g, or back again.
The playing podcast will then either restart, or be marked watched (listened?) and the next episode will start. It’s pretty annoying.
Same issue here across multiple Android devices. Tried listening to a one hour podcast and it stopped and skipped to the next one seven different times. Highly annoying while driving, making it a worthless feature.
Happening to me too with podcasts that should not have any issues with connectivity as they’re synced for offline use - when my mobile goes into a 4G blackspot, I get similar stop/restart/crash behaviour with the app.
Oh man, I’m glad to find I’m not alone. This is the first thread that I think describes what I’m experiencing.
I’ve been sending logs to @SamFromPlex and @jesusmc - tagging them here in case that’s useful. They’ve suggested to me a fix is in the works…fingers crossed…
I have the same problem, super annoying. It happens btw almost always when connected to Wifi, with 4G not always. This instability really still keeps me from getting a plex pass in the near future. I don’t want to pay for an unstable app.
I’ve ran into this issue every time since I started using Plex as a podcast player last week, highly annoying.
I am also having this issue with podcasts stopping and resetting. It loses my place, but the app does not crash.
Same here. On Android, after having listened to a podcast for a while. About 30-40 mins. into a 80 min podcast, it stops playing and skips to a different episode.
Yup, been happening to me, player crashes at least 2 or 3 times over a 90 min podcast. I have to wait a few mins before trying to starting up again to make sure it actually starts from the the place it stops.
Very annoying, was hoping the last update would have fixed it, but nope. Happens while I’m offline and the podcast is downloaded.
I’m getting a similar issue. For the past 3-4 months I’ve been listening to Podcasts while driving to work. Always about 30-35 mins into the drive, the podcast will stop. I need to pull over, close the app (at this point the app is still open, the time bar for the podcast has stopped but the pause icon is visible). So close the app, reopen it. Plex then remembers that I was in the middle of listening to the podcast, and I can just hit play again and it carries on.
This issue has only been happening since around late July, before that I don’t remember it happening.
Since I’ve been having this issue I’ve had a few longer road trips and can confirm that it does this every 30-35 mins. Doesn’t matter if it’s one long podcast episode or if there’s many shorter episodes. It just happens every half hour.
A theory I’ve had, since the phone is locked maybe the app is going to sleep?
P.s. This is on Android, Google Pixel 2 XL.
My wife and I are experiencing the same. I’ve given up on podcasts in plex because of the instability, but my wife keeps trying it and so I went looking and found this thread.
In general, Android client (in)stability has become increasingly frustrating for us. I’m not really sure why plex is growing new features like podcasts and news and the like when so many of the existing features seem to be suffering (or remain incomplete).
As a lifetime pass holder, it concerns me that plex may deviate from its core strengths enough to the point where none of its features are particularly usable.
Plex works great for content on my server, but anything served from the web like podcasts just crashes unmercifully.
I should have given up and used stitcher months ago
@jesusmc @SamFromPlex more people with the exact same issues I’ve been telling you about for months…
Same problem here, Pixel phone. An hour long podcast never completes without stopping, especially when I’m driving with Google maps running at the same time.
Also annoying that the podcast doesn’t pause when maps plays directions. Devs should try using real podcast apps for a week, especially when driving.
I’m experience the same problem and it’s very annoying. I decided to go back to my previous hack since the integrated Podcast feature works so badly. Quite a shame IMO it could be so awesome but is just unusable ATM.
Same here.
Sony xperia xz2, android pie. plex 7.13.0.9583
Happens most noticably when listening to audio books or podcasts, which often run 1 hour + in duration.
Extra observations:
This maybe happening after i get notifications, hard to tell if there’s a pattern. Happens on wifi and 4g. Happens while streaming, and while idling on pause.
I can sometimes tell when its about to happen when my play/pause button stops working. At that point, playback will eventually stop on its own or it will restart immediately if i open the app.
I just switched to plex and Im loving it, but this is preventing me from investing in plex pass.
