Automattic / Automattic/pocket-casts-android
Paused Episode Automatically Gets Archived
- Dominant language
- Kotlin
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- Merged PRs (30d)
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Description
User reports that paused episodes will automatically get archived, especially when they switch to another app with the Pocket Casts app running in the background.
- internal Slack discussion: p1651853290716699-slack-C02A333D8LQ
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- Most recently observed with the "No Such Thing As Lord Cauldronhead" episode (podcast 308313, episode 642117214).
- Commonly occurs with [No Such Thing As A Fish (podcast 308313) episodes
- We can't locate any event of the above episode getting archived in the debug log
- Regina noticed the user mentioned the downloaded episodes were saved in the SD cards. However, issue occurs no matter what the storage setting is (Phone or SD card)
- Issue occurs even with wired headset
- Not using any other devices or integrations
- We've asked the user to join the Private Alpha
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Latest findings from the user (quoting):
**tl;dr:** This issue _may_ be occurring with episodes that have been played before, archived, and subsequently un-archived and replayed. Could this be an issue with how the account marks episodes as played or unplayed? Or something like that?
**Long-form details:**
I mentioned, in a previous email, that this issue often occurs with the podcast _No Such Thing As a Fish_. This might be significant, because I am listening to this podcast for _the second time_. In fact, as the issue intermittently occurs, I've noticed that it seems to happen with episodes I'm re-playing (having played them before some time in the past). I can't prove this (because I didn't take good notes at first) but this issue might be occurring _exclusively_ with episodes I'm playing for a second time.
1\. Before App Reinstallation
When I first noticed this issue, I often listened to episodes of podcasts that I had fully played before in Pocket Casts. That is to say that:
> a) the app had played the episode,
>
> b) marked it played, and
>
> c) "auto-archived" it.
When I re-listened to these episodes (months or years later), I did so by
> a) pressing the "Show archived" button in the podcast page in the app,
>
> b) selecting an episode,
>
> c) adding it to my "Up Next" list and,
>
> d) letting it play in queue.
As noted in a previous email, this would intermittently lead to this issue: sometimes the app would mark these episodes as 'archived' in the middle of listening (while the app was backgrounded).
As previously noted, I tried to resolve this issue by deleting all the Pocket Casts app-related data on my phone, then uninstalling and reinstalling the app.
2\. After App Reinstallation
After I reinstalled, the app downloaded and displayed a list of all the podcasts to which I was subscribed. However, every episode in each podcasts was shown as 'unplayed'. Examples: _No Such Thing As a Fish_, _Reply All_, and _Slow Burn_ had all the episodes marked 'unplayed', even though I had listened to many of the episodes already.
Some of these episodes I manually re-archived. I 'left' some other episodes unarchived, anticipating that I would like to listen to them again.
Subsequent to that I have re-listened to many of these episodes: both the ones I 'left' unarchived, and those I manually re-archived. The issue seems to occur with episodes in both of these groups.
3. Is this significant?
This led me to wonder: could there be some significance to the status of an episode as having previously been marked 'archived' or 'played'? I can imagine a situation in which the app checks back with my account, realises that the episode 'should' be archived, and behaves unexpectedly.
Reported in 5084177-zen
Contributor guide
Research direction
The issue names no source files, tests, or entry points. Start by reproducing playback in the background with a previously played or archived episode, including the reported No Such Thing As a Fish episodes, and compare the episode state with available debug logs. Done means identifying why a paused episode becomes archived and confirming it remains unarchived when playback is paused and the app is backgrounded.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- android, kotlin
- Domain
- mobile-dev
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 30/100