Automattic / Automattic/pocket-casts-android

Paused Episode Automatically Gets Archived

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#153 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
[Area] Settings [Priority] Low [Type] Bug Migrated
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

---

- 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

Open the contributing 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

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