Automattic / Automattic/pocket-casts-android

Playback Pausing on episodes with chapter artwork

Open
#3,589 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
[Area] Playback [Priority] Medium [Type] Bug
Dominant language
Kotlin
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Forks
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Avg merge
1d 13h
Merged PRs (30d)
143

Description

### Description

We've got a report from a user in 9348325-zd-a8c about the playback pausing on episodes with chapter artwork.

The user mentioned that the issue may arise at the start or at any point during the episode but always within seconds of beginning to play. It occurs significantly more often when Pocket Casts is minimised or exited after hitting play. This problem affects several podcasts, but only when chapter images are present. It ceases to occur once the corresponding chapter image has fully loaded; however, the issue reappears at the same point if Pocket Casts has not been used for 1-2 hours. Not all podcasts using chapter images experience this issue; it seems likely related to the size, type, or other characteristics of the chapter image. The podcast or episodes can be played easily on the same device via VLC, browser (Chrome mobile & Firefox mobile), or other apps, both as streams and downloaded files.

I was able to partially replicate a similar issue. Internal discussion: p1738590689246139-slack-C02A333D8LQ

### Step-by-step reproduction instructions

1. Enable Episode Artwork under Settings > Appearance
2. Access a podcast like https://pca.st/stayforever
3. Try playing an episode and immediately minimise the app

### Screenshots or screen recording

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b900c73e-0cfb-479a-81e6-b3d85917480a

### Did you search for existing bug reports?

- [x] I have searched for existing bug reports.

### Device, Operating system, and Pocket Casts app version

App version : 7.81 (9306)
Phone: realme - RMX2155L1 - RMX2155 - RMX2155L1
Kernel: 4.14.186+ - dg02-pool03-kvm196
Android version: 12 SDK 31

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the pause with Episode Artwork enabled, using the Stay Forever podcast and minimizing the app immediately after playback begins. Compare episodes with and without chapter images, including the attached recording and the reported Android 12 environment. Done means affected episodes continue playing reliably while minimized and after chapter artwork loads.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, kotlin
Domain
mobile
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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