Unexpected calls of `onStartCommand` of `MediaSessionService`

Version

Media3 1.9.0

More version details

Hello,

I am encountering a situation regarding ExoPlayer and MediaSessionService. In my app, I use a MediaSessionService to hold the player and expose the controller.

I recently override onStartCommand() (which I don't typically use for logic) to add a one log statement and I noticed the following behavior:

At the start of video initialization, I see several repetitive logs.

During playback, the log triggers approximately every 5 seconds.

The stream itself is working perfectly—clear audio and video with no interruptions/restarts. I have verified that I do not have any loops in my code re-triggering the player, and onGetSession() consistently returns the same session instance.

Going PIP then closing (X - PIP option) as long as media3 notification stays, loops comming. After swipe-closing media3 notification, loops stops

I added a stack trace using RuntimeException("Stack Trace").stackTraceToString() inside onStartCommand().
The Logcat output shows the call coming from the system:

at android.app.ActivityThread.handleServiceArgs(ActivityThread.java:5752)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleServiceArgs(Unknown Source:0)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2728)
...
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:9634)

It appears to be a system-level loop. Some AI-assisted research, suggested this might be normal—specifically a "heartbeat" to keep the player alive or update the Media3 notification.

I don't have any startService() or startForegroundService(). I just use:

fun getFutureController(nContext: Context, nListener: MediaController.Listener): ListenableFuture {
return MediaController.Builder(nContext, SessionToken(nContext, ComponentName(nContext,PlayerService::class.java))).setListener(nListener).buildAsync()
}

to connect to the service

Is this behavior normal? Can anyone confirm if onStartCommand is expected to fire repeatedly like this?

Thanks

Devices that reproduce the issue

Samsung S21
Pixel 7

Devices that do not reproduce the issue

No response

Reproducible in the demo app?

Not tested

Reproduction steps

Starting a video streaming player

Expected result

I expected a few repetitive logs not loop at 5 sec

Actual result

one log in loop at 5 sec

Media

Internal streaming; I can not provide

Bug Report

• You will email the zip file produced by adb bugreport to android-media-github@google.com after filing this issue.