AAOS stopped showing Up Next list and other problems
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Some weeks ago my Volvo updated its AAOS to an Android 13 version.
It may be coincidence but I’ve noticed some problems in PocketCasts since then. I may be wrong but I think they weren’t there before.
1 – In the now playing screen I can no longer see the icon on the top right which shows the Up Next list. There seems to be no way to access the Up Next list in any place
2 – In the now playing screen, I can press the three dots which shows additional options such as the marked as played button. If I press marked as played it does the action but the screen remains greyed out with no buttons. I can press the screen in any place and it goes back to normal
3 – This is not a new problem, but some syncing problems remain where the car app seems to not update appropriately the position played on the phone even after forcing a manual update.
I’ve learned to live with 3 but especially 1 is a major issue for me. Can we expect some correction? -
Could you let us know what version of Pocket Casts you’re using where these issues occur?
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Thanks for the detailed breakdown of each issue. That really helps. All three are known problems on AAOS and I can share where things stand.
Up Next queue missing (issue 1) and greyed-out screen after “Mark as played” (issue 2): These both look like AAOS UI bugs our team is actively investigating. Our developers are already working on related AAOS fixes, so these are on their radar. I don’t have a release date to share, but the issues are being tracked and worked on.
Playback position not syncing back to the phone (issue 3): This is also a known bug. What happens is the app briefly receives the correct synced position from the car, but the locally stored position on the phone takes over and overwrites it. There’s unfortunately no reliable workaround right now beyond the manual refresh, which as you’ve noticed doesn’t always help when an episode is already in the Now Playing state.
I know none of this is the “it’s fixed” answer you were hoping for, but I wanted to be upfront rather than give you steps that won’t help. I’ve noted your report against the relevant issues so the team has another data point.
If anything changes on your end or you notice new behavior after a future update, feel free to follow up here.
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Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully we’ll get the interface issues sorted sooner rather than later. I understand the syncing problem is probably harder to deal with.
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Thanks for your patience with all of this. Fingers crossed the interface fixes land soon!
— Pocket Casts Assistant. If this didn’t help, just reply and we’ll follow up.
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Thanks for the update @joelbaxter9505690294, and confirming this is still happening on 8.18a on a Volvo C40 is useful. Apologies to everyone following this thread that these are still open. Here is where each of the three issues stands.
- Up Next button missing from the Now Playing screen: this is a known display bug in the native Android Automotive app and is listed on our Known Issues page: https://support.pocketcasts.com/knowledge-base/known-issues/. Your queue itself is intact. You can view and reorder it in the phone app or the web player, and the car will still play through it in order. The team is aware and it is being tracked, but I do not have a date to share yet.
- Screen staying greyed out after Mark as played: tapping anywhere on the screen to bring the controls back is the right workaround for now. If anyone can safely grab a screenshot of the greyed-out screen while parked, posting it here would help the team reproduce it.
- Playback position not syncing from the phone: this one is also on the Known Issues page. The car starts syncing, and often playing, before its own data connection is fully up, so it resumes from the position it last saved locally and can push that stale position back to your account. Two things that help until background refresh lands:
- Pause on your phone before you get in the car, and pause in the car before you switch it off, so each side has saved its latest position.
- Once the car is parked and online, use Refresh Now at the bottom of the car app’s Settings page (it is locked while driving).
If others are seeing the same thing, adding your car model and app version to this thread helps us track how widespread it is.
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Regarding item 2, here is a screenshot. This is right after I press the marked as played button. If I now press the main part of the screen (podcast name, image, etc) I return to the normal now playing screen. With everything not being greyed out (name, image, time bar and 3 dots)
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Thanks @staff-dexter.
One other comment about the “Refresh Now” behavior:
Let’s say the currently-being-played podcast has changed since the last time I was in the car — because I was playing more on my phone, moving along to the next podcast in Up Next. Then after I do “Refresh Now” in the car, the car’s PocketCasts no longer shows any podcast as currently playing. I have to manually select whichever podcast I know is the current one.
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Thanks @pedrofpais271f104b54 for grabbing that. The Google Photos link opens to an empty album on our side, though, so the photo did not make it in. Could you check the album has the screenshot in it and share the link again, or attach the image directly to your reply here? That picture is what the team needs to reproduce the greyed-out screen after Mark as played.
@joelbaxter9505690294, thanks for spelling out the Refresh Now behavior. That is a useful detail. From what you describe, Refresh Now is pulling down your updated queue and positions from your account, but the car app is not loading the new current episode into its player once the episode it last had loaded has finished on your phone and dropped out of the queue. So the car ends up with nothing playing until you choose something. That is a gap in the car app rather than anything you are doing wrong, and it fits the other reports we have of the car not picking up the phone’s current state. Your description of exactly when it happens (the queue advanced on the phone since the last drive) is the kind of detail the team needs.
Until that is sorted, the least painful path is the one you are already using: after Refresh Now, open the episode you are up to from its podcast and it should resume from the synced position. If you check the phone app before you get in the car, the position it shows is the one the car will pick up.
I do not have a fix date for any of the three, but this thread is linked to the reports the team is working from, so please keep adding car model and app version details here if anything changes after an update.
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Thanks @pedrofpais271f104b54, the link works now and I can see the screenshot.
It matches what you described: right after Mark as played, the episode title, artwork and progress bar stay dimmed and the three dots menu disappears, leaving only the speed, skip and pause controls. Tapping the artwork or title area to bring the screen back is the best workaround for now, and the screenshot gives the Android team a clear picture of the state the screen is left in.
One other thing worth doing: Pocket Casts 8.19 for Android Automotive was released on September 1, so it is worth checking the Play Store in the car for the update. I can’t say it changes any of the three items in this thread, but it helps to be on the latest build while the team works through the Automotive reports.
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I have updated the app to the latest version but did not notice any changes in these issues.
