Pocketcasts on Android Automotive (AAOS) does not sync reliably.
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Hey wonderful PC team – adding my shared issue with this topic for my two Volvos using Android Automtive. Syncing seems to be broken or very delayed – even with a manual refresh pull.
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@jampeuppgard just to confirm, did the issue occur again, or has it always not worked well for you? Is the internet connection in your car stable?
We made some changes a few months ago to fix the way this works, so we’d need more information if the issue still affects you.
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I decided to check back in on this after the statement that the app was updated. I’m on 7.76a and it’s not updating either the in-progress podcast or the queue. It’s way out of date, so I gave it some time but didn’t see any movement. I tried on two separate days, here are the logs from today:
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Can attest on two Volvos – the system is still not syncing. I did a fresh install of the app on both to be certain!
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earlier it was hit or miss if it was syned. Now it never syns correct. Sometimes I get the unable to sync. But if you start driving ,you’re screwed as you need to stop to manually resync, which usually puts you at the start of the pod episode
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Similar longstanding issue with Sonos – literally the same issue as with AAOS and Sonos team confirmed it’s not an issue with the Sonos end.
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oh I just was mentioning that a near identical issue with syncing has been occurring with the pocketcasts and Sonos systems. It’s well documented and open in a different ticket. Just sharing that the issue is not just with the AAOS but seemingly with other integrations.
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I decided to check back in on this after the statement that the app was updated. I’m on 7.76a and it’s not updating either the in-progress podcast or the queue. It’s way out of date, so I gave it some time but didn’t see any movement. I tried on two separate days, here are the logs from today:
Thanks for sharing those photos of your logs. We certainly want to get to the bottom of this, but are limited to what we can do on Automotive.
When you restart your car and re-open the Pocket Casts app, do you see any line like this shown in the logs?
Client: <com.android.car.carlauncher> connected to media sessionNone: the text inside <> may vary.
Please let me know!
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@acrenz thanks for also letting us know!
Can attest on two Volvos – the system is still not syncing. I did a fresh install of the app on both to be certain!
Could you also check the steps shared above and let me know what you are seeing in your logs?
Automotive does restrict us quite a bit, but one temporary workaround we have found is to pause the episode before turning off the car so that AAOS does not attempt to restart it.
Similar longstanding issue with Sonos – literally the same issue as with AAOS and Sonos team confirmed it’s not an issue with the Sonos end.
That is odd. We have seen a lot of reports from Sonos users on other apps report similar issues due to the upgrades made to the Sonos app, which is unrelated to us. However, I encourage you to create a new thread so we can investigate this further.
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When you restart your car and re-open the Pocket Casts app, do you see any line like this shown in the logs?
Client: <com.android.car.carlauncher> connected to media sessionYes, I do see something similar to that. See my logs from a fresh start here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eh1wsM6VXq3gawVa6
And see my logs after rebooting the infotainment system here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oh6VrGGaZoh4D5r69
Now on version 7.77something and still not syncing at all.
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Same issue with the Honda Civic with AAOS. I start the car and it starts playing where the car left off, which is not the latest sync was from my phone. If that episode was already completed and archived on my phone it re-adds the episode to my queue at the top.
So, I then have to hit pause, go to settings, refresh now. Then I have to go to the playlist to select the actual episode I was listening to, which is synced to the right timecode now. Then on my phone I have to remove the episode it re-added from the queue. This is all very awkward. -
@alex202cb99b701 thanks for sharing this with us. I relayed the information with our team so they can investigate.
I’ve also filed a new bug report for it here: https://github.com/Automattic/pocket-casts-android/issues/3328
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@gamblore thanks for also letting us know. We’re hoping to investigate this and have a solution available soon.
Could you confirm if the workaround I shared earlier helps? Here is what I suggested:
Automotive does restrict us quite a bit, but one temporary workaround we have found is to pause the episode before turning off the car so that AAOS does not attempt to restart it.
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Update here. I signed out on AAOS, signed into a different profile, and signed back in, to try to clear state. After doing so, Pocketcasts showed me that I wasn’t signed in (perhaps I hadn’t been signed in before, but I swear it said I was). After signing back in, it actually started syncing, at least to the quality that it did before. The original issue of not syncing before it starts auto-playing on startup still exists. Pausing before I stop the car does work, but I never remember to do that, so that’s not a tenable solution.
At this point, using bluetooth is still better, and Volvo actually just launched Android Auto support, so that’s also working better.
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Thanks for the update, @alex202cb99b701
At this point, using bluetooth is still better, and Volvo actually just launched Android Auto support, so that’s also working better.
That is also great to hear. To be honest, the Android Auto version is a lot more easy for us to improve, as we aren’t as restricted as we are with Automotive.
We are still hoping to have this improved in a future version of automotive.
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I wanted to report back that syncing is working again for me on both vehicles with AAOS! Not sure what the fix was but it’s so great to have it back!
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