Possible bugs in android automotive version
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Hi, I’m new here but have been using pocket casts for 1 1/2 years. It’s been great but recently 2 bugs have come up. First is that the up next button and the car screen is a now missing all the time. Previously is only vanished when there was 1 more episodes to play. Once 2 episodes where queued it would return. But now it is never there. The 2nd issue is my steering wheel control for forward and back skip no longer works. This control works with all my other music apps. I noticed these issues with version 8.10a and just saw I am now on 8.11a. Still no up next but I forgot to check the steering wheel controls today. Just wanted to make sure you know about these to look into it. Let me know if there is any other info you need.
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Hi @peterdeph and @damariscotta,
Both issues are known bugs our Android team is actively working on:
- Up Next button missing in Android Automotive: This is a confirmed UI bug affecting the car screen. Your queue is still functioning in the background, so episodes will continue to play in order automatically. You can also manage your queue from the Pocket Casts app on your phone before or during a drive.
- Steering wheel skip controls not responding: This is also a known issue on Android Automotive following an Android 14 vehicle OS update. A fix has been developed and is currently under review, so this should be addressed in an upcoming release.
We don’t have a specific timeline to share for either fix, but both are on the team’s radar and reports like yours help prioritize them.
If you do get a chance to retest the steering wheel controls on v8.11a, we’d love to hear what you find. And thanks again to both of you for chiming in on this thread.
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I just had the chance to test the steering wheel controls in 8.11a and they are still not functioning. Just wanted you to know.
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Thanks for testing that out, @peterdeph. The release is still pending, so please watch for new releases, as well as take a look at the release notes to see if the fix is included. Thanks for your patience.
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I have experienced a strange bug in the Android Automotive app where a second audio stream begins playing in the background. The only control I have of the second stream is to switch to another audio source to stop it. The second stream plays regardless of what I tried to do with the main stream. This bug has occurred to me now in two different vehicles, the latest being a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado.
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When a media app updates, it can sometimes fail to correctly broadcast state changes or register standard hardware key events ($KEYCODE_MEDIA_NEXT$) to the vehicle’s system profile. It would be highly helpful to the devs if you could share
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Hi @cntrlwiz and @charleswilson0090,
Thanks for taking the time to report these in detail. All three issues are genuinely helpful to have documented, and I want to give you a quick status update on each.
Up Next button missing on the car screen — this is a known UI issue our Android team is actively investigating. Your Up Next queue is still working behind the scenes, so episodes will continue playing in order automatically. You can also manage the queue from the Pocket Casts app on your phone. We don’t have a fix timeline to share yet, but it is on the team’s radar.
Steering wheel skip forward/back not responding — this is also a known issue and a fix is currently in review. We can’t give a release date, but work is actively in progress on it.
Second audio stream playing in the background — this one is new to us and we’d love to dig into it further. A few things that would help:
- Your Pocket Casts app version (found in Settings > About on the car screen)
- Your vehicle make, model, and current infotainment OS version
- Any steps you noticed that seem to trigger it, even roughly
We really appreciate the thorough reporting from all of you.
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The issue just happens occasionally when I open the app after vehicle start and start playing a podcast…it starts twice. The first time it happened to me, both streams were nearly in sync and it sounded like an echo. One instance is controllable by the screen controls, the other is not, and just plays in the background. The only way to stop it is to switch to another active audio source, like SiriusXM. If I switch back to PocketCasts, it starts playing in the background again. The only fix is to shut off the vehicle (and the infotainment with it) so the app restarts.
I am a company vehicle driver, so I am always in new vehicles. My current vehicle is a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado. I have also had this issue in a 2025 GMC Sierra, but I no longer have access to that vehicle.
The PocketCasts version is 8.13a (59431).
The vehicle system info:
Model: gminfo37
Android 12
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Hi @peterdeph,
Both of these are known issues our Android team is actively investigating.
- The Up Next button disappearing from the Android Automotive Now Playing screen is a confirmed bug. Your queue is still working in the background, so episodes will continue to play in order automatically. You can also manage the queue from the Pocket Casts app on your phone before you set off.
- The steering wheel skip forward/back buttons becoming unresponsive is also a known issue on Android Automotive, and a fix is currently in review. We can’t share a release date, but the team is aware and working on it.
This one is a known audio issue on Android Automotive. The good news is that a fix for the double-playback problem (two audio streams starting simultaneously) was included in version 8.12. You’re on 8.13a, so it’s worth checking whether a newer update is available in your vehicle’s app store, as 8.14 is the current release.
If you’re still hitting this after updating, please do reach out again and we can dig deeper.
Thanks again to everyone who chimed in here. Reports like these with vehicle model details and version numbers are really valuable.
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Hi team. Wanted to see what thoughts on addressing the steering wheel controls. It’s becoming a safety issue.
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@jizzay1 Thanks for following up, and I hear you on the safety angle.
There’s been some movement on this in the past few days. We have a fix written that we think addresses the cause, but it still needs testing before it can go out, so I don’t have a timeframe I can share yet. Thank you for your patience on this one.
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