Wifi connection issues with Android app
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I’m using the Android version of your app on my Pixel phone. I’ve recently started experiencing an issue I’ve never had in the past. While connected via wifi, if I try searching for a new show or if I click on a new show to see its episodes, I get a rotating busy indicator and the page seems to take a ridiculous amount of time (like 5 minutes) to load. The only fix is to temporarily disable my wifi so I’m instead using my cellular connection.
To be clear, my wifi is otherwise working perfectly fine, as indicated by speed tests and the fact that I’m not having problems with any other app. I’ve tried force quitting the app several times, and I’ve also restarted my phone to no avail. Do you have any other suggestions of how to fix this?
Thanks.
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Hi @scottgurian,
Here are some potential troubleshooting steps you can try:
- Ensure you’re using the latest version of the Pocket Casts app.
- Clear the app’s cache. You can do this in your device’s settings.
- While you mentioned your Wi-Fi connection seems fine, it’s worth checking for any network congestion or interference that might be affecting the app’s performance.
- If you’re using a VPN or proxy, try disabling it temporarily to see if it improves the performance.
If the issue persists after trying these steps, please provide us with additional information, such as:
- The version of Android you’re running on your Pixel phone.
- The names of the podcasts you’re having trouble with.
- Any error messages or unusual behavior you’re encountering.
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I’ve tried following your instructions, and I’m still experiencing issues.
1. I confirmed that I have the latest version of your Android app: v.7.76 (9282)
2. As you recommended, I cleared the app’s cache and then forced it to stop before reopening it, and that didn’t seem to make a difference.
3. I don’t have any reason to think I’m experiencing any sort of network congestion or interference since — as I mentioned — I’m not having internet problems with any other apps besides yours. Furthermore I ran a speed test where I got download speeds of 37 mbps when I was just using Wi-Fi (in airplane mode) and only 28 mbps when I was just on the cellular network (wifi turned off), so it doesn’t make any sense that I would have more trouble accessing things through your app when I have Wi-Fi turned on.
4. I’m not currently using a VPN or proxy.
I’m running Android version 14. This problem doesn’t seem to be connected to any particular podcasts. It happens whenever I try searching for any podcast in your app. I just get a rotating busy indicator that seems to spin and spin. But if I turn off my Wi-Fi so I’m just using the cellular connection, my search query produces a result immediately.
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It sounds like there is a network restriction between your network/ISP and our servers.
Is this your home wifi network or a public wifi/office wifi? Public or workplace wifi might have some quality of service measures in place that throttles connections to certain services.
Does this happen with other wifi networks? Could you try using a VPN to try bypass any network restriction in the Wifi network?
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Oh wow. That appears to be the problem! I’m traveling right now, and I’m using a home wifi network in this place where I’m staying in New Zealand. I guess they’re throttling the connection to your server for some reason, cause when I log into my VPN, all my search queries in your app seem to load right away! Not sure why that’s happening, but I’m glad I figured it out!
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I’m glad to hear you found the source of the problem! I’ll go ahead and mark this thread as resolved, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions in the future!
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