Car - Lexus 350f sport Phone - Google pixel 7pro Android - tested with 13,14,15 all have the same issues. Connectivity - playing downloaded music in Arc
- no album art work - songs that are downloaded take longer than other apps to show, only 3 albums as samples to test with - Loading 15+ albums using Plex amp all within seconds - playback as a single track shows a spinning/ loading for a long time over a min normally I kill the app at this stage. - at times music plays but there is nothing showing on the screen as playing, no controls work 'play, pause, display of functions, volume' it's almost as if it was playing passively, when checking the phone app (not via android auto) there is nothing playing.
I've tried using arc a number of times via android auto over 3 Android updates and it fails to deliver on every front.
I have plexamp and it's worked well from day 1 never an issue, album art work, immediate playback, very responsive.
I understand that ARC is doing more but how about just getting the basics working via Android Auto Sonita just usable, it's not usable in this state.
Yes I've removed, uninstalled, deleted, flushed cached data for the Arc app and downloaded a fresh version a number of times, with each attempt arc fails to log into Roon cloud to authenticate on the same network as my room core, there are no internet or router issues another post here advised of a bug in the framework that was resolved but a new issue is google capture blocking login, tested this by directly logging in via a browser and could clearly see the error message, google captcha is super troublesome you may wish to consider switching to CloudFlare turnstile.
After waiting some time clearing all browser and app caches, removing arc for a 3rd time I was allowed to sign in and register Arc on my pixel.
When arc is just on my local network it works great, this is primarily an android auto comparability issue and really needs to be resolved properly if the competition can get it right why can't room?
as a premium product at a premium price the expectation is automatically set that at a very basic level Arc Android Auto should work, play music, show controls and album art work.
Please give Android Auto some well needed love and lets put these issues to bed as it's close to 3/4 of the phone market.
Welcome to the forum and thanks for reaching out with your report.
Just to clarify, the below issues only happen when you are using ARC in offline mode? If ARC is in online mode, the app is working as expected (or only some of the issues are evident)?
Has ARC been opened on the phone before trying to initiate the playback, or is this behavior only happening when trying to launch directly from the Android Auto interface?
Can you share the exact local time + date + track playing (if any), when you notice some of the issues? We can then enable logging for your account to see if there are any relevant errors during that time-frame. Thanks!
1st issue to tackle is the Google invisible CAPTCHA not working, as mentioned in my initial post when trying to log in from a computer or even my phone the Google captcha fails and I’m not able to login.
This is part of the issue when installing arc and trying to register, the redirect allows the login details to be entered but then fails with the Google CAPTCHA error. (The google red pop-up error is not visible when signing in through arc redirect only when you try to log in via phone browser can you see the captcha error)
Because i previously logged in via my phone after multiple failed attempts I’m able to get back in and reply to your comments, otherwise I’m locked out from replying properly From my desktop - no dice!
Now to answer your questions.
Everything I’m having issues with only pertains to Android Auto, running anything arc.
from my phone without Android Auto Arc works as desired as long as I’m connected to my network and can connect to Roon core.
Only when plugged into my car and android auto is engaged do we start seeing issues.
At this stage I did not note the times and dates of testing so I would need to jump in the car and test again.
Please keep in mind that I do not have a VPN running between phone > core network so no connection back to roon core, I’m not sure how you are going to track logging when Arc is not connected back to core?
Maybe I don’t completely understand how it all works just trying to make sure I’m not leaving any unanswered questions and making assumptions.
Hi @gerardo,
Let’s work on the CAPTCHA issue. That should make it easier to then work on the Android Auto issue. Most CAPTCHA issue come down to your default browser on your phone not accepting cookies or having a content blocker installed can you check if that’s the case? If that isn’t the problem try changing your DNS on your phone. We have seen users have a better experience in the past if they change their DNS servers from the ISP provided ones to Cloudflare DNS, Quad9 or Google DNS. Can you please give this a try and let me know if it helps? This article will show you how to change a DNS in Android.
It’s consistent across wifi and 4g (not on local network) I’ve tested both.
I’m in IT and we work on a lot of websites we’ve completely removed google captcha and replaced it with CloudFlare turnstile for a number of sites due to this same reason, it’s just buggy.
I’ve tried with google DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4 same issue, I believe it’s GOOGLE CAPTCHA which is the issue.
Thank you for taking the time to report these issues to our team.
We have just a few more clarifying questions in order to escalate this appropriately.
Just to confirm - when you keep ARC closed entirely, open a browser on your Pixel phone with cellular data connected (not WiFi). Load the Roon accounts page itself and sign in there - does single-sign-on fail? This browser page uses the same mechanism as ARC.
With the Android Auto head unit - does it matter if you connect via USB-C or Bluetooth? Is there any difference, if both are available?
There are a number of fixes in the upcoming ARC release that may relieve symptoms. We’ll watch for a response to this post and follow up accordingly. Thanks!
I won’t disconnect / log out from my phone as it’s way too hard to get back in and I won’t be able to reply to this thread if I can’t get back in.
The above process is more than sufficient to show the issue is persistent across both cellular and wifi.
I have a static IP that I can provide in a private chat or other method so you can check any logs or it may turn up based on already connected roon core.
Do you have a PiHole in this setup? What about any stateful security apparatus?
invalid ReCaptcha with SSO is not a systemic issue with Roon and, as we’ve mentioned, is generally caused by content blockers, outdated browsers, browser extensions, stateful security, or VPNs. You’ve thoroughly checked these factors so we don’t need to repeat that here.
From your post above, clearing your browser cookies eventually resolved the recaptcha issue on your phone. What other browsers have you tested as the default? What about on your desktop? Do you also rely entirely on Firefox there?
Concerning your Android Auto issues, we’ve escalated them separately and will respond shortly with more information.
The simple test of hot spotting would remove any internal network devices like pie hole etc from equation.
With that no we are not running piehole.
When using google captcha it’s the website that needs to connect to google API, this means that nothing on my network will interfere as I’m only viewing then creating a trigger action from Roon > google API by filling out the login details.
I suspect if it was a DNS issue on this end we wouldn’t be able to load the login page at all.
I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be a DNS issue but on the roon end not internally.
It’s just a theory at this stage.
I’ll test chrome today to take FF out of the equation.
Will come back to you later today.
The issue is that it’s not consistent behaviour otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to connect eventually from my phone.
Thanks for the additional information! If you haven’t yet, could you please update your Roon and Arc versions, and test to see if you run into the same issue?
The update isn’t showing in the playstore just yet.
I can see a core update, running it now.
I’ll check the playstore again tomorrow and advise.
What I did notice is when I jump in my car if the wifi is still connected (yes the car is parked close enough to get a signal) then Arc works via androidauto and plays back local downloaded music.
It shows album artwork for the album it self but not for individual tracks, this just shows the arc default icon for music.
When driving away or turning off wifi Arc for androidauto continues to work.
If I turn off wifi before getting into the car and connecting androidauto then we go back to the same issues previously listed.
It looks like arc needs to register with core to function when connecting to android auto.
If it can’t connect to register then it doesn’t work correctly or at all.
Please standby will update once we have the latest version of arc installed.
