Intermittent playback stops when app is in background (ref#PTMR1B) [Ticket In]

What’s happening?

· I'm having trouble with Roon ARC

What best describes your issue with ARC

· Other

Describe the issue

Playback stops intermittently when the app is backgrounded

Describe your network setup

Not relevant; I have seen reports of this from other users. It's a problem with the Android app.

I previously filed a report about this issue (Intermittent playback pauses on Pixel with ARC [Ticket In]) but it was merged with an unrelated thread and then closed. The issue persists. Please help!

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Same here since a few weeks. I’m not sure if it already happened before the update to Android 15.

It doesn’t matter what background usage is allowed, “optimised” or “unrestricted”, as soon as I put ARC in background, open another app or just lock my screen, playback stops after 5-7 seconds. If I change focus to ARC (or unlock my screen, if I just locked it), playback resumes without any interaction from me.

FWIW, I’m mostly playing music I downloaded to my phone.

Current setup:
Pixel 9, Android 15, build AP4A.241205.013
ARC 1.0, build 324 (early access)

Irati :sun_with_face:

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Hi @Dylan_Forbes,
I’m sorry your previous thread got closed with no resolution. I’ve opened a ticket with our developers to look into this. I cannot comment on a timeline for when a fix will be released for this but please bear with us. Thank you for your continued patience.

Thanks Daniel!

Here is another report of this issue, in case the devs need more info, and to help prioritize: Issue with Roon ARC playback interruption on Xperia 1 V (ref#1JYUUD) – this customer said the issue went away after a reinstall, but I suspect it has recurred since then. I followed their steps, and I also saw the issue go away, but then it came back a few days later. Same thing with just restarting my phone.

I hope this also gives a better sense of priority.

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Hi, I can say that I have a feeling that using Firefox or Whatsapp is sure way to interrupt playback. As I have currently other issue opened that was recognized, I’ve not dug into this, as currently the playback for me interrupts even with phone nicely locked in my pocket. Also, it seems I have an issue with DAC which could just cause other issues. When it will be stable in the pocket, it will be time to deal with issues happening while out of the pocket… for the reference: Frequent Playback Interruptions in Roon ARC with Qudelix 5K (ref#3FAJ4B) - #18 by connor

I’ve closed the previous ticket due to bad testing process on my side, the issues are quite intricate, now I am giving myself a week or so to say if matters are better or worse :slight_smile:

Hey @Dylan_Forbes,

While our team takes a closer look, could you also test using the .APK version of Arc, and see if you run into the same issue?

Here’s the download link : https://download.roonlabs.net/builds/RoonARC.apk

Thank you! :+1:

Hi Benjamin,

Installing that version of the app did not fix the issue. As before, it caused it to subside for a few days, but then it resurfaced.

In fact, this time it seems to be even worse–when playback stops, simply foregrounding the app won’t cause it to resume. I have to restart the app to fix it If I don’t do that, the playback indicator does progress, but no audio plays, and also the connection to my Bluetooth headphones gets messed up–the volume gets ratcheted up out of nowhere.

If your devs want to look at logs from my device, they can look for the track “Messiah Complete I: Ivory Tower” by Haken.

Hope that helps!

Hi @Dylan_Forbes ,

Thanks for confirming the manual install did not help. We currently have an active investigation into this, but progress is a bit slow at the current moment as we have staff out-of-office during the holidays. We should have an update for you after the holidays are over, but if you don’t hear back within two weeks, please feel free to reach out and ask for an update. Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Thanks Noris!

Are there any updates? I imagine it might be hard to reproduce the issue because it only occurs intermittently. However, I suspect an Android developer could identify the problem simply by inspecting the code, because it is probably something to do with how the app handles it’s playback service (i.e. it is not correctly prioritized to the system).

Dylan

Hi @Dylan_Forbes,

No updates to share, unfortunately - we still have a ticket in with development, but it has yet to reach the top of their queue.

We’ll absolutely follow up once there’s movement! Thanks again for patience. :raised_hands:

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This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

Hi @Dylan_Forbes,

We wanted to check in, as we’ve released some major stability changes in this area over the last few weeks. Are you experiencing this issue on the most recently released ARC build?

Thanks for the update, Connor!

I will let you know if I experience this issue in the next couple weeks. Usually it starts happening more often when it’s been a while since my phone has been restarted.

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Sounds great @Dylan_Forbes, certainly let us know if you run into this on the latest Roon update as well. :+1:

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I have been seeing this issue too. I just updated and am still seeing it. Sometimes I can listen for a few minutes, sometimes I can’t get through a single song without multiple pauses. The app is crashing or something–I can’t hit play from my notification bar, I have to reopen the app to start playing the song again. I have a Z flip 5.

Wow. decided to double check my settings–roon arc was “manually” put into deep sleep background apps in my settings? I have 0 recollection of doing that. There is no reason I’d ever do that manually. But there you have it, the app is working now.

Wow, nice find! Sounds like the issue isn’t fixed yet. So far I haven’t reproduced it since the last update, but I have run into a related issue where the app gets entirely killed all of a sudden. (My phone was in my pocket and the playback stopped randomly. I open my phone and the app cold boots with no message about a crash.) I want to post this in a separate thread at some point.

I don’t have that same battery setting on my Pixel, but I did just find something that seems related. Stock Android comes with a setting called “Adaptive Battery” that uses machine learning to prioritize apps based on usage history, and it’s on by default. It could be that Roon ARC isn’t properly announcing to the system that its foreground service for audio playback should not be killed. I have just now opted the app out of this feature, so I’ll see if I can still reproduce the issue.

Note for devs: it might be that the system needs to have low battery in order for this issue to occur.

Having this issue also today - Pixel 9 Pro, Android 15, Latest Android patch update and ARC app version 1.65.352. Playing downloaded music and stops shortly after the screen goes to sleep or go to a different app - even does it if I go into my phone settings so not being interrupted by other music/sounds. Worked fine yesterday and was playing with the screen off for a few hours, just unusable today. Haven’t rebooted my phone since.

I have 80% battery life currently so not being stopped by Adaptive Battery, have Background usage enabled.

Edit: worked ok for 30 mins or so after Force Stopping the app, then same issue

A post was split to a new topic: Arc downloaded music and stops shortly after the screen goes to sleep or go to a different app