Android: Persistent player notification / Background activity when app is closed

[Phantomstormy]

Hello,

I've had a similar problem a few weeks ago (Pandora unpausing when I didn't ask it to), but it didn't happen as often as others commented above. However, I think it stopped on its own but with with a new problem in its place. When I have Pandora closed, a notification saying, "Unknown by Unknown" pops up on my notification screen and I cannot get rid of it. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, and it still persists. How may I solve both of these problems should the both continue?

Thank you for your time.

Moderator Edit: Changing title for clarity

[69tr6r]

@AdamPandora I have the issue where, if I restart my phone, Pandora launches automatically. It does not play music. It just shows that it is Active in my Notifications.

Also, when I close the app after playing music. I have to close it from the Notifications bar, and sometimes actually have to Force Stop the app, even though I've already closed the app, and it isn't showing as open.

[AdamPandora]

@69tr6r Thanks for following up with that information.

I moved your post over to this existing thread: Android: Persistent player notification / Background activity when app is closed

You can find the latest update posted on 02/22/24 by @AlyssaPandora here.

[BlueDragon167]

Hello Pandora community,

I have been experiencing some issues (related to a bug) with the Pandora app since around Sep/Nov 2023.

My first issue is that the app continues to run in the background after I close it. It appears in my notification bar as "Unknown" by "Unknown". I then have to force stop the app and clear the cache in order to get it to dissappear.

My second issue is when Pandora randomly switches from autoplay back to the last station I was listening to. It does this after about 5 additional songs or so, after the song that I searched and selected to play. I don't like it doing this!

Another issue that is more annoying than anything else, is the pop-up ads that appear right after you open the app and it starts playing the last station I listened to. If I've been using the free version of Pandora since I created my account in November 2019, why the hell would I want to start paying for a subscription now?! It literally does this EVERY SINGLE TIME!!

My suggestion is if someone clicks out of the pop-up ad once, PLEASE DON'T ASK AGAIN FOR AT LEAST A MONTH!! This is SUPER ANNOYING!!!

I would also like to mention that compared to about 3 years ago, there are SO MANY MORE ADS!! For every 4 or 5 songs, there are 2 30-second ads! I see how sometimes, after I've been listening for awhile, THEN I get an option to watch ANOTHER AD in order to get an hour of uninterrupted listening.

My suggestion is don't do all the extra ads (especially for people like me who have been using this app for almost 5 years!) and instead, provide that option to watch the 30-second ad to get an hour of uninterrupted listening right away upon opening the app and starting a station. I understand it's what you have to deal with when you use free versions of things, but seriously, does there really need to be that many ads in such a short amount of time?? Even radio stations don't play that many ads as often as Pandora does!

Another suggestion to that is increase amount of time in between ads. Play your ads after like 10 songs instead of after only 5.

I really hope that the Pandora developer team can come up with a solution to these issues and release a new update with bug fixes soon. I noticed in the Pandora community that 350+ other people have also been experiencing issues with the app continuing to run in the background after closing the app. This newest update STILL DID NOT FIX THIS ISSUE!! This bug has existed since at least the beginning of 09/2023 and it is now the end of 06/2024! That's 9 months!!! How can you allow a bug to continue causing people issues for that long?! AND YOU'VE RELEASED UPDATES SINCE THEN!!! STILL NOT FIXED!!!!

Pandora App Version: 2406.1 (Most recent update) (Currently installed)

Phone & Software Information:

Samsung Galaxy S9, Model number SM-G960U1, One UI version 2.5, Android version 10, Baseband version G960U1UES9FVD1, Kernel version 4.9.186–22990479 #1 Thu Mar 31 15:41:33 KST 2022, Build number QP1A.190711.020.G960U1UES9FVD1

For more detailed software information, please have the developer team email me. Thank you!

[kathyS]

Pandora starts playing music in the background when I don't want it to. How can I stop that?

[TannerPandora]

Hi @kathyS 

Welcome to community!

Does music actually play in the background or is there a player notification or message that pops up on your Android that says music is playing in the background?

Thanks for the help!

[kathyS]

It shows that music is playing in the background. 

[AdamPandora]

@kathyS Thanks for following up.

I moved your post over to this existing thread: Android: Persistent player notification / Background activity when app is closed

For more information, check out the latest message @AlyssaPandora posted here.

[bovander]

Depletes all my data. Usually happens after connecting to Android Auto but also seems to pop up on it's own

Even after I close background app it starts up again

Moderator Edit: Merged posts