Apple Watch: Endless buffering

[Sdc2]

Pandora plays fine on my iPhone but only buffers endlessly on my new Apple Watch. Frustrating because I bought the Apple Watch to run without my phone. I’ve tried all of the trouble shooting suggested in these posts. I’m about done. 

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi there, @Sdc2. 👋

Sorry to hear that you've had some trouble with buffering. Based on your message, it sounds like you've run through these steps: Apple Watching Troubleshooting

Could you provide me with a bit more information about your devices?

1. What iPhone model do you have?
2. What version is your Apple Watch on? (Open the Watch app on your phone and go to General > About> Version)
3. Does your Apple Watch have a cellular data plan? 

Let me know. 🎧

[Sdc2]

Thank you for your help. 

My phone is a 10xr and up to date.

My Apple Watch is new - 45mm running 8.6

I do have cellular. (Apple Music plays fine, but I prefer Pandora's algorithm)

[AlyssaPandora]

Thanks so much for getting back to me with that information, @Sdc2. 

I've gone ahead and shared this on an internal ticket with our engineering team. We appreciate your patience while they investigate. 🎧

[TNF]

Hello,

I have an Apple Watch 6 with cellular and an iPhone 13 Pro.  Both have the latest updates.  Recently I've started streaming Pandora on my watch during outdoor runs without my phone.  The watch app works fine until I use Pandora on my phone.  Once I use it on my phone I'm unable to use Pandora on just my watch.  It gets stuck in an endless buffering state.  My only remedy is to uninstall it on my watch then reinstall.  It works fine until I use it on my phone then I have to repeat the process.  I've tried restarting my watch, restarting my phone, turning off my phone and the only thing that has worked is uninstalling and reinstalling the app on my watch.  Is there something else I should be trying?  

Thank you! 

[GeraldPandora]

Hi @TNF 👋

I've moved your post to an existing thread under: Apple Watch: Endless buffering

Sorry to hear that you're experiencing buffering issues while going out on your run. Based on your message, it seems like you've already tried the Apple Watch Troubleshooting steps.

Could you provide me with a bit more information about your watch?

1. What version is your Apple Watch on? (Open the Watch app on your phone and go to General > About> Version)

Let me know and I can share this with our engineering team.

Thanks!

[Sdc2]

I cancelled your service months ago. Seriously, you’re replying now??

Tight ship at off-brand Spotify…

[TNF]

Hello, my watch is on version 8.7.

I look forward to your reply.

Thanks! 

[AlyssaPandora]

Thanks so much for your reply, @TNF. 

I've gone ahead and shared this with our engineering team on your behalf. Thanks for your patience during this process. 🎧

[steelktm]

Good morning, I'm having the same issue as well. I can usually get through like 3 or 4 songs and then it just sticks on buffering till i have to close the app on my Apple Watch and try and re-open it.  I do not have cellular on my watch and I have downloaded all the songs from my iPhone to my Apple Watch and just go through the download section and hit "shuffle all".

iPhone 13 Pro - 16.0.2

Pandora on phone - V2209.1

Apple Watch SE - 9.0 (20R361)

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi there, @steelktm. 👋

Sorry to hear that you're having trouble with this. I've gone ahead and added your feedback to an internal ticket with our engineering team. If you notice anything else, please let me know and I can add that info for you. Thanks for reporting your experience! 🎧

[steelktm]

This seems to be going on for a bit, does Pandora have any type of timeframe of a fix? 

[GeraldPandora]

Hi @steelktm 

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide any additional information or a timeline as to when you can expect to see this resolved. However, the info you've provided is helpful and I've made sure to pass it along.

Thanks very much for your patience in the meantime! 🤝

[alaskaman77 · Accepted solution]

Hello there. I think I may have the answer to your endless buffering issue as I had it to on my brand new apple watch ultra with cellular.  One day it worked, the next day it said endless buffering. Rebooting and re-installing did nothing to fix the issue.  Both iphone 13pro and apple watch ultra were 100% up to date.  The fix is too easy.  Please do the following:

launch pandora on your apple watch

keep hitting the < left arrow carrot until you get to the main pandora screen on your apple watch.

At the very bottom it will say in Gray Playing From.... and it will probably say (phone)

Now the fun part. tap on phone and change the checkbox to Watch. It should now play just fine from your watch if you have Bluetooth headphones connected.  It worked for me anyways. Hope this helps out someone because this thing was driving me mad. I went through 3 uninstall/ re-installs of pandora, and around 10 reboots of both my iphone and apple watch.  It works great now.  Good luck!  -Mark

[AlyssaPandora]

Thanks so much for the tip, @alaskaman77.  👍

@steelktm @TNF While I have reported this already, it may be helpful to try out the tip posted here from @alaskaman77.

Hope this helps! 🎧

[Mark991]

your a genius!!!  thank you sooooo much. Problem fixed.

[AlyssaPandora]

Awesome! Sounds like @Mark991 tried out @alaskaman77's suggestion to resolve this issue. 

I've gone ahead and marked that post as the solution. 👍

Thanks again for your tip, @alaskaman77! 

[TNF]

Thanks Mark!  

Yes, this solution works perfectly.  I had read about this in a different thread and meant to update this one.  I can't believe no one from the "engineering team" suggested to scroll down on your watch and make sure the Playing From Watch box is checked.  -Corey 

[AlyssaPandora]

Thanks for the feedback, @TNF. The engineering team doesn't update the threads on community. Sorry that I missed this critical step. 

I'll also leave these instructions here in case they prove to be helpful for others.

If you'd like to select whether to stream directly from your Apple Smart Watch or your mobile device using an Apple Watch series 3 or newer* please use the following steps:

• Return to the home screen by:
  • Swiping from left to right
  • Or tapping the arrow in the upper left corner
• Scroll down the screen and select Playing from...
• Tap Watch or Phone when prompted to select the device.

*Apple Watch Series 1 and 2 are not currently supported. Cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity is required to stream independently of a mobile device.

[steelktm]

I thought i have made sure that of many of times however i guess it's possible that it go switched without me knowing it.  I'll make sure though to check each time and test it a few times to see if it corrects the issue.