RESOLVED: iOS: Music Stops After Ad Plays using AirPlay

[davidacox]

I have a similar problem (or it may be the same problem, but with an additional observation). My airplay stream will work fine until a commercial break happens. The commercials play properly, but when the music is supposed to start, the player on my phone shows that things are working properly, but no audio is sent to the airplay device. If I leave it in that state, the audio will start again after the NEXT commercial set plays. So it is as if the player as set is volume to 0, or muted itself between commercial breaks. This only happens over airplay streaming, and only from my iOS device. Attempts to adjust the volume does not have an effect.

mod edit: changed title for clarity

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi, @Arkie1 @davidacox @Warchant1. 👋

Thank you all so much for this helpful information. This is great feedback and I've shared this with our engineering team. They are currently investigating this issue. 

We really appreciate your patience while they look into this. 🎧

[davidacox]

I can confirm that my secondary device (an iPad Air 2 (Model NGHY2LL/A) running OS 15.4) also suffers from this issue. I tested it in the thought of trying out the Pandora iOS Beta program as a test. But it is not clear if basic tier users are allowed in. I tried to get in, but the site currently said that the program is not accepting any new testers. At any rate, I have Testflight installed, so if the eng. team need someone to test a build, I would be happy to do so.

[dirac]

same exact issue, iphone 12 - now w/15.4.1

[AdamPandora]

@dirac I've enabled a trace on your account to help us better understand what's happening.

For this trace to be useful, we'll need you to run through our troubleshooting steps: Troubleshooting for iOS Devices

++

If you continue to experience issues with playback after an advertisement, I can report your feedback to our engineers. Could you tell me more about your device?

• Device & Generation: iphone 12
• Carrier:
• iOS version: 15.4.1
• Pandora version: (Pandora > Profile tab > Settings gear & scroll to the bottom of the screen)
• Are you connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data when this is happening?
• Does this occur after a specific ad or does this happen after all ads?

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[Arkie1]

Did not resolve problem.  Air play only works on wireless fyi. 

[AdamPandora]

@Arkie1 Thanks for following up.

Could you tell me more about your device?

• Carrier:
• Pandora version: (Pandora > Profile tab > Settings gear & scroll to the bottom of the screen)
• Does this occur after a specific ad or does this happen after all ads?

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[Arkie1]

If you look in history I have provided this information many times. 

i get  some adds on air play but typically hear a few songs and than no sounds.  I close the pandora app and reopen and sound resumes.  

[AdamPandora]

@Arkie1 Sorry about that - I do see that @AlyssaPandora was able to escalate your report to our engineering team already.

Thanks again for your patience as they work to find a fix. 🛠

[davidacox]

My configuration remains the same, other than I have updated my iPhone to 15.4.1

I had some time today, so I took down a log of my mornings audio interruptions for Pandora streaming over Airplay. This may be of use to the eng. team. All times are in Pacific Daylight Time.

Log Starts.

~10:10 AM — Session starts and 2 songs play.

10:18 AM — Add finishes and music is no longer audible over airplay a single song plays and no commercial comes up.

10:23 AM — The music starts again at the start of a song (~ 8 minute track).

10:31 AM — A commercial played.

10:32 AM — The commercial finishes, and the audio is not audible for the 2 songs that follow, and no commercial comes up.

10:39 AM — The next song starts with audio working properly.

10:45 AM — A commercial played.

10:45 AM — The commercial finishes, 1.5 songs play with no audio coming out of the airplay device.

10:50 AM — I pause the audio to take care of some tasks

10:59 AM — I re-attach my player to the airplay device and resume the paused song. The audio starts in the middle of the song, and plays as expected (audible). Two additional songs play without issue.

11:08 AM — Two commercials played.

11:09 AM — The commercial finishes, the next song starts, but again no audio is heard over the airplay speaker.

Log ends.

[AdamPandora]

Thank you for the additional details, @davidacox.

I have passed your feedback along to our engineering team.

Thanks again for all your patience with this in the meantime. 🤝

[Larry-G]

Pandora recommended deleting the App and downloading again. Problem still occurs????

[Arkie1]

I have done this a couple of times

Thanks
Arkie

[AdamPandora]

Since it sounds like you already ran through the Troubleshooting for iOS Devices, I can report your feedback to our engineers. Could you tell me more about your device?

• Device & Generation: 
• Carrier:
• iOS version: 
• Pandora version: (Pandora > Profile tab > Settings gear & scroll to the bottom of the screen)
• Are you connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data when this is happening?
• Does this occur after a specific ad or does this happen after all ads?

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[davidacox]

Another small tidbit to add:
It seems that the issues pattern is 'in play' regardless of when one starts using airplay. This morning, I started Pandora on a station, and let it play out of my iPhone's speakers. It went through a song or two, then played an add through the iPhone speaker. Right after the add played, I set the iPhone to use Airplay, and no audio was present. After a few songs showed as playing (with no audio from the airplay device), a new song was audible from the speaker, and then an add played, and then the audio was no longer heard.
The pattern seems to be:
1. An add (or two) plays at normal volume over airplay or iPhone/iPad speakers. 
2. The next song or two will play at normal volume through the iPhone speakers, but will have 0 volume if played over airplay.
3. The song before an add will play at normal volume over airplay or iPhone speakers. 
4. Go to step 1.

[AdamPandora]

Thank you for the detailed information, @davidacox.

I will make sure to give our engineering team your update.

Thanks again for all your patience!

[louisa25]

I have been having the exact same problem using Airplay with the Sonos speakers I have. I have followed the iOS troubleshooting steps, and it does not fix the issue as others have stated. Please add my account to the trace.

• Device & Generation: iPhone 12 Pro
• Carrier: Verizon
• iOS version: 15.4.1
• Pandora version: (Pandora > Profile tab > Settings gear & scroll to the bottom of the screen) Version 2203.1
• Are you connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data when this is happening? Both
• Does this occur after a specific ad or does this happen after all ads? All ads

[AdamPandora]

@louisa25 I have passed your feedback along to our engineering team.

Thanks for all your patience with this in the meantime. 🤝

[louisa25]

Ok, thanks. Please provide an update once there is a solution.

[davidacox]

A small bit of help for people having this issue while streaming to a HomePod or Apple TV:

As this problem only comes up if you are streaming the data via AirPlay, you can avoid the issue by having Pandora play directly from your HomePod or AppleTV, both of which have the ability to do so. The AppleTV is relatively simple, as you can download the Pandora App directly from the App Store.

The HomePod is a bit more subtle, as you don't have a user interface to interact with. But basically you have to follow the instructions noted here:
https://help.pandora.com/s/article/Pandora-on-Apple-HomePod?language=en_US

Once that is done, you can use Siri on your HomePod as noted in that article "Hey Siri, play Oh Land Radio on Pandora" and the audio will play without the 'silent after commercials' issue.

I was hopeful that this might also work with handoff from the phone to HomePod, but my testing shows that that still uses AirPlay, and that the problem persists.

[Arkie1]

This does not address the problem.  Problem is when using Air Play with Pandora app music stops playing and app has to be closed and restarted.  Playing Pandora on an HomePod or other Apple device doe not address or fix this issue.

When will Air Play support be fixed with Pandora.  Air Play work with Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music,  I have issues with Pandora on different Iphones, Ipads, and different speakers like Sonos, Pioneer, etc. 

Please advise this has been an issue for many months now, recommending another service for music streaming may be the only option. 

Restarting Wireless, restart I Device, Uninstalling App, Reinstalling App does not work. You have a logic error in your streaming that you engineers need to fix.