iOS: Pandora Randomly Starts Playing

[Sefi]

iPhone 11 Pro

iOs version 14.1 

Pandora app version 2010.1

Pandora will randomly start playing with out prompting. Latest occurrence was last night at 2am when I was sound asleep. 😡 So no, I didn't accidentally touch the phone or my Apple Watch to hit play. 

[AdamPandora]

@Sefi Nice to see you around the Community. 🤝

I recommend running through the following troubleshooting steps to see if they resolve this: Troubleshooting for iOS Devices

Let me know how it goes.

[Sefi]

I’m using an iPhone 12 now and still have the same issue with pandora randomly starting itself. Really freaking annoying at 1am when I’m sound asleep. 

I’ve found tho that laying the phone face down on my nightstand helps. The proximity sensor that shuts the screen off when you would normally have the phone up to your ear to talk on it seems to keep it from playing in the middle of the night. 

Of course if you use wireless charging that probably won’t work for you. 

And that also doesn’t help when the phone starts blaring music in the middle of a work meeting because I have it face up on my desk to be able to see incoming text alerts. 😑😑😑

[Sefi]

FYI, I went thru all those steps back when this issue surfaced and nothing helped. 

This issue also continued even to a new iPhone. 

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi there, @Sefi. 👋

Thanks for reporting this, and sorry for any frustration this has caused.

It sounds like you've already tried running through the standard steps on your newer iPhone 12 device: iOS Troubleshooting

I would like to report this issue to our engineers. Could you tell me more about your device?

• Device & Generation: iPhone 12
• Carrier:
• iOS version: (Settings > General > About > 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?
• Have you identified any other patterns or notable information?

Let me know and I can share this with our engineering team on your behalf. 🎧

[Sefi]

iPhone 12 Pro (MGLT3LL/A)

Xfinity Mobile

iOS 14.8 (18H17)

Pandora version 2108.1.1-1-97e38d34

Im pretty sure that every time it happens I’m either on my home WiFi or work WiFi. 

No other discernible pattern.  

[AlyssaPandora]

Thanks for the quick follow up, @Sefi. I've shared all of the information and feedback you've provided with our engineering team on an internal ticket. We appreciate your patience while they investigate. 🎧

[MusicFan0817]

This is also happening to me and like the OP it moved from one phone to the next so it is not a hardware issue. 

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi there, @MusicFan0817. 👋

Thanks for posting about your experience. Sorry to hear you're encountering this issue as well.

Please check out my message here for troubleshooting.

Should the issue persist, would you mind providing the requested device details? I can report this over to our engineering team.

Appreciate your help with this! 🤝

[abeckman17]

This is also happening to me.  It usually happens while my phone is on my desk at work and I am away from it.  It's also recently begun happening during the middle of the night.  All of my apps are closed and I'm dead asleep.  What gives?!  I'm to the point that I'm about to cancel my Pandora account simply because this is off-putting and waking me up while I'm sleeping is NOT COOL!  And my phone is even on "do not disturb."

[AlyssaPandora]

Hey, @abeckman17. 👋

I'm sorry to hear that you're encountering this issue too. I understand how frustrating this can be. Thank you for taking the time to post about your experience in detail.

Please provide additional details to report to our engineering team on your behalf:

• Device & Generation: 
• Carrier:
• iOS version: (Settings > General > About > 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?
• Have you identified any other patterns or notable information?

++

Also, did you try running through the troubleshooting steps as well? If not, they can be found here: iOS Troubleshooting

Let me know, and thanks for your help with this. 🎧

[andrealeegibson]

Hello @AlyssaPandora ,

This is also happening to me, so I thought I would jump in on the conversation! Here’s my info:

iPhone XS

Verizon

Version 2110.1

connected to my wifi, and happening around 1am every night, even though my phone is silenced and volume is all the way down. 

Thanks,

Andrea

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi, @andrealeegibson. 👋

Thanks so much for providing those details about your device. 

A new app version was released recently. Could you try updating manually to app version 2110.1.1?

To update the Pandora app on your iOS device on iOS 13 or newer:

1. Open the App Store application.
2. Tap your Apple ID icon in the top right corner.
3. Scroll down to the Pandora app. If an update is available, there will be an Update icon. 
4. If you don't see Pandora in the list, try refreshing the screen.

If you're running a version older than iOS 13 on your device:

1. Open the App Store application and tap Updates in the bottom right corner of the screen.
2. If an update is available, an Update button will appear to the right of the Pandora icon.

Tip: If no update is available, it will say Open to the right of the Pandora icon.

Let me know if this helps. 🎧

[Lorenisawimp]

HELP! It happened to me last night, and about two or so weeks ago. My wife and I were sleeping, and both shot up out of bed when music started blaring out of my phone. I don't have the Pandora app open. I ONLY use it when I'm in my car using Apple Car Play. I'm also super OCD about closing apps on my phone, and I double check before bed that there are no open apps. This is really frustrating. I don't want to get rid of Pandora, but if this keeps happening, I will have to say bye bye. PLEASE ADVISE.

iPhone 12 mini

AT&T

Pandora V 2110.1.1

iOs 15.2.1

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi, @Lorenisawimp. 👋

Thanks for reporting your experience. Sorry to hear that happened.

I can report this over to our engineering team on your behalf. I've also enabled a trace on your Pandora account to share with them.

++

Just to confirm, have you tried uninstalling / reinstalling the Pandora app yet?

If not, I would run through these steps: iOS Troubleshooting

Let me know if it happens again after reinstalling. Thanks for your help with this. 🎧

[pa3]

Same issue started happening, it only started in last few weeks.

[AdamPandora]

@pa3 Please try running through the following troubleshooting steps: iOS Troubleshooting

If you continue to experience issues with this, I would like to report your experience to our engineers. Could you tell me more about your device?

• Device & Generation:
• Carrier:
• iOS version: (Settings > General > About > 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?
• Have you identified any other patterns or notable information?

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[Asus2000]

This happened to my wife last night at 2 AM (we think). She has an iPhone 13 Pro and Pandora just started playing Running Down a Dream by Tom Petty - I thought that was an appropriate song since we were both dreaming at that time. Are you guys going to get this fixed?

[AdamPandora]

@Asus2000 In order for our support team to look into this, we'll need your wife to reach out to them directly from her account.

She can send them a message here.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime!

[ANK]

Hey! Just checking in to see if there is a solution to this yet, two years after OP’s initial post. Just happened to me and here I am up at 3am trying to research this because Pandora woke me up in the middle of the night.

What seems like a very, VERY simple workaround to this issue is toggling off Auto-Start in the app’s settings, as it seems like this is possibly triggered by Bluetooth devices connecting/disconnecting/reconnecting in the night. However, this option is not available to me because I have a free account 🙂. I’ve been a devoted Pandora user for over 10 years, but this is really irking me in a way that’s tempting to just delete the app off my phone altogether.

I’d advise Pandora fix this bug/“feature” or enable the Auto-Start toggle for all accounts at this point. Honestly, it’s 2022, why isn’t the Auto-Start toggle available on all accounts anyway? Why are we still Auto-Starting when no other music app does this? And why isn’t the issue in this thread fixed yet? 

I suppose I should add the following (not that it seems to matter):

iPhone 12 Pro

AT&T

iOS 15.4.1

Pandora 2204.1

Wi-Fi

mod edit: merged comments