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

[louisa25]

@AdamPandora I don't understand why this issue hasn't been resolved yet, and there's been no communication on the status of the engineering team reviewing the problems we are all having.

[AlyssaPandora]

Pandora Update (04/21/22): Hi everyone 👋

Thank you for reporting this issue and sorry for the continued trouble. An internal ticket was created with our engineering team when this issue was reported. All information from this thread has been shared with the appropriate party to investigate. Thank you for providing details about your experience, as well as the requested device information. Please keep an eye out on this thread as any updated will be posted here when we receive them. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience while this is being worked on. 🎧

*Please note: While this is marked as the solution for now, this issue has not been resolved yet. Marking this as the solution will help other community members see the newest update from the Pandora team quickly when viewing this thread. 

[davidacox]

I understand that the engineering team needs to prioritize the work by the impact that it has on the community. I think that this issue is more widespread than the few dozen of us that have reported the problem on this thread and several other (now closed) threads on this site. I have recently had the opportunity to test two other accounts to see if this problem existed on them. Both accounts showed the exact same behavior, even when using a different phone than what I have tested.

If others on this form have the ability to test ‘random’ other accounts, I think that reporting the results here would help the Pandora team understand the scope of the issue. Or, if someone can find a single account that does NOT show this issue, then that would likely be helpful for the engineering team to compare to the accounts we have provided them that DO show the issue. 

For now, I think that if the folks interacting with the ticket have the ability to update the scope of impacted users to be “All iOS add supported users” or whatever the closest grouping is (if you make use of scope of impact), it would be helpful. In addition, the following update could be provided to the engineering team:

Members of the community have tested accounts other than their own to see if this might be a universal issue. So far, 100% of the tests show the issue of audio not working properly after an add plays. The initial report expanded testing is of a small sample size, and the community has been asked to increase testing. The current  hypothesis is that this issue affects all iOS and iPad OS system using the add supported version of Pandora. All recent versions of the OS and Pandora application seem to be impacted.

The community is interested to know if the engineering team has reproduced this bug on their own, or if they continue to needed community feedback.

[alexatn]

@davidacox well said! I echo his words

@AlyssaPandora,@AdamPandora, since the same problem has been reported from so many people and so easy to replicate, I assume the engineering team at least has been able to reproduce the problem? If so, it would be helpful to let everyone know the problem is known within Pandora (even if you don't have an estimate of fix) so users don't have to keep testing for you.

At this point I have essentially stopped using Pandora because of this issue. Please inform when it's fixed so I can resume.

Thank you.

[mamacast]

Mine is doing the exact same thing

Same thing here, copied a post as it is the same problem still

Exact same problem here. This happens when using AirPlay (on any device, regardless of whether the AirPlay device is wired or wireless). This behavior happens after the completion of EVERY commercial segment:

1. Everything starts out fine & audio works when Pandora is playing songs.
2. Audio Ads play (one or more ads within the segment)
3. After completion of Ads and when music resumes, AirPlay seems to disconnect, and no more audio is heard from the AirPlay device
4. Music appears to resume & continue to stream from Pandora (time bar progresses, and advances to subsequent songs), but no audio
5. If you click on the AirPlay icon (to the right of time bar), the AirPlay devices appear to still be playing (the song's title is shown and the equalizer bars go up & down)

Comments:

• To correct the issue, I have to disconnect AirPlay, reconnected it, and click "Play" again
• Problem only happens when using AirPlay (no problems when listening using iPhone speaker or bluetooth)
• Other music streaming services (like Spotify) do not have similar problems using AirPlay
• Problem happens on all AirPlay devices when using Pandora
• Problem happens after the end of every Ad segment, so points to Pandora software issue
• Using latest version of Pandora and iOS.
• Doing what @AlyssaPandora said does not solve the problem.

Thank you!

mod edit: merged comments

[mamacast]

Mine is doing the exact same thing

[AlyssaPandora]

Thanks for posting your feedback and experience, @mamacast. I've shared your information with our engineering team. 🎧

[davidacox]

This issue continue to look like it impacts all iPhone and iPad users. Not surprising, as the code base for an iPhone and iPad app should be extremely similar. The Mac does not have this issue, which is also not surprising, as the code is probably very different. But I have discovered that the Pandora App for the Apple TV does NOT have this issue.

If you sent an Apple TV to stream its audio via AirPlay to a separate device (an iPod in my case), the issue of audio dropping after a commercial is NOT seen. I found this surprising, as the code base for the Apple TV app should be very similar to the iPhone and iPad. It may be that there is something that the group responsible for the Apple TV application can share with the iPhone and iPad team.

[AlyssaPandora]

Thank you for those details, @davidacox. I will add this to the ticket with your original report. 🤝

[dvflyer]

Same problem.  Sound to Airplay device stops after commercial break.  Music is still playing (song timer continues) but no sound.  Changing output to phone (sound comes through phone) or to phone and back to Airplay results in sound again from Airplay device.

Airplay device is Apple Airport Express

iPhone 11 Pro Max. 

15.4.1

ATT

[AdamPandora]

@dvflyer I recommend running through the following troubleshooting steps: Troubleshooting for iOS Devices

If that does not resolve the issue, I can report your feedback to our engineers. Could you tell me more about your device?

• 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. 🤝

[dcash33]

Nearly two months since I reported the issue. Interesting that the full thread of all comments doesn't even go back that far. I'm glad the title of this problem has been changed from "HomePod Stops Playing Music after ads" since this is an AIRPLAY problem. I just happen to airplay to AppleTV or Receiver or HomePod...in ALL cases the problem persists. I'm amazed that the issue has taken so long and hasn't been resolved. 

[dvflyer]

Thanks for the reply, Adam.  I'll try those trouble shooting steps and report back. 

In the meantime:

Version is 2203.1

I am connected to WiFi when this happens.

It happens after all Ads.

[AdamPandora]

Sounds good, @dvflyer.

Let me know how it goes.

[Baguafit]

Really disappointing to read this thread and see zero progress from Pandora. The users have detailed the problem exactly. Not problems on Apple Music which I’m using until Pandora resolves. I really enjoy Pandora so hope this issue is really being taken seriously. 

[AdamPandora]

@Baguafit We definitely understand your frustration.

If you haven't already done so, I recommend running through the following 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: 
• 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. 🤝

[Cwilder]

My wife is having the same issue. She is using an I phone 13 IOS 15.4.1. I am not having any issues. I’m issuing an I phone 10 IOS 15.4.1. I’ve matched all settings on the phones and Apps and she is still having the issue. We are using the same network and devices. 

[dvflyer]

Still happening after trying troubleshooting steps.

Somehow, the connection to the airplay device is lost after any commercial.  The play bar is still counting- seemingly indicating the song is playing, but there is no sound.

If I switch to the phone, the sounds comes through.

If I switch back to the airplay device, the sound comes through only to be lost again after the next commercial.

[AlyssaPandora]

Thank you for sharing those details, @Cwilder. We've created an email case for you so that we can gather your wife's Pandora account info (email address) as we don't publicly share personal information on the Pandora Community. 

If you haven't received our email yet, please be sure to check your spam / junk folder to make sure it didn't end up there. 📬

++

Thank you for the follow up, @dvflyer. Our engineering team is still working on this issue. 

We appreciate your continued patience during this process. 🎧

[davidacox]

@Cwilder Can you confirm that:
1. You are using the commercial supported ("free") version of Pandora
2. You are using the standard iOS app for your streaming (a version number here might help)
3. You are able to stream your audio to a AirPlay2 device (which one would be interesting)
4. That your system plays audio over AirPlay2, a commercial plays, and then music continues to play over AirPlay2 after the commercial. 

If that is the case, then it sounds like you are the first person to report the absence of this issue, and it might be valuable to the eng. staff to be able to compare a known good trace to a known failure trace.

[MusicFan0652]

I’m having this same issue. Seems to be happening most when connected to my Sonos