Eps reload after short pause

Support
1

Title: Episodes reload after short pause and playback start is much slower after latest update

## Environment

Android version: 15

OS version: 5.10.236-android12-9-o-gf01078a45a12

AntennaPod version: 3.12.0-beta1

Model: CPH2415

Device: OP5552L1

Product: CPH2415

Manufacturer: OnePlus

Bug Description:

Ever since the latest update, podcast episodes take noticeably longer to start playing.

Before the update:

- Most episodes started playing about 1 second after pressing play.

- Episode cache stayed available for a long time.

- I could often continue playing previously played episodes even the next day without internet access.

- Episodes only needed to reload if I manually cleared cache, restarted the phone, or after a very long time.

After the update:

- Playback startup is much slower.

- If I pause an episode for more than around 5 seconds, the app appears to unload or clear the buffered/cached data.

- When resuming playback, the episode has to reload again before it continues playing.

- This creates a delay every time playback is paused briefly.

- Offline playback behavior is also worse than before because cached episodes do not seem to remain available as long.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Start playing a podcast episode.

2. Pause playback for several seconds (around 5+ seconds).

3. Press play again.

4. The episode reloads/buffers again instead of resuming instantly.

Expected Behavior:

Episodes should resume almost instantly after short pauses, and cached audio should remain available for a reasonable amount of time like before the update.

Actual Behavior:

Episodes frequently reload after short pauses and playback startup is significantly slower compared to previous versions.

Additional Notes:

This behavior started only after the latest update. Previous versions did not have this issue.

2

Should be solved in 3.12.0-beta4

3

First, thank you for fixing the issue where episodes were reloading after being paused. That problem appears to be resolved.

However, I’m still experiencing two issues:

1. Playback startup is still much slower than before

Although episodes no longer reload after being paused, it still takes noticeably longer for an episode to start playing after pressing the Play button.

Before the recent updates, most episodes would begin playing in about a second. Now there is a consistent delay before playback starts.

2. Bug: Mini player never appears automatically

The mini player at the bottom of the screen never appears when I start playing an episode.

Playback starts normally, but the mini player is always missing.

The only way I can make it appear is by using the playback controls in the notification. I have to pause and then play the episode again (sometimes more than once), and only then does the mini player appear.

This happens every time I start playback.