App version: 3.8.0 Google Play
Android version: 15
Device model: Pixel 8
Expected behaviour: When I press skip forward in my car, it skips forward
Current behaviour: Sometimes it skips, sometimes after 6 seconds, sometimes not at all
First occurred: always
Steps to reproduce:
- Start driving 2016 VW Passat
- Press skip button on steering wheel
- Wait to see what goes wrong
Description
OK, I’m being a bit snarky, but c’mon. This basic Bluetooth controls of skip forward/back work only sometimes. It’s not the car: Castro on an iPhone works flawlessly and skips every time. It’s not the phone or Android in general: Spotify works flawlessly and skips every time. I know it’s not fair to compare an open source app to Spotify, but I mean how does anyone put up with this?
Greetings fellow Pixel user. AntennaPod responds immediately to the steering wheel buttons in my Mazda.
All I ever do is click forward (30 seconds) or back (10 seconds). Are you trying to do something else?
Thank you for weighing in! All I do is click forward or back. My car has a touch screen with buttons also, but I try to stick to the steering wheel buttons. I’m not doing anything unusual, I don’t think. I just launch AP, then tap “Source” on the screen, select my Pixel, put the phone in the cradle and press play. Playing is not at all spotty, it’s just that sometimes skip forward takes six seconds to take effect, which feels like forever.
Do you have AntennaPod running as a bluetooth media player or do you have it in Android Auto or something like that?
No, not Android Auto or anything like that. I didn’t even have to assign the buttons in the infotainment system. I just added my Pixel as a phone device and a music device (using the touch screen, but I don’t use the touchscreen while driving). BTW, it’s a 2014 Mazda6.
You might want to try downloading your episodes instead of streaming. If your network connection is flaky while on the road, this could explain the delays. AntennaPod tries to buffer as much of the file as possible, but maybe it somehow doesn’t work in your case (limited storage space, server support, etc)
1 Like
That’s a great observation. I usually download instead of streaming, and I never use mobile data with AntennaPod, so the appearance of unresponsive button presses could actually reflect mobile data latency.
Thank you for the suggestion. That definitely is not it. All episodes in my queue are downloaded as indicated by a play triangle. I start playing the episode with a tap, then press skip on my steering wheel, and AP skips forward; then I press skip again and nothing for 6 seconds.
screen capture
Any other ideas?
p.s. I am well versed in Android development and could, if it is helpful, build it locally and run my fork. I have never done any Bluetooth work, and am slightly hesitant to sign up for Java work; as I’m sure you know, Kotlin has been preferred for 6 years and supported for 8.
I have new information, and I would appreciate any suggestions on how to diagnose it further (even if the advice is to compile the app myself and look at the logs).
Summary: AntennaPod (AP) does not handle 2 consecutive skip commands. 2nd skip command is delayed 6 seconds. I will say 6 seconds but I have not measured it, only counted in my head.
New information:
- It is not streaming. All episodes are downloaded.
- It is not the car or the phone. Everything works all the time with Castro on an iOS phone, and all the time with PlexAmp on the same phone.
- It is not only AP. PodcastAddict has the same behavior: the first skip works immediately, the 2nd skip is delayed 6 seconds.
- There is something “magical” about the delay. If I just wait 6 seconds before skipping the 2nd time, then the 2nd skip is immediate also.
I appreciate all of your observations, and especially that it’s being seen with two different podcast apps. That doesn’t explain it, but sure helps narrow things down.