Playback won't always resume using Music controls on Pebble watches

App version: 3.11.4f (6c3492af7)

Android version: 16, GrapheneOS 2026052400

Device model: Pixel 8

Expected behaviour: Playback should resume when play is selected on Pebble watch default Music app.

Current behaviour: If playback has been paused for longer than ~10 seconds and app is not open on your screen, playback will not resume when play is selected on Pebble watch’s default Music app.

First occurred: It’s been a problem for years, but got used to using buttons on my headphones instead of my watch. Now I don’t have buttons on my headphones so I would like my watch to work.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Start podcast
  2. Switch apps or lock screen
  3. Pause podcast with watch or on screen
  4. Wait atleast 10 seconds
  5. Press play on your Pebble watch
  6. It doesn’t resume

Environment: the app is not restricted battery wise, it’s allowed to run in the background. I have tried it with GrapheneOS’s Exploit protection compatibility mode on or off it makes no difference. I am using a Pebble Time 2 with firmware v4.9.183 app version1.1.0.6, but this also happened with the Pebble Time and Pebble 2 on the old Rebble firmware and old app. This doesn’t happen on other media apps I’ve used, they all unpause just fine.

I get the same behavior with a Zepp Bip 3 watch and I believe it’s related to how the Notification Media Player stops working too: Notification Media Bar Play Stores Not Work After Inactivity

Ok, the fix was actually quite easy (with the help of AI). I’ve been running this build for a couple days and it seems pretty solid, I haven’t found any adverse effects. I don’t know if I want to jump through the hoops to try to do a pull request on the AntennaPod github project though…

From 15f8e2475e11f0b685eba2aed17b4f8b22dc4cde Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2026 21:22:21 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Fix for playback not resuming from the notification or watches

---
 .../antennapod/playback/service/PlaybackService.java   | 10 ++++++++--
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/playback/service/src/main/java/de/danoeh/antennapod/playback/service/PlaybackService.java b/playback/service/src/main/java/de/danoeh/antennapod/playback/service/PlaybackService.java
index 75d8cd6e0..4c99cb334 100644
--- a/playback/service/src/main/java/de/danoeh/antennapod/playback/service/PlaybackService.java
+++ b/playback/service/src/main/java/de/danoeh/antennapod/playback/service/PlaybackService.java
@@ -869,7 +869,11 @@ public class PlaybackService extends MediaBrowserServiceCompat {
                     updateNotificationAndMediaSession(newInfo.getPlayable());
                     PlaybackPreferences.setCurrentPlayerStatus(PlaybackPreferences.PLAYER_STATUS_PAUSED);
                     if (!isCasting) {
-                        stateManager.stopForeground(!UserPreferences.isPersistNotify());
+                        if (UserPreferences.isPersistNotify()) {
+                            stateManager.startForeground(R.id.notification_playing, notificationBuilder.build());
+                        } else {
+                            stateManager.stopForeground(true);
+                        }
                     }
                     cancelPositionObserver();
                     break;
@@ -1334,7 +1338,9 @@ public class PlaybackService extends MediaBrowserServiceCompat {
                 case ERROR:
                     state = PlaybackStateCompat.STATE_ERROR;
                     break;
-                case INITIALIZED: // Deliberate fall-through
+                case INITIALIZED:
+                    state = PlaybackStateCompat.STATE_PAUSED;
+                    break;
                 case INDETERMINATE:
                 default:
                     state = PlaybackStateCompat.STATE_NONE;
-- 
2.46.0

This touches the old playback service, which is no longer used in recent beta versions

Exactly, I should have mentioned that I made these changes off the 3.11.4 tag because I ran into all sorts of problems with the 3.12.x beta regarding per-channel playback speed not working.