Reassigned hardware button to Skip to Next Episode doesn't work on headphones & other devices

Bug report
1

App version: 3.12.0-beta4

Android version: Android 16

Device model: Samsung s25 Ultra

I’m using the Samsung Buds 3 Pro earbuds and listening to podcast on AntennaPod. For the past day or two, the navigation controls on the earbuds haven’t been working. Specifically, it doesn’t skip to the next episode. It just fast-forwards a little bit.
I’ve only been noticing this behavior for the past day or two.

I’ve tried different earbuds, and it’s always the same.

The navigation works very well in every other media app (Spotify, etc.).

Maybe it has something to do with this topic. But this behavior is new.

Best regards,

Robert

2

This was actually always the intended behavior. For me it always worked like that. In podcasts, you usually want to skip over ads etc, not skip to the next episode

3

That’s true, but why was it different for me until two days ago? Is there somewhere I can configure it?

4

Look in Settings → Playback → Reassign hardware buttons

5

Thanks for the tip. Strangely enough, it was and still is set the way I want it. Still, it doesn’t work.

Screenshot_20260719_171054_AntennaPod
Screenshot_20260719_171054_AntennaPod720×1560 109 KB

Could it be that the setting is being overridden somewhere, or is this a bug?

6

Try flicking the setting away from and back to the way you want it.

7

I’ve already tried that several times. It seems to be a bug.

8

It’s not just you. I have also experienced this bug only within the past few weeks. Toggling the setting, exiting and re-entering the settings, or force closing the app doesn’t fix the issue.

I’m using Sony WF-1000XM5, by the way.

9

Me too. The “Reassign hardware buttons” setting just stopped working. They reverted to their default function.

10

The hardware button “Next Track” stopped working after updating to version 3.12.0. Remapping the hardware buttons doesn’t help. If you roll back to version 3.11.4, the hardware button starts working again. The problem is clearly with the latest release.
Device: Fiio JM21

11

I have the same issue but reversed, my settings say they should be skipping 30 seconds, but it skips the episode.

I agree with others in this thread, it seems like the new update stopped hardware buttons from working the way the settings are set. I have changed them, set them back, nothing seems to get it to skip 30 seconds.

I’m on version 3.12.0f (980b2f32d), and I’m using a Pebble Time 2 as the hardware buttons.

12

I am experiencing the same issue.

Notable diagnostics:

Shokz OpenComm: play/pause works, forward skips ahead X seconds, rewinds back X seconds regardless of which settings I have on Reassign Hardware Buttons.

Xiaomi Smart Band X: play/pause work fine, Forward skips to next (or stops playback if nothing in queue), Back does nothing (even with items in the queue). No change with different Reassign settings.

Something about the way each one sends commands is different. Claude says it’s likely Bluetooth AVRCP passthrough (Shokz) vs MediaSession transport commands (Smart Band). So depending on which one your device uses you’re getting either the skip or fast-forward behavior by default. Regardless, it seems that the core problem is with the button reassigning itself, but at least this could help explain why some people are getting one or the other behavior (which may or may not be what you actually want).

I just did a test with the Shokz and it still seems to respect whatever settings you have in the time interval (fast-forward skip time, rewind skip time), but doesn’t change to Skip Episode or Restart Episode or anything else in Reassign Hardware Buttons.

13

That’s interesting. This issue appears to be fixed: Headphone button reassignments don't work · Issue #8607 · AntennaPod/AntennaPod · GitHub

However, I’m on the fix version 3.12.1 and still finding it inconsistent.

  • Technics AX80 bluetooth earbuds: skip functions on the buds trigger the configured hardware button preference in app correctly.
  • Garmin Edge 840 bike computer → paired with Garmin Connect app on phone → AntennaPod: still does next-episode instead of the configured action.
    • Apparently the GC app uses MediaSession API.
14

Confirmed I’m on the same 3.12.1 patch and my Xiaomi Smart band still skips instead of fast forward like my settings indicate (and I toggled the setting to be sure). So yeah it’s clearly not fixed.

Looks like this issue tracking this ( Resetting hardware button fast forward to skip stopped working upon update to latest version · Issue #8645 · AntennaPod/AntennaPod · GitHub ) was closed as a duplicate of the one you referenced (#8607), which was itself closed as fixed.

But I’m wondering if it wasn’t actually a “duplicate” but was actually a different angle on the issue.

Edit: looks like they’re on it, actually. There’s some commits attached to #8645 that appear to address the issue. Not sure when those will make it into the public build though. ( Apply hardware button remap to direct transport-control requests · michaelpeeters/AntennaPod@994119b · GitHub )

15

Ah good find - that’s the stuff. Looks like it emulates a button action for these cases.

I just tested that fork and it’s working perfectly with my device.

Following this PR: Apply hardware button remap to direct transport-control requests by michaelpeeters · Pull Request #8689 · AntennaPod/AntennaPod · GitHub

I started having a look today and immediately noticed that the device commands aren’t going through the code path which fetches the preferred actions. The “forward” command goes directly to “next item”.

de.danoeh.antennapod.playback.service.Media3PlaybackService$2.seekToNextMediaItem(Media3PlaybackService.java:196)
at androidx.media3.common.ForwardingPlayer.seekToNextMediaItem(ForwardingPlayer.java:399)
at androidx.media3.session.PlayerWrapper.seekToNextMediaItem(PlayerWrapper.java:461)
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