MediaSessionCompat – Now Playing card not displayed on Google TV (Android 14) but works on Android TV

[flujan-bedrock]

Version

Media3 1.9.2

More version details

Hello,

We are experiencing an issue with MediaSessionCompat where the Now Playing card does not appear on Google TV (Android 14), while the exact same implementation works correctly on Android TV devices.

Environment

• Google TV device running Android 14
• Android TV device (works correctly)
• Tested with:
  • MediaSessionCompa
  • Latest version of Media3 (migration attempted)
• Foreground Service with MediaStyle notification
• MediaSession token attached to the notification

Behavior

On Android TV:

• When playback starts and the user presses Home, the Now Playing card appears correctly.

On Google TV (Android 14):

• Playback works correctly.
• MediaSession is active.
• MediaStyle notification is visible.
• Audio focus is properly granted.
• However, the Now Playing card does NOT appear on the Home screen.
• MediaSession setup
• mediaSession.setActive(true) is called
• PlaybackStateCompat is set to STATE_PLAYING
• Metadata (title, artwork, etc.) is set
• Foreground service is running with a MediaStyle notification using the session token
• Audio focus is requested and granted

Additional test

We migrated the implementation to the latest version of Media3, but the issue remains strictly identical on Google TV (Android 14).

Expected behavior

The Now Playing card should appear on Google TV exactly as it does on Android TV when playback is active.

Actual behavior

The Now Playing card does not appear on Google TV (Android 14) only.

Question

Is this a known issue specific to Google TV on Android 14?
Are there additional requirements or restrictions on Google TV (e.g., Play Store publication, TV certification, MediaSession configuration changes) for the Now Playing card to be displayed?

Thank you.

Devices that reproduce the issue

Google TV Streamer - Android 14

Devices that do not reproduce the issue

Others Android TV

Reproducible in the demo app?

Yes

Reproduction steps

• Play an audio content and click on "Home" button of Remote controller.
• Open notification center

Expected result

There is a notification in notification center (or the now playing card in home)

Actual result

no notification, no "now playing card"

Media

Not applicable (any mp3, for exemple: https://www.soundhelix.com/examples/mp3/SoundHelix-Song-1.mp3)

Bug Report

• You will email the zip file produced by adb bugreport to android-media-github@google.com after filing this issue.

[marcbaechinger]

Thanks for your report. I don't think the Media3 team can help you much with this I'm afraid. My guess would be that the launcher app on AndroidTV changed its behavior.

We migrated the implementation to the latest version of Media3, but the issue remains
strictly identical on Google TV (Android 14).

As you discovered, the Media3 implementation isn't the issue. With identical implementation one launcher app shows a now playing card while the other does not. The reason for this is probably different versions of the launcher app on these devices.

You'd need to consult the ATV documentation for this or talk to the TV team to clarify what is supposed to work where and with which version. We can't really help with this I'm afraid.

What you can do to check whether your app is working correctly on those two devices, is calling adb shell dumpsys media_session. This shows you the active sessions and what metadata and queue items these session expose. With the same Media3 app, I'd expect you see the same but the data is used differently by the different launcher apps on these devices.

https://developer.android.com/training/tv/playback/now-playing

[flujan-bedrock]

Thank you for your responsiveness. I will follow your instructions. Have a great day!