[Issue]: User get stuck in a SyncPlay Group until you close the tab/client or force reload

[KaXaSA]

Temporary Solution

When you create the SyncPlay group, make sure you see the 'SyncPlay enabled' message on the screen, if you don't see it then reload the page and create the group again (repeat until you see the message), then everything should work as intended.

---

Maybe there is something wrong with the way Jellyfin deals with users/clients once they disconnect?
Probably related: #7140

IMPORTANT:

For a better/updated step-by-step of the issue, see: #8140 (comment)
It's a better, more reliable way to reproduce the issue than the described below.

---

Please describe your bug

There are actually 3 issues, but they are all probably related.

[First] - User get stuck in SyncPlay Group

1. Start Jellyfin Server

2. Open Web Client

3. Log in with the primary user, I will call him: USER_AAA

4. Click on SyncPlay to Create a Group

[21:34:48] [INF] [12] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session 13d76... created group 4591...

(everything worked fine, no problems yet)

5. Sign Out

---

1. Log in with secondary user, I will call him: USER_BBB
2. Click on the SyncPlay icon, this is what I see:

'USER_AAA's group'
'USER_AAA'

and 2 options:

'Settings'
'Leave Group'

That group shouldn't exist, USER_AAA is not connected, and even if that was the case, then when I click on the SyncPlay icon as USER_BBB I should be seeing that 'Join a Group' menu.

3. Clicking 'Leave Group':
   [21:38:50] [INF] [25] Jellyfin.Api.Auth.CustomAuthenticationHandler: AuthenticationScheme: CustomAuthentication was forbidden.

4. Sign out

---

1. Sign in with USER_AAA, same thing happens, you click 'Leave Group':
   [21:42:25] [INF] [17] Jellyfin.Api.Auth.CustomAuthenticationHandler: AuthenticationScheme: CustomAuthentication was forbidden.

To fix it, you have to close/restart the client (web tab/Jellyfin Media Player). Using Firefox/web client you can also CTRL + F5 (force reload)

---

[Second] - Group from a previous session get stuck(?)

If you watch something using SyncPlay (and everything works fine), then close the server, open it again tomorrow, SyncPlay doesn't work.
You can create a group, but if you click the SyncPlay icon again, you see the menu like this:

As if you are not the User who just created the group.

Other users can join, but nothing happens when you click on a video, because you are not really in the same group.

To fix it, you have to Sign Out > Sign In (CTRL + F5 probably works, not sure?)

---

[Third] - The SyncPlay menu looks fine, but SyncPlay only works after the other user sign out/close the client and sign in/open it again.

...
[INF] [10] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "13d76..." created group "79b7...".
[INF] [34] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "dcd07..." joined group "79b7...".
[INF] [30] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "13d76..." requested Play in group "79b7..." that is Idle.
[INF] [30] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Group "79b7..." switching from Idle to Waiting.
[INF] [32] Jellyfin.Api.Helpers.MediaInfoHelper: User policy for "USER_AAA". EnablePlaybackRemuxing: True EnableVideoPlaybackTranscoding: True EnableAudioPlaybackTranscoding: True
...
[INF] [38] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "13d76..." requested Ready in group "79b7..." that is Waiting.
[INF] [38] MediaBrowser.Controller.SyncPlay.GroupStates.WaitingGroupState: Session "13d76..." will pause when ready in 0 seconds. Group "79b7..." is waiting for all ready events.
[INF] [32] Jellyfin.Api.Helpers.MediaInfoHelper: User policy for "USER_AAA". EnablePlaybackRemuxing: True EnableVideoPlaybackTranscoding: True EnableAudioPlaybackTranscoding: True
...
[INF] [27] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "13d76..." requested Ready in group "79b7..." that is Waiting.
[INF] [27] MediaBrowser.Controller.SyncPlay.GroupStates.WaitingGroupState: Session "13d76..." will pause when ready in -0.0423592 seconds. Group "79b7..." is waiting for all ready events.
[INF] [30] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "13d76..." requested Unpause in group "79b7..." that is Waiting.
[INF] [30] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Group "79b7..." switching from Waiting to Playing.
[INF] [16] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "13d76..." requested Ready in group "79b7..." that is Playing.
[INF] [28] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "13d76..." requested Pause in group "79b7..." that is Playing.
[INF] [28] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Group "79b7..." switching from Playing to Paused.
[INF] [33] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "dcd07..." left group "79b7...".
[INF] [28] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS "187.10..." closed
[INF] [32] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Group "79b7..." switching from Paused to Waiting.
[INF] [32] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session "dcd07..." joined group "79b7...".
[INF] [20] Jellyfin.Api.Helpers.MediaInfoHelper: User policy for "USER_CCC". EnablePlaybackRemuxing: True EnableVideoPlaybackTranscoding: True EnableAudioPlaybackTranscoding: True
...

So I create a group, one other user joins.
I play any video, the video loads on my end and instantly pauses, the other user doesn't see anything.
I try to resume, the Video works for me, the other user still doesn't see anything.
Then he closes the web client and open it again, now the Video and SyncPlay works fine with no issues.

---

In 10.7.x SyncPlay was working fine, and I tested with a clean 10.8.1 installation (uninstalled and removed the jellyfin appdata folder), the issue still persists.

---

Jellyfin Version

Other

if other:

10.8.1
~
10.9.3

Environment

- OS: Windows 10/11 PRO
- Clients: Web and Jellyfin Media Player
- Browser: Firefox
- FFmpeg Version: 5.0.1-Jellyfin
- Playback Method:
- Hardware Acceleration:
- Reverse Proxy: Caddy
- Storage: local

Jellyfin logs

No response

FFmpeg logs

No response

Please attach any browser or client logs here

No response

Please attach any screenshots here

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[jellyfin-bot]

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[KaXaSA]

This still happens in 10.8.9

I've found an easier way to reproduce the issue:

• Start the server
• Open the Jellyfin Client (I tested this on both Web version and Jellyin Media Player and got the same result on both)
• Click on your user
• Check the 'Remember Me' checkbox ← important (I assume the issue happens because of this option)
• Sign In

--

• Click SyncPlay icon
• Click New Group
  (The 'SyncPlay Enabled' notification appears bottom left)

--

• Click the user menu (top right)
• Click Sign out

--

• Click on your user
• Make sure 'Remember Me' is still marked
• Sign In

--

• Click SyncPlay Icon
• Click Leave group
  Notice that you can't leave, check the terminal:
  [INF] [54] Jellyfin.Api.Auth.CustomAuthenticationHandler: AuthenticationScheme: CustomAuthentication was forbidden.

--

• Sign Out → Sign In
• Click SyncPlay Icon
• Click Leave group
  You still can't leave the group:
  [INF] [54] Jellyfin.Api.Auth.CustomAuthenticationHandler: AuthenticationScheme: CustomAuthentication was forbidden.

--

• Right-click the page > Reload (or just F5 if you are using the browser)
  [INF] [97] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS ... closed
[INF] [50] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS ... request

• Click SyncPlay Icon
  The Group has finally disappeared
  Now you can create a new SyncPlay Group again.
  Everything works fine

IMPORTANT: Again, as soon as I stop using the 'remember me' option, during login, the issue stops happening.

[famellad]

I too have this problem but I cannot reproduce the behavior described by @KaXaSA, when I make a group, it never works, I don't see anything significant in the logs, and when I log out the group is always removed, unless there's someone else is there. I cannot leave the group using the group button.

[KaXaSA]

I tested it again, and this time, instead of the problem described in my last comment, I got something similar to the [second] issue -described in the original post-

I can consistently reproduce the issue by repeatedly restarting the Jellyfin's server until the scenario described in the 1st step below is true.

A secondary user is NOT necessary to test this.

1. Click on the SyncPlay button and Create a new group
   [INF] [27] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session fc61... created group 7e584...
   
   'SyncPlay enabled' message doesn't appear on the screen, indicating that something is already wrong.
   This is a big red flag, as soon as I don't see that message, I know for sure that SyncPlay will not work, but let's ignore this for now and keep going.

2. Click on the SyncPlay button again, I see:
   
   This menu is 100% wrong, you already created the group in step 1, so here you're supposed to be seeing that SyncPlay menu with your group settings, preferences, the button to 'leave group'...

3. Try to join the group anyway:
   [INF] [43] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session fc61... joined group 7e584...

4. Click on the SyncPlay button, I see the same as I did before, and I can still join the same group again:
   [INF] [40] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session fc61... joined group 7e584...

5. Click on New Group:

   [INF] [40] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session fc61... left group 7e584...
   [INF] [40] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.SyncPlayManager: Group 7e584... is empty, removing it.
   [INF] [40] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session fc61... created group 399cc...
   

   It allows you to join your own group and to create a new one, but none of this fixes the issue:
   At any step until now if other user join your SyncPlay group, and you try to launch any video, you will have problems, like the video launching for you but not for the other user, the next step 'fixes' the issue.

6. Reload the page (F5 - Browser OR right click reload - Jellyfin Media Player):

   [INF] [41] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.Group: Session fc61... left group 399cc...
   [INF] [41] Emby.Server.Implementations.SyncPlay.SyncPlayManager: Group 399cc...
   [INF] [52] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS ... closed
   [INF] [53] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS ... request
   

7. Now, when I create a new group and click on the SyncPlay button, I see:
   
   This seems 100% correct, this is what I expected to see on the 2nd step

---

So, reloading, when you don't see the 'SyncPlay enabled' message, still fixes the issue
I can leave, create a new group, and also restart the client, without any problems.

Then I restarted the server no issues, restarted again nothing, on the 3rd restart I got the same issue again.
This happens super often, but then, again, the following steps seem to always fix the issue:

1. Refresh the page
2. Recreate the SyncPlay group
3. Repeat the previous steps until you see the 'SyncPlay enabled' message.

[douglasparker]

I'm not sure if related, but whenever I click the SyncPlay icon it tries loading me into a movie again.

In the background jellystat claims a specific title that we tested syncplay with has been started over 70 times...

I have a very large group of friends and family that has migrated to Jellyfin from Plex, and this is a really big issue for us.

There are a whole host of SyncPlay bugs that seems to have been around for years: https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+syncplay

Has SyncPlay been abandoned?

[jellyfin-bot]

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[douglasparker]

Stalebot sucks and should be removed. I don’t have the time to fight against stalebot across all the issues I follow.