Podverse does not pause when switching to another audio app

[jeff-chandler]

If I am playing music, or podcasts in another app (gasp), when I play an episode or clip in Podverse, the audio from the other app (YouTube Music or Pocket Casts) does not automatically pause. Instead, I need to explicitly pause the other app. If I switch between YouTube Music and Pocket Casts, or a video app like YouTube or Disney+, the audio automatically pauses on the first app.

Is Podverse using a different audio channel that allows them to both play at the same time?

Expected behavior
Podverse should pause if playing another app with music or video, or Podverse should pause the other running app if you are switching from a music app to Podverse.

Smartphone (please complete the following information):

• Device: Google Pixel 6a
• OS: Android 13
• App Version: Beta 4.12.5

[mitchdowney]

@jeff-chandler wow...I was completely unaware of this! It seems like there must be a setting or something we are missing. I am asking the react-native-track-player community if they have ideas for how to fix this. That is the audio library we use in Podverse mobile.

[mitchdowney]

I asked their Discord channel, and the person who tried to help me could not reproduce the issue. I was able to reproduce the issue with YouTube however.

It would seem there is some kind of setting we are missing, but I'm stumped at the moment. I'll see if the F-Droid chat room has any ideas...

[mitchdowney]

@jeff-chandler ok now this is really weird. I can't reproduce the issue when I use the F-Droid version of the app. I can reproduce it using the Google Play version however. There shouldn't be a meaningful difference between the players. I wonder if there is some kind of Google Play setting controlling this...

[jeff-chandler]

that is strange. Does it matter that I am in the "Beta" group in the Play Store?

[mitchdowney]

@jeff-chandler good point as I am also in the Beta group. I don't think it should affect it...if it does then maybe that points to a permissions issue...but someone in the react-native-track-player Discord group pointed me to this link about handling audio focus on Android, which seems promising: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media-apps/audio-focus

[mitchdowney]

@jeff-chandler actually, I might have found something. If you're interested in the technical details check out doublesymmetry/KotlinAudio#65

[mitchdowney]

I might have a found a setting to handle this: doublesymmetry/KotlinAudio#65 (comment)

[mitchdowney]

Will include an attempted fix in v4.12.8.

9bfe5bf

5c38b19

[jeff-chandler]

Will include an attempted fix in v4.12.8.

9bfe5bf

5c38b19

I have validated that the fix is working in v4.12.8

[mitchdowney]

@jeff-chandler great! Thanks for verifying 😄

If you run into any major bugs with v4.12.8 and can let me know I'd appreciate it. There are some settings changes to the Player that could have unintended side effects.