Playback disabled in Android Auto (MMA 2) [#19708, #19864, #19994]

[MPG]

Hi,
MMA: 2.0.0.1065
Android Auto (AA): 8.6.625054

In AA, MMA has the play button disabled when you first plug the phone in after starting the vehicle. I'm having to unlock my phone and push play from my phone. Once started everything is works fine. I noticed the problem started after the Jan. 27th update. Wondering if anyone else is encountering this issue.

[MPG]

Hi,
MMA: 2.0.0.1065
Android Auto (AA): 8.6.625054

In AA, MMA has the play button disabled when you first plug the phone in after starting the vehicle. I'm having to unlock my phone and push play from my phone. Once started everything is works fine. I noticed the problem started after the Jan. 27th update. Wondering if anyone else is encountering this issue.

[Peke]

Hi,
Sorry for late reply, but I had no way to test it myself. I was at friends that have Wired AA in his car today. Spent few hours testing and the conclusion is that once Phone (Android 12) is connected to CAR due the security phone needs to be unlocked to allow Changing from Charging only to AA. So I tested it on Android 9 and I could set Connected device controls connection with USB Debug on and I no more needed to unlock phone to start AA.

Can you please confirm same behavior in your case?

[rusty]

fyi, another possibility is to try Options > Playback >
[x] Always respond to remote buttons
[x] Resume play on connection (Bluetooth)

-Rusty

[MPG]

Hi Peke,
I don't have an earlier version of Android to test with. However, this is a change in behavior as it wasn't required until recently. My OS hasn't been updated since Jan. 1 and the issue didn't arise until the week of Jan. 28. It could be an Android Auto update as it was updated around the same time as MMA. All I know is that I now have to unlock my phone and press play on MMA when I first connect the phone to the car. I'm confident the MMA developers will find a fix.

I forgot to mention that I set the flag to allow remote access which did not resolve my problem.

[rusty]

Hi,

Thanks for the report. I'm not able to replicate this with Android Auto, but we've been able to replicate something similar without using Android Auto: Recent MMA builds fail to respond to remote buttons if the 'Show in notifications bar' timer has expired (I suspect that it might be the cause of the problem you're experiencing). Tracking that issue at:
https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=19708

A workaround (at least in my experience) is to enable music to start playback automatically on Bluetooth connection--once playback is active, Bluetooth buttons respond. But this is just a workaround--some wouldn't want playback to start as soon as the connection is activated. This can be configured either:
In MMA: Options > Playback > [x] Resume play on connection (Bluetooth)
In Android Auto: Start music automatically

Does the workaround (either one of them) work for you?

-Rusty

[MPG]

Based on my experience, if AA is set to automatically resume playing upon connection it works ok. I'd rather not have this configuration for the following example:
If I'm listening to a hockey game on the radio while I'm out shopping, getting gas, etc. every time I get back in the vehicle, I have to constantly switch back to the radio. In my Ford Truck it is rather cumbersome.

[rusty]

Understood. We're working on it...

-Rusty

[rusty]

This should be fixed in beta build 1071 which is now live. Can you confirm?

-Rusty

[MPG]

It's better, but not quite right
First, the good:
If you were playing MMA and turn your vehicle off, when you restart, the play button for MMA in Android Auto is enabled. So that is working correctly.

Now, the not quite right:
If you were playing the radio and turn your vehicle off, when you restart, the play button for MMA in AA is disabled. You have to unlock your phone and press play.

I'm running AA Version 8.9.630624, MMA Version 2.0.0.1071

Thanks for your continued efforts.

[rusty]

We've tweaked this slightly in 1073. Do you still have to unlock MMA in your environment?

-Rusty

[MPG]

Hey Rusty,
I tried several different scenarios on both of my vehicles (2017 F-250 & 2020 Rav4) and it was always the same result. Unless the phone is unlocked, the play button in Android Auto is disabled.

Here's a link to the image showing what I see:


When I click Tap to open, it opens the MediaMonkey screen but no "Play" button is available so you can't continue from where you last were.

[rusty]

How about if you set Options > Show in notifications bar > Always ? (it's not a solution, but trying to understand what's going on as this isn't occurring in my test environment).

-Rusty

[MPG]

Have it set for 3 minutes. I'll change it to always. Stay tuned.

[MPG]

So I tried it for a couple of days with the Show In Notifications bar set to always and unfortunately, there is no change. I still need to unlock the phone in order to play music..