iOS update version 2.2.19 random disruptions with AirPlay

[polu 1]

With the latest Emby iOS update (2.2.19) I am experiencing issues with music playback over AirPlay, After some time (around 1 min) the client suddenly goes to the next song. Which again, after some time, suddenly goes to the next, etc. In the past (last few years) this always worked fine for me.

I have tried multiple scenarios, playback on the phone, playback using 2 different AirPlay devices, playback over Chromecast and playback over Bluetooth. So far I've only been able to reproduce the issue with AirPlay, it doesn't matter whether the media is streamed from my server or from offline (downloaded) media.

Playback to	Media from server	Downloaded media
Phone	ok	ok
Airplay	not ok	not ok
Chromecast	ok	ok
Bluetooth	ok	ok

Reinstalling the app doesn't help. Could be related to:

 

Edited May 22, 2024 by polu
Incomplete message

[Luke 42077]

HI, have you updated to Emby for iOS 2.2.21? Has that helped?

[polu 1]

Hi, I have just updated the app to 2.2.21 but unfortunately the issue remains. iOS version is 17.5.1.

Some music stops after ~1 min, some after ~1,5 or even 2 min. Happens with both MP3 and FLAC files.

I also noticed very strange behavior in the progress indicator. Instead of going in 1 second increments (0:00, 0:01, 0:02, 0:03, etc) it goes with ~10 second intervals (0:00. 0:01, 0:10, 0:10, 0:19, etc). Maybe this always has been the case, but I never noticed it before?

I tried it also from a browser (Firefox for iOS) on the same phone. I have no issues there with AirPlay. Music plays without interruptions and the progress indicator behaves normal. I'm using this as a workaround for now, but I much prefer the native app!

[Guest]

Just to add to this. I'm having the same issue. Emby App 2.2.21 air playing music to Apple HomePod Mini. 2 feet across the desk to me.

[ramonrue 3]

Same for me, version 2.2.21, tried on multiple AirPlay devices & with streaming or downloaded files.

no issue when playing back from the Web-app, and no issue when not using AirPlay.

happy to help where possible. Would server logs be useful? (I haven‘t yet looked through them, but given that it‘s a client-side issue, not sure how much it would help).

[Luke 42077]

HI, we're looking into this. Thanks.

[Luke 42077]

HI, please let us know if Emby for iOS 2.2.22 helps with your issue. Thanks !

[polu 1]

I did a quick test after upgrading to Emby for iOS 2.2.22. The progress indicator looks normal again and I managed to play 2 full songs over Airplay without interruptions.

Will do some more extensive test later today, but on first glance everything looks fine. Thank you so much for the quick fix!

[ramonrue 3]

Same from my side, although I had downloaded some songs with the broken version and had to delete them and re-download them so that they worked properly?
 

I also haven't done extensive testing, but it seems to be fine so far. Thanks! 

[train_wreck 0]

Hey i’m having this issue too, i updated to Emby iOS 2.2.22 but it’s still happening. Really don’t think it’s a network/disk issue because i can stream with zero problems using numerous SMB/FTP streaming apps to the phone from the same server

[ramonrue 3]

I've seen less, but still some issues too when streaming. This is still only over AirPlay, with the latest Emby App & Server versions. 

[mighty_spiky 1]

I'm on Emby iOS 2.2.22 (server version is 4.8.8.0 on a FreeBSD jail) and I also experience skipping with audio tracks (MP3, AAC and ALAC) when streaming via Airplay 2 (on an Homepod 2nd gen and a Yamaha receiver). It particularly happens when I seek forward or backward into a track.

[Luke 42077]

HI, we are looking into this. Thanks.

[mighty_spiky 1]

I'm on Emby iOS 2.2.23 now and it seems it works better with my Airplay 1 speaker (an old Bowers & Wilkins A5). The progress indicator is more stable and it doesn't skip to the next tune no matter how much I seek forward or backward into the track. It's still bad with my Homepod 2nd gen.

Edited July 17, 2024 by mighty_spiky

[bkreeger 1]

I'll chime here as well; I'm on iOS 2.2.23 and having the same issues as the folks in this thread — AirPlay when using the web instance of Emby through Safari works just fine! — but I come bearing logs from my phone from a playback session of a few songs when this happened.

I've split this into two relevant files: one from the emby process, and one from the mediaplaybackd process; both seemed to burp with warnings when the skip-to-the-next-song event happened. There's a few skips in here, but one occurred sometime between 08:59:06 and 08:59:33 in these logs; I believe at 08:59:23, but I could be mistaken.

2024-07-17-emby_session-mediaplaybackd_process2024-07-17-emby_session-emby_process

Here's one more log from a separate session. I was able to narrow down the second when it happened (09:17:56), so here's a couple seconds before and after that from everything running; it may be more enlightening for you.

2024-07-17-emby_session_2-all_logs

If you need more than this to help troubleshoot, let me know. I've got a full dump of the logs during that session, but it's 26MB and nearly 150,000 lines from like… everything running on my phone, but I can pick through that for stuff if you need me to. I'm happy to help (I'm an iOS engineer by trade).

Edited July 17, 2024 by bkreeger

[Luke 42077]

Hi, we are looking into this. Thanks.