Shuffle working inconsistently in all cases and crashing app when connected to car bluetooth

[afcarson 0]

This is a set of issues I've started having all at once, though it's possible they're unrelated.

I drive a 2014 Corolla with a bluetooth-integrated entertainment system (Pre-Android Auto, pre-Entune too). The phone connects to bluetooth and I get call, text, and music playback information on a screen.

A couple weeks ago I began having an issue with the Emby Android app on my Pixel 8a (Android 15). I normally open Emby after starting my car, and I go to the Music library, to the Songs section, and I hit the Shuffle button. This would shuffle all songs in the library into the play queue and start from the first track. The behavior I have seen consistently since then is that following these exact same steps now shuffles the first 300 songs (alphabetically, from "...Baby One More Time" to "Ain't No Grave"). No other songs in my library are added to the play queue. The behavior has persisted through clearing the app's cache and storage, through fully uninstalling the app and reinstalling and redoing the server connection, and through switching to the beta version through Play Store. It also appears when the phone is connected to other bluetooth devices, or to none at all. I do not experience this issue from the web interface from any device, including Chrome on the phone.

I tried to find a workaround. One thing I tried was to long-press on the music library after app startup and select Shuffle from there. This would queue up a random song from that first 300, but all other tracks would be included in the play queue and it would shuffle normally after that first song. After a little while, this started having further issues when I was in the car. I would start the car, open the app, long-press on Music and select Shuffle. Now it queued the same as it was (1 of the 300, followed by normal) but about 5 seconds into that first track playback would stop, the phone disconnected from Bluetooth, then it would reconnect and resume playback. The track information on the car display would no longer display time elapsed/remaining for that first song, but all subsequent songs displayed normally.

I also tried adding all songs to a saved playlist and then hitting Shuffle on the playlist. This performed identically to long-press on Music and Shuffle. 

Today the problems got worse still. Now the app will frequently crash a few seconds into the first track, on top of the other bluetooth connection issue. This means I have to relaunch the app, retry the workaround method, hope it works and even if it does I still have to deal with the random bluetooth disconnect.

I've tried again to clear cache/storage and reinstall the app but this is persistent too.

Throughout this time (from about April 21 to present) the app was fully/automatically updated from the Play Store, and I wasn't opted into the beta at first, though I did briefly and experienced basically the same issues during and after reverting back to release. I want to say it was on 3.4.62 when this started, but it's on 3.4.65 now. I've made no changes to the app permissions. I did upgrade Emby Server to 4.8.11.0 around April 21 and I've attached logs from today (the behavior started presenting around 17:20).

This is really frustrating and I don't know what to do next short of wiping or replacing my phone, neither of which is viable right now.

embyserver.txt

[afcarson 0]

I enabled logging in the android app (now on 3.4.67) and reproduced both behaviors (Music>Songs>Shuffle and Long-press on Music, Shuffle), though I didn't experience an app crash at all. I was not connected to my car but while I was testing I monitored the bluetooth status in the phone's quick settings (swipe down from top). Bluetooth was toggled off a few seconds into playback after doing long-press on Music>Shuffle, which is consistent with the disconnections in my car. It toggles back on almost immediately. 

Attached is the app log I captured, along with screenshots of what the playback queue looks like in both scenarios.

emby_android_1746646221416.txt

[Luke 42077]

@afcarsonwe're looking into this. Thanks.