Android App on NVidia Shield Pro: Music Player Not Opening After Track Select

[MikeMynis 0]

App & Device Details:

• Server device: QNAP NAS TS-431KX, v4.5.4.2374
• Emby Server App: v4.9.3.0
   
• Client device:  NVIDIA Shield Pro
• Emby Client App: Emby for Android (phone version sideloaded, NOT Android TV app) - Version: 3.4.91
   
• Network: Local Gigabit LAN (no VPN/remote)

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Launch Emby Android app on Shield.
2. Navigate to Music library > Select an album or artist > Play a specific track from the list.
3. Audio starts playing (I hear the track), but there is NO now-playing screen/player, nor a play bar.
4. No controls are visible.
5. Must go to Home > Dashboard > Click top now-playing bar to access pause/stop/lyrics.

Expected Behavior:

• Player UI opens immediately on track select with play/pause/next/lyrics controls (as in phone mode) OR a play bar must appear to control the track being played.

Tried Fixes:

• Cleared app cache/storage, force stopped, Shield reboot.
• Playback settings: Audio renderer=Device default, disabled passthrough/background audio.
• Display theme=Day.
• Issue persists across tracks/playlists.

I sideload the phone APK on the NVidia Shield Pro for lyrics support (TV app lacks it), but music player hides post-select.

Any setting or APK fix?

Thanks!

Edited 4 hours ago by MikeMynis

[Lessaj 483]

3.4.91 is a pretty old version, 3.5.28 is available in the play store. You don't have to sideload the app onto a shield but when you're searching you may have to search "emb".

[FrostByte 5433]

The latest version 3.5.30 is also available on GitHub if you want to sideload.

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby.Releases/tree/master/android

[MikeMynis 0]

Hi, I updated to the latest version. But as a matter of fact there are more problems now.

A. The player issue is the same. However, it does shows up now, but ONLY ONCE on the first track I want to play.
B. After that, when I choose another track, the player doesn't show up anymore.
C. Then I still must go to home first, click the top bar, THEN the player opens again but everything hangs immediately for 15-20 seconds.
In the meantime, while hanging the music keeps playing, but zero control. When the hanging is over, I get the player and I can stop the music.
D. But then again clicking a track, it plays it, but again without player.

I checked and the version is indeed 3.5.30.
Worse than the previous older version 3.4.91.
 

Edited 1 hour ago by MikeMynis

[FrostByte 5433]

I can't seem to duplicate the problem and followed your steps exactly on my Shield.

[FrostByte 5433]

What format is your music file?  Is it transcoding, etc?