[BUG][4.16.3] Playback stops and does not resume when going offline, downloads removed (regression)

[jimjamz]

Describe the bug The bug appears to be a regression of 1314. Supposedly fixed in 4.16.0, the symptoms originally stated are apparent (and arguably worse) in the latest version, 4.16.3.

To Reproduce and Expected behaviour

Background: Given I go online And I open the app And I subscribe to a podcast And I download several episodes

Scenario: Downloaded episode stops playing when going offline When I playback a non-downloaded episode And I download the episode being played (see screenshot 1) And I go offline EXPECTED: Then the episode should continue playback from the downloaded asset ACTUAL: But the episode playback stops (see screenshot 2) And I cannot resume the playback (see screenshots 3, 4, 5)

Scenario: Restarting the app when offline cannot find any subscribed podcasts Given I go offline And I close the app When I open the app EXPECTED: Then the list of subscribed podcasts should be displayed ACTUAL: But the subscribed podcasts are not displayed (see screenshot 6)

Scenario: Listing the downloaded episodes When I filter by downloaded episodes EXPECTED: Then I should see the list of episodes downloaded ACTUAL: But there are no downloaded episodes listed (see screenshot 7)

Scenario: Restarting the app when online to find downloaded assets deleted Given I go offline And I close the app And I go online When I open the app EXPECTED: Then the list of previously downloaded episodes should be available ACTUAL: But the downloaded assets are no longer downloaded (see screenshot 8) And I have to download the episodes again

Screenshots Screenshot 1 :

Screenshot 2 :

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Screenshot 7 :

Screenshot 8 :

Smartphone (please complete the following information):

• Device: OnePlus 9
• OS: LineageOS 21 / Android 14
• App Version: 4.16.3 (latest)

Additional context

• Reproduction steps written in Gherkin syntax
• Going online means I have a Wi-Fi connection
• I'm "offline" when there is no Wi-Fi
• I have a 4/5G network connection, mobile data and roaming features are disabled
• At no point during the test do I enable flight / aeroplane mode
• The test has been conducted multiple times, from different Wi-Fi AP locations as a starting point then physically moving out of range of the connected Wi-Fi networks.

[lovegaoshi]

if you have the tiem and effort to run the dev version of podverse and debug, please look for NoxFileUtil in adb and [downloader] logs in JS.

r u sure it was "fixed" 4u in 4.16? I dont see any meaningful changes since 4.16.0.

[jimjamz]

According to @mitchdowney , it was fixed in 1314. I could revert to 4.16.0 but I don't know how that would help solve the issue.

[lovegaoshi]

i want to make sure that 4.16.0 actually works 4u, instead of we told you so. could be i simply implemented it wrong. then we can spend time looking at 4.16.0 to .3.

[lovegaoshi]

actually this reminds me. I suspect the 4.16.0 fix might now incorrectly requires file read permission for all - even for the ones that did NOT specify a custom download/cache path. could you provide

1. did you enable file read permissions for podverse
2. did you specify a custom download path

[jimjamz]

In application permissions under System settings, the app has "read audio files from shared storage". There doesn't appear to explicitly be a "file read" permission, but I assume this is enabled as downloaded episodes can be played at will once downloaded (provided there is also a Wi-Fi connection). This would exhibit file read permissions. Any permission Podverse has asked for has always been allowed. No settings in the app itself have been changed from the default. No custom path has been specified as I wouldn't know how to.

[mitchdowney]

We are archiving all Github issues and PRs that pertain to the previous generation Podverse. The Podverse dev team is currently 100% focused on the next generation app, and will be only working on next gen Github issues going forward.

If you would like to see a work-in-progress demo of the upcoming Podverse website, please visit https://alpha.podverse.fm. Our tentative release date is Spring 2026.

If you're a developer who may be interested in contributing to Podverse Next-Gen, please see our Local Dev Setup documentation. We can also be reached through Matrix or Discord.

I'm sorry for the abrupt announcement, but thank you for your bug reports and feature requests.