Playback stopping randomly (or when screen is locked)

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  2. Playback stopping randomly (or when screen is locked)

Playback stopping randomly (or when screen is locked)


To ensure that playback is uninterrupted Pocket Casts needs to be granted unrestricted battery usage. Otherwise, the operating system will sometimes stop playback when the phone’s screen is off or the app is in the background. While battery optimisation helps conserve battery power on your device, the feature can also cause problems with apps that need to function in the background, including Pocket Casts.

Due to the different customisations of manufacturers, we are unable to test with every device, so the steps and screenshots are provided as a guide and we encourage you to please try to find similar settings on your own phone.

Please also ensure that you are running the latest version of the app for improvement and stability.

If you are still having trouble, please get in touch with us at support@pocketcasts.com.

Samsung Battery Optimisation

The instructions below have been tested on the S9, Note9, S10, and Note10 (and various variants of those). In most cases the first step Turn off Optimisation for Pocket Casts is all you should need to do.

If your device is running Android 12 (One UI 4), please refer to these steps:

Turn off App Optimisation for Pocket Casts

Step 1. Open the Settings app

Step 2. Tap Apps

Step 3. Find Pocket Casts in the list and tap on it (you may have to change the Filter at the top to ‘All’ to see it)

Step 4. Tap Battery

Step 5. Turn off Optimise battery usage 

If your Samsung device is running on Android 12, select the Optimised option as shown in the following screenshot.

Check Power Mode

Step 1. Tap Settings
Step 2. Tap Device Care
Step 3. Tap Battery
Step 4. Tap Power Mode
Step 5. Turn off Power Mode settings from Optimised to High performance, or adjust according to preference.


Check Additional Battery Settings

Step 1. Tap Settings
Step 2. Tap Device Care
Step 3. Tap Battery
Step 4. Tap the three dots on the upper-right corner of your screen.
Step 5. Switch off Adaptive Battery.
Step 6. Switch off Put unused apps to sleep
Step 7. Check on the Sleeping apps menu if Pocket Casts is listed and remove.
Step 8. Check on the Disabled apps menu if Pocket Casts is listed and remove.

Turn off Put Unused Apps To Sleep (Android 12)

Step 1. Tap Settings
Step 2. Tap Battery and device care
Step 3. Tap Battery
Step 4. Tap Background usage limits
Step 5. Tap the Never sleeping apps list
Step 6. Tap the + button
Step 7. Select the Pocket Casts app and tap Add.

Huawei Battery Optimisation

The instructions on this article are demonstrated on a Huawei Honor 8X with Android version 9.


Check Battery Settings

Step 1. Tap Settings
Step 2. Tap Battery
Step 3. Tap App Launch
Step 4. Search for Pocket Casts app.
Step 5. Switch off Power consumption alert.
Step 6. Ensure Stay connected when device sleeps is enabled.



Check App Special Access

Step 1. Tap Settings
Step 2. Tap Apps
Step 3. Tap Apps
Step 4. Tap the three dots on the upper-right corner of your screen.
Step 5. Tap Special Access
Step 6. Tap Battery optimisation
Step 7. Tap All apps
Step 8. Search for Pocket Casts app
Step 9. Tap the Pocket Casts app.
Step 10. Choose Optimise

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