Pausing video freezes stream

[Tananah]

Checklist

• I am able to reproduce the bug with the latest version given here: CLICK THIS LINK.
• I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - which I could contribute my information to.
• I have read the FAQ and my problem isn't listed.
• I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the bug report will be dismissed otherwise.
• This issue contains only one bug.
• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.
• I have read and understood the AI policy. The content of this bug report is not generated by AI.

Affected version

0.28.5 and older

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Play any video
2. Pause it at any time
3. Try to unpause
4. Video doesn't resume
5. Rotate orientation
6. Video resumes or starts from beginning

Expected behavior

Playback should resume seamlessly from paused state

Actual behavior

Black screen, infinite buffering

Screenshots/Screen recordings

No response

Logs

No crash messages

Affected Android/Custom ROM version

Android 16 (Oxygen OS 16)

Affected device model

OnePlus Nord 4

Additional information

[absurdlylongusername]

1. Should go without saying I cannot reproduce (many people pause and unpause so this bug would have been flagged already long ago if this exists on 0.28.5 and previous versions as you say)
2. Please upload screen recording of this behavior
3. Does this only happen on YouTube or other services?
4. What orientation are you in to start with?
5. Please prove you can reproduce on older version and/or on nightly

[nagi-desuuu]

I was thinking about #13390 since you mentioned OnePlus.
But the PR there said it happens while the player is paused...

[TMan998]

Same thing, same device and system. This is an issue that is present for a few months at least and is present both on the latest version as well as on the the one before that and maybe even earlier (i guess 0.28+ versions). I know it didn't happen on this device before. Video is in the attachment.

VID_20260419_150601_1.mp4

[TMan998]

Had to cut and speed up the video a bit cause the upload limit would not allow the file otherwise but should show you what happens when i pause

[absurdlylongusername]

@TMan998 Do you have any other devices with lower Android version that you can test to see if it's reproducible there?

[ShareASmile]

Would you please test apk from #13390 if it helps!

Edited/updated:
@Tananah @TMan998 If above apk does not fixes or improves the problem, Please go into the Exoplayer settings menu under Video and audio. Try the toggles one by one to see if it changes things. Most likely the Disable media tunneling or set surface one.

[thegirlpop]

In the same boat. None of the exo player settings made a difference but the test apk from #13390 does actually help and video no longer gets stuck

[absurdlylongusername]

@TobiGr Are you sure we can close this as completed yet, seeing as only one person has said this fixes the bug, but everyone else including OP has yet to confirm?

[girlypop2000]

This is still present even on the dev versions that were supposed to fix that. The culprit is the setting responsible for minimizing behavior. If set to "do nothing" then video freezes if you pause and want to resume video. To prevent the issue you have to set the option to automatically switch to background mode (audio only)