Unable to play songs in the app

[Meow-141]

Checklist

• I am able to reproduce the bug with the latest debug version.
• I've checked that there is no open or closed issue about this bug.
• This issue contains only one bug.
• The title of this issue accurately describes the bug.

Steps to reproduce the bug

"1. Look up for the song in the search menu or select song from library"
"2. Select song to play"

Expected behavior

"song should play"

Actual behavior

Shows:"Unknown error"

Screenshots/Screen recordings

Logs

Unable to provide log file, apologies.

InnerTune version

0.5.10

Android version

Android 12

Additional information

Have tried reinstalling the app but the issue persists.

[7agi]

same for me, innertune server things i suppose

[Wolver78]

I am experiencing the same thing.

[Miguelin96]

I have the same problem

[p-1749]

same for me, innertune server things i suppose

I thought it used youtube's servers?

[Upgrayedd710]

Same here.

[BrandonIsHere5]

Yeah, hoping it won't be just like the ViMusic app

[7agi]

I thought it used youtube's servers?

yes, but some apps like innertune still works even without account, but innertune doesn't work, with neither no account nor with one

[Zephyr-debugg]

Yaa, same thing I can't play any songs & it's showing unknown error

[Hhkhhhj]

Yeah, hoping it won't be just like the ViMusic app

Yea fr I got a bit scared

[maxinewyntir]

Yup, I'm having the same issue for the last two days now. Rebooted my phone, logged-out from my YouTube Music account, reinstalled the app, installed an older version — and the problem persists.

[mvaishwarya]

I'm facing the same issue as well and I did all the basic troubleshooting. Nothing works as of now.

[SortingFarmer]

The error also occurs for me, however I noticed that any songs that are downloaded or are in the cache are working, so I guess its something with getting the songs from youtube

[p4p1]

Same problem here

[Techy05]

Same issue.
I was able to play 1 song, after that no new song works. Only cached songs play fine.

[Hikari2w2]

Same problem

[183efa]

Same here

[Lokilisa]

I've had the same issue but this only started the latter half of yesterday the app worked fine in the morning, also all the songs I downloaded before all work fine. I think it's the problem of fetching songs from YouTube bit idk why

[CranialTyrant]

Until the issue's resolved, I recommend using YouTube Music patched with Revanced.

[zg4real]

I have the same issue and only downloaded/cached songs play just fine other than that i get "unknown error"

[zeepfds]

i have the same problem but only happen with songs i dont downloaded

[HARI00070777]

Plz solve it! We have faith!

[WarrenOni]

Same problem here too.
Please solve it..🥺🥺

[diam0ndkiller]

Same problem.
Seems to be on youtube's side as it appears in revanced as well but has been fixed there (https://www.reddit.com/r/revancedapp/comments/1hfr6ne/youtube_music_playback_issues_fixed/)

[josprox]

It is a query error to YouTube, it seems that the API does not work correctly and returns an error as shown below.
bash { "error": { "code": 400, "message": "Precondition check failed.", "errors": [ { "message": "Precondition check failed.", "domain": "global", "reason": "failedPrecondition" } ], "status": "FAILED_PRECONDITION" } }

[ManuelBoe14]

It worked yesterday still fine for me but I am having the same issue now, it seems like Google is slowly blocking unauthorized access to their API

[LNRDshine]

Im going crazy rn, i got back to innertune two days ago (Used to use it in 2022) and this happens

[josprox]

I have discovered that the error comes from the android key "ANDROID_MUSIC" which is in YoutubeCient, it is necessary to change it and you will be able to get the youtube streaming.

[jioroJI]

We all hv the same issue at the same time... ayooo😭🙏

[EdgiestNickel89]

https://github.com/DD3Boh/OuterTune seems to have made a temporary fix, it's a fork of this project and they just removed the account for streaming, this means you can't access content that's restricted by account (private)

[javdc]

https://github.com/DD3Boh/OuterTune seems to have made a temporary fix, it's a fork of this project and they just removed the account for streaming, this means you can't access content that's restricted by account (private)

Yep, I just checked the code of the fork Metrolist because some people have been recommending it here and it just does the same, it removes login info to get the audio stream, so age restricted songs don't play but at least the rest works.

[EdgiestNickel89]

https://github.com/DD3Boh/OuterTune seems to have made a temporary fix, it's a fork of this project and they just removed the account for streaming, this means you can't access content that's restricted by account (private)

Yep, I just checked the code of the fork Metrolist because some people have been recommending it here and it just does the same, it removes login info to get the audio stream, so age restricted songs don't play but at least the rest works.

Is there a way I can remove the account from the app? Will that fix it? I want to play just public, none age restricted music, the only reason I even logged in was to sync my playlists

[schich02]

Use metrolists guys, I see z-huang is a contributor there https://github.com/mostafaalagamy/Metrolist Give an emoticon so that other friends can see it.😉

not working for me, says to login altough I am logged in

[schich02]

just use metrolist guys, it works flawlessly

not for me, tells me to log in although I am

[ilovemoddingappsok]

Is it fixed now? 12/24

[Lileyy]

Use metrolists guys, I see z-huang is a contributor there https://github.com/mostafaalagamy/Metrolist Give an emoticon so that other friends can see it.😉

not working for me, says to login altough I am logged in

I wasn't logged in, initially I could play some songs until finally, the song I was playing suddenly stopped playing, and the message "unknown error" appeared.

Guys, it turns out we have to log in to be able to do it.

[gechoto]

Is it fixed now? 12/24

Multiple approaches are in the works. You can test a build from my yt-dlp PR here:
https://github.com/z-huang/InnerTune/actions/runs/12447733806/artifacts/2352183730

There is no decision yet on what will be the final solution.

[FiresoulGamz]

Is it fixed now? 12/24

Multiple approaches are in the works. You can test a build from my yt-dlp PR here: https://github.com/z-huang/InnerTune/actions/runs/12447733806/artifacts/2352183730

There is no decision yet on what will be the final solution.

Is the link taken down. It shows page not found for me

[gechoto]

Is the link taken down. It shows page not found for me

You have to be logged-in to download

[josprox]

Hello, @gechoto :

I've noticed that you're working on a version using yt-dlp. Do you think this could be the definitive solution for the current issues?

I've been reviewing your code, and it looks like you've adapted it quite well. However, I've encountered an issue on my device: when trying to play music restricted by YouTube on its normal connection, the application crashes. I'm not sure if this is specific to my device or a general issue.

Is there anything we can assist with to help you perform additional tests?

[CranialTyrant]

Malopieds' Innertune fork is back up and running. Signing into Google does break song playback however, so I would suggest not doing that.

[gechoto]

Hello, @gechoto :

I've noticed that you're working on a version using yt-dlp. Do you think this could be the definitive solution for the current issues?

I hope we don't have to use yt-dlp but currently it is the only working solution.

Currently I experiment with NewPipeExtractor in a new PR. If that turns out to be working I would prefer that over yt-dlp.

I've encountered an issue on my device: when trying to play music restricted by YouTube on its normal connection, the application crashes.

I pushed an update to the yt-dlp PR. Please test the latest build. If it still doesn't work I need logs.
But I probably won't fix it soon because the other PR with NewPipeExtractor has higher priority.

Is there anything we can assist with to help you perform additional tests?

Not about tests but if anyone wants to help you can work on this:
TeamNewPipe/NewPipeExtractor#1252

We need it to get the PR with NewPipeExtractor working.
If anyone has some time you could work on this issue and make a PR to the NewPipeExtractor repository.

[josprox]

I pushed an update to the yt-dlp PR. Please test the latest build. If it still doesn't work I need logs. But I probably won't fix it soon because the other PR with NewPipeExtractor has higher priority.

Hello @gechoto ,

I will test the new version you released to see if I can resolve the issue when loading songs.

I’m not very familiar with NewPipe Extractor, but from what I understand, it seems you're dealing with an issue related to "translating a URL for streaming." If you have an adapted version of NewPipe Extractor for Innertune that I can review, I’d like to analyze the request results and attempt to deobfuscate them. Even if the request shows an error, it would be helpful to see where it fails or at least understand how NewPipe Extractor works to handle obfuscation.

If the issue is similar to what I experienced with Joss Red while adapting music streaming for Joss Music, the most appropriate solution I found was passing cookie parameters using the Netscape format. However, this has a drawback, as the URL would need to go through a "proxy streaming," which impacts response speed.

Additionally, Google’s protections, which rely on account and IP-based responses, are challenging to adapt without a closed backend. These cases require "access" with an account that remains unnoticed—something I hope is not the case with NewPipe Extractor.

In Joss Music, we are already using a proxy streaming method with the YouTube V1 and V3 APIs combined with cookie injection. This allowed some flexibility to deobfuscate URLs. However, integrating this approach in a public environment would represent a security risk for users. Therefore, we need to proceed cautiously with these methods.

Let me know if there’s a version or information you can share. I hope we can find a solution!

[gechoto]

@josprox

In Joss Music, we are already using a proxy streaming method

Just so you know a proxy solution probably won't work for long. YT is very aggressive lately blocking datacenter/VPN/proxy IPs so as soon as they detect for example an unusual amount of requests from your server it will likely be blocked.

combined with cookie injection

integrating this approach in a public environment would represent a security risk for users

This means you also proxy the users cookies? Indeed a risk and not a small one. Don't do that.

Let me know if there’s a version or information you can share. I hope we can find a solution!

See next post

[gechoto]

Potential fix - please test

Download: https://github.com/z-huang/InnerTune/actions/runs/12531278666/artifacts/2368550482

This is a build from my current PR which changes some clients, params and integrates NewPipeExtractor.

Please test:

• Logged in playback
• Logged out playback
• Age-restricted songs (when logged in)
• Playback of premium exclusive content (if you can)
• ... ?

Note:

• Premium audio quality does not work currently

[josprox]

@gechoto
In fact, a barrier was implemented to obtain the URL, acting as a proxy and ensuring that the origin of the request cannot be traced. However, as I mentioned earlier, this solution is temporary while a more stable alternative is developed.

Regarding cookies, they are indeed injected, but never from users. These cookies come from an account specifically configured as a developer. This prevents detection or blocking, as requests are processed as if made through YouTube’s V1 API. This is a functionality that SASID (if I’m not mistaken) used to perform, but it now works again.

I’ll test your PR and let you know what I find. For now, I owe you feedback on exclusive content playback, but I’ll share the results of the other tests. Does that work for you?

[josprox]

@gechoto

Innertune with NewPipe Extractor

Test Results:

• [x] Play any song without login.
  Result: Successful. The application behaves as expected when playing a song.

• [ ] Play age-restricted content without login.
  Result: Failed. Attempting to play age-restricted content without login causes the app to crash. If data is not cleared, the app cannot be reopened.
  Detected error:

12-28 20:54:06.600 E/AndroidRuntime(25875): java.lang.IllegalStateException: Default FirebaseApp is not initialized in this process com.zionhuang.music.debug. Make sure to call FirebaseApp.initializeApp(Context) first.

• [ ] Play any song with login.
  Result: Works correctly initially
  Detected errors:

12-28 20:55:34.452 E/MediaResumeListener(2300): Cannot resume with ComponentInfo{com.zionhuang.music.debug/com.zionhuang.music.playback.MusicService}  
12-28 20:56:08.774 E/MediaSyncManager_3742_3742(3742): updateController packageName:com.zionhuang.music.debug playbackState:0 playbackState?.actions:7339655 playbackState:PlaybackState {state=NONE(0), position=0, buffered position=0, speed=0.0, updated=20319431, actions=7339655, custom actions=[], active item id=0, error=null}

• [x] Play age-restricted content with login.
  Result: Successful. Age-restricted content can be played after logging in.

---

Observations:

When attempting to play restricted content without login, a special content block should be implemented to prevent such actions instead of causing the app to crash.

Additionally, the streaming quality has decreased, which might hinder the user experience. It would be useful to explore if NewPipe Extractor offers an option to select the quality when retrieving the URL.

To avoid quality loss, it is recommended to always use YouTube’s V1 API and only rely on NewPipe Extractor when strictly necessary.

Additional Information:

These tests were conducted on a Redmi 10C running Rising OS based on Android 15, rooted with KernelSU. The console used was MatLog.

[gechoto]

These cookies come from an account specifically configured as a developer. This prevents detection or blocking, as requests are processed as if made through YouTube’s V1 API.

Your account can get banned like in this case:
zerodytrash/Simple-YouTube-Age-Restriction-Bypass#263 (comment)

• Play age-restricted content without login

this is expected to not work - you need to be logged in

• Attempting to play age-restricted content without login causes the app to crash. If data is not cleared, the app cannot be reopened.

Default FirebaseApp is not initialized

I haven't changed anything about Firebase so it seem unrelated to my PR.
Seems you ran into this issue already reported before:
#1223

Can you try to build a foss version (without firebase) and see if this works?

• [ ] Play any song with login.
  Result: Works correctly initially
  Detected errors

Please test again with the latest changes from the PR. Also make sure to test with songs which were never loaded before. If in doubt just reset the app (delete all data or uninstall->reinstall without restoring a backup).

When attempting to play restricted content without login, a special content block should be implemented to prevent such actions instead of causing the app to crash.

This is already the case. The app shouldn't crash. The crashes are likely related to Firebase. Try again without Firebase.

Additionally, the streaming quality has decreased, which might hinder the user experience. It would be useful to explore if NewPipe Extractor offers an option to select the quality when retrieving the URL.

Known issue. See the "Disadvantages" in my PR description for more info.

To avoid quality loss, it is recommended to always use YouTube’s V1 API and only rely on NewPipe Extractor when strictly necessary.

This already happens. The main relevant requests are still done by InnerTune directly.

Thanks for your test results so far.

[gechoto]

Updated test build

Download: https://github.com/z-huang/InnerTune/actions/runs/12536995462/artifacts/2369536291

This is now a foss build which does not contain Firebase stuff so it should prevent the crashes.

@josprox Can you test with this?

[SCPF-Bot]

Updated test build

Download: https://github.com/z-huang/InnerTune/actions/runs/12536995462/artifacts/2369536291

This is now a foss build which does not contain Firebase stuff so it should prevent the crashes.

@josprox Can you test with this?

@gechoto

• UI response time is slower than official latest build (or it's just my phone, idk).
• Able to play songs with login
• Able to play songs without login.
• Able to play age restricted song without login.
• Able to play age restricted song with login.

[javdc]

• UI response time is slower than official latest build (or it's just my phone, idk).

This is normal, apps that use Compose (like this one) have a much worse performance when compiled in debug mode. When this is merged and a new official release is launched performance should be the same as before.

[gechoto]

• Able to play age restricted song without login.

This usually doesn't work. I guess it just played the song from the cache.
Which song did you test with?
Does it still work if you reset the app (clear all data or uninstall->reinstall without restoring backup)?

[javdc]

Also, I think it's worth to note that age-restricted is not the same as explicit. There are explicit songs that are not age-restricted and can be played without login even in current version. I was confused about this earlier as well.

If you want to actually test age-restricted content, the first seven videos of this playlist are age-restricted: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL132PBk1ji-HyjqSuw2I7bXXB-QdpP7IB

[gechoto]

Also, I think it's worth to note that age-restricted is not the same as explicit

This is exactly why I included this question:

Which song did you test with?

Also sometimes only the video of a song is age-restricted but the audio-only version is not.

[SCPF-Bot]

@javdc
@gechoto

Tried this playlist:

• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL132PBk1ji-HyjqSuw2I7bXXB-QdpP7IB

Update:

• Unable to play age restricted song without login.
  

• Able to play age restricted song with login.
  

[josprox]

Hello @gechoto ,

I’ve tested the latest version and conducted the corresponding tests. Here are the results:

• Songs without login: They play without issues, working as expected.
• Age-restricted songs without login: While they cannot be played (as expected), the app no longer crashes when attempting to play them.
• Age-restricted songs with login: Everything works perfectly, with no issues or restrictions.

Regarding the audio quality, it’s excellent regardless of whether NewPipe Extractor is used or not. Additionally, I noticed there are no delays when loading the app, which significantly enhances the user experience.

In summary, this version seems very complete. I believe it could now be released as a final version since I didn’t encounter any major issues.

[josprox]

What I Noticed

I’ve observed that, at least in my case, the volume seems to be capped at 56%, no matter how much I try to adjust it. From what I can tell, the player is failing to set the volume to its maximum level.

[josprox]

Observations on Volume Adjustment

As you can see in the following two images, Innertune allowed users to set the volume to 100% and adjust it directly from the application without issues. It seems that NewPipe Extractor might not be properly configured to retrieve the volume range from the player when fetching a song.

Previously, this worked seamlessly, whether through the YouTube API V1, as Innertune natively handles it, or when streaming songs via Joss Red, as used in Joss Music.

It’s likely that a minor change was made when fetching or editing the playback range. While it’s not a critical issue, it is an important one to address.