[Bug]: Playlists tab icon completely missing from Android app #1177

New Issue

2026-04-24T23:52:10+02:00

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:52:10 +02:00

Originally created by @wtanksleyjr on GitHub (Mar 25, 2025).

I have verified that the bug is not already awaiting release

Yes

What was the Problem?

For the past few months I've been unable to access my playlists; the icon that used to be at the top of the screen (alongside home, authors, series, collections) is gone; you know, it looks like a musical note with some lines next to it. It's there on the web client, but doesn't show on my Android; there's just one less icon.

I also tried flipping my phone on its side in case it thought there wasn't enough room or something. Nope, not there either.

Steps to Reproduce the Issue

I have no idea what changed! Was it when I got a new phone? Maybe, I upgraded to a Samsung Flip 3 (yeah, I know, but it was cheaper than buying a current version).

What was Expected?

I should see 6 icons for all 6 normally available tabs; none should be missing. If one HAS to be missing, please don't make it be the only one aside from Home and Collections that I actually use.

Phone Model

Samsung Galaxy 3

Phone OS

I dunno, current version I guess.

Audiobookshelf App Version

Android App - 0.9.79

Installation Source

Google Play Store

Additional Notes

v2.20.0 docker on Ubuntu

Originally created by @wtanksleyjr on GitHub (Mar 25, 2025). ### I have verified that the [bug is not already awaiting release](https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf-app/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20label%3A%22awaiting%20release%22) Yes ### What was the Problem? For the past few months I've been unable to access my playlists; the icon that used to be at the top of the screen (alongside home, authors, series, collections) is gone; you know, it looks like a musical note with some lines next to it. It's there on the web client, but doesn't show on my Android; there's just one less icon. I also tried flipping my phone on its side in case it thought there wasn't enough room or something. Nope, not there either. ### Steps to Reproduce the Issue I have no idea what changed! Was it when I got a new phone? Maybe, I upgraded to a Samsung Flip 3 (yeah, I know, but it was cheaper than buying a current version). ### What was Expected? I should see 6 icons for all 6 normally available tabs; none should be missing. If one HAS to be missing, please don't make it be the only one aside from Home and Collections that I actually use. ### Phone Model Samsung Galaxy 3 ### Phone OS I dunno, current version I guess. ### Audiobookshelf App Version Android App - 0.9.79 ### Installation Source Google Play Store ### Additional Notes v2.20.0 docker on Ubuntu

adam added the bug label 2026-04-24 23:52:10 +02:00

adam closed this issue

2026-04-24 23:52:11 +02:00

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:52:12 +02:00

@advplyr commented on GitHub (Mar 25, 2025):

That will only show if the user has playlists. Are you sure the user on the mobile app has playlists? Can you check with that user in the web client?

@advplyr commented on GitHub (Mar 25, 2025): That will only show if the user has playlists. Are you sure the user on the mobile app has playlists? Can you check with that user in the web client?

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:52:12 +02:00

@wtanksleyjr commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025):

Odd, I didn't get your reply emailed to me. Also odd: I now see the playlist icon. Yes, I have had playlists since I first installed this, a long time ago.

If the player sometimes doesn't show the icon, is it possible that the app isn't requesting playlists in some situations?

As I mentioned, I can now see the playlist icon. It's rarer for me to not see it, but it still happens; I'll spend a day not being able to access my playlists, and then I'll see them for a month or soo.

@wtanksleyjr commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025): Odd, I didn't get your reply emailed to me. Also odd: I now see the playlist icon. Yes, I have had playlists since I first installed this, a long time ago. If the player sometimes doesn't show the icon, is it possible that the app isn't requesting playlists in some situations? As I mentioned, I can now see the playlist icon. It's rarer for me to not see it, but it still happens; I'll spend a day not being able to access my playlists, and then I'll see them for a month or soo.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:52:13 +02:00

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025):

As I mentioned, I can now see the playlist icon. It's rarer for me to not see it, but it still happens; I'll spend a day not being able to access my playlists, and then I'll see them for a month or soo.

Playlists only show up when connected to the server, are you sure you are connected to the server when the playlist tab is missing?

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025): > As I mentioned, I can now see the playlist icon. It's rarer for me to not see it, but it still happens; I'll spend a day not being able to access my playlists, and then I'll see them for a month or soo. Playlists only show up when connected to the server, are you sure you are connected to the server when the playlist tab is missing?

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:52:16 +02:00

@wtanksleyjr commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025):

Good point; and yes, I had all of the rows of books showing on the home page, and was able to switch to the other tabs and see books. Normally those are at best empty when not connected.

Maybe my server was running slow? I run on Docker, and sometimes it seems to thrash and take a long time to start when I access ABS after not loading it for a while (it can take a couple minutes to do the simplest search). Maybe there's a timeout on playlists... I really want to get rid of Docker, but it's kind of not clear to me how to get a bare metal install.

@wtanksleyjr commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025): Good point; and yes, I had all of the rows of books showing on the home page, and was able to switch to the other tabs and see books. Normally those are at best empty when not connected. Maybe my server was running slow? I run on Docker, and sometimes it seems to thrash and take a long time to start when I access ABS after not loading it for a while (it can take a couple minutes to do the simplest search). Maybe there's a timeout on playlists... I really want to get rid of Docker, but it's kind of not clear to me how to get a bare metal install.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:52:17 +02:00

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025):

Maybe my server was running slow? I run on Docker, and sometimes it seems to thrash and take a long time to start when I access ABS after not loading it for a while (it can take a couple minutes to do the simplest search). Maybe there's a timeout on playlists... I really want to get rid of Docker, but it's kind of not clear to me how to get a bare metal install.

You are likely running into the startup time for building the filter list in that case. This can take over a minute for large libraries, so it is cached for 30 minutes. If no changes were made to the database, the cache can be validated again without needing to regenerate the cache beginning in 2.17.0
https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/pull/3594

This will happen regardless of whether you are running with docker or bare metal. This is part of the ongoing performance improvements in the API and data model improvements.

But, if everything else is loading when connected to the server, not sure why only the playlists would not show up from the server.

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025): > Maybe my server was running slow? I run on Docker, and sometimes it seems to thrash and take a long time to start when I access ABS after not loading it for a while (it can take a couple minutes to do the simplest search). Maybe there's a timeout on playlists... I really want to get rid of Docker, but it's kind of not clear to me how to get a bare metal install. You are likely running into the startup time for building the filter list in that case. This can take over a minute for large libraries, so it is cached for 30 minutes. If no changes were made to the database, the cache can be validated again without needing to regenerate the cache beginning in 2.17.0 https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/pull/3594 This will happen regardless of whether you are running with docker or bare metal. This is part of the ongoing performance improvements in the API and data model improvements. But, if everything else is loading when connected to the server, not sure why only the playlists would not show up from the server.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:52:17 +02:00

@wtanksleyjr commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025):

Oooooh. I wonder though ... I'm on 2.20.0 and I'm seeing serious lags, and now I'm wondering if it's happening every 30 minutes. Is there possibly a setting I need to know about, some reason maybe that someone with a really old installation (definitely much older than the sql conversion) might see things slow massively down every 30 minutes?

@wtanksleyjr commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025): Oooooh. I wonder though ... I'm on 2.20.0 and I'm seeing serious lags, and now I'm wondering if it's happening every 30 minutes. Is there possibly a setting I need to know about, some reason maybe that someone with a really old installation (definitely much older than the sql conversion) might see things slow massively down every 30 minutes?

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:52:18 +02:00

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025):

My main server is also from before the migration from SQLite. You can look at debug logs for what is taking so long. An example from authors being slow: https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/issues/3525

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Apr 14, 2025): My main server is also from before the migration from SQLite. You can look at debug logs for what is taking so long. An example from authors being slow: https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/issues/3525

adam referenced this issue

2026-04-24 23:58:59 +02:00

[PR #1178] [MERGED] Update Now Playing info with correct default rate. #1512

Sign in to join this conversation.

1 Participants

Notifications

Due Date

No due date set.

Dependencies

No dependencies set.

Reference: starred/audiobookshelf-app#1177