Wire automotive and wear platforms for Media3 service toggle

[sztomek]

Description

Last piece of the puzzle. Wear and Automotive integration.

Fixes #

Testing Instructions

Test the apps on both platforms with media3_session on and off. you'll need to manually change the flag in code and build the apps.
Caveat: on automotive i found it very troublesome to test the app. However these steps was quite usable for me:
adb uninstall au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.debug
adb reboot
./gradlew :automotive:installDebug

Checklist

• If this is a user-facing change, I have added an entry in CHANGELOG.md
• Ensure the linter passes (./gradlew spotlessApply to automatically apply formatting/linting)
• I have considered whether it makes sense to add tests for my changes
• All strings that need to be localized are in modules/services/localization/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
• Any jetpack compose components I added or changed are covered by compose previews
• I have updated (or requested that someone edit) the spreadsheet to reflect any new or changed analytics.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR wires the Wear OS and Automotive apps into the existing PlaybackServiceToggle mechanism so the correct playback service implementation (Media3 vs legacy) is enabled based on the media3_session feature flag.

Changes:

• Invoke PlaybackServiceToggle.ensureCorrectServiceEnabled(...) during app startup for Wear and Automotive.
• Update Wear and Automotive manifests to declare Media3/legacy playback services with appropriate enabled states and intent-filters.
• Remove the existing Automotive AutoPlaybackServiceTest instrumentation test.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
wear/src/main/kotlin/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/wear/PocketCastsWearApplication.kt	Enables the correct playback service at Wear app startup via PlaybackServiceToggle.
wear/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml	Declares Media3 + legacy playback services for Wear with both initially disabled for runtime toggling.
automotive/src/main/java/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/AutomotiveApplication.kt	Enables the correct Automotive playback service pair at startup via PlaybackServiceToggle using AAOS-specific service class names.
automotive/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml	Adds foreground-service permissions and declares Media3 + legacy Automotive services with one enabled for AAOS discovery.
automotive/src/androidTest/java/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/AutoPlaybackServiceTest.kt	Removes the Automotive service instrumentation test.

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[wpmobilebot]

Project manifest changes for wear

The following changes in the wear's merged AndroidManifest.xml file were detected (build variant: release):

--- ./build/reports/diff_manifest/wear/release/base_manifest.txt	2026-04-02 15:30:57.501273782 +0000
+++ ./build/reports/diff_manifest/wear/release/head_manifest.txt	2026-04-02 15:31:03.101328105 +0000
@@ -126,8 +126,21 @@
             </intent-filter>
         </activity>
 
+        <!-- Both services start disabled; PlaybackServiceToggle enables the correct one. -->
         <service
             android:name="au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.repositories.playback.PlaybackService"
+            android:enabled="false"
+            android:exported="true"
+            android:foregroundServiceType="mediaPlayback"
+            android:label="@string/app_name" >
+            <intent-filter>
+                <action android:name="android.media.browse.MediaBrowserService" />
+                <action android:name="androidx.media3.session.MediaLibraryService" />
+            </intent-filter>
+        </service>
+        <service
+            android:name="au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.repositories.playback.LegacyPlaybackService"
+            android:enabled="false"
             android:exported="true"
             android:foregroundServiceType="mediaPlayback"
             android:label="@string/app_name" >

Go to https://buildkite.com/automattic/pocket-casts-android/builds/16232/canvas?sid=019d4ec7-db9d-4371-8b95-2db5c116ecfc, click on the Artifacts tab and audit the files.

[wpmobilebot]

Project manifest changes for automotive

The following changes in the automotive's merged AndroidManifest.xml file were detected (build variant: release):

--- ./build/reports/diff_manifest/automotive/release/base_manifest.txt	2026-04-02 15:31:31.041596140 +0000
+++ ./build/reports/diff_manifest/automotive/release/head_manifest.txt	2026-04-02 15:31:37.101653077 +0000
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
         android:name="android.hardware.camera"
         android:required="false" />
 
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE" />
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK" />
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.DETECT_SCREEN_CAPTURE" />
 
     <queries>
@@ -54,8 +56,7 @@
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS" />
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
-    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" /> <!-- This permission is required to start foreground services in Android P. -->
-    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE" />
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" />
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_BIOMETRIC" /> <!-- suppress DeprecatedClassUsageInspection -->
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_FINGERPRINT" />
     <uses-permission android:name="com.android.vending.BILLING" />
@@ -98,21 +99,13 @@
 
         <service
             android:name="au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.AutoPlaybackService"
+            android:enabled="true"
             android:exported="true"
             android:foregroundServiceType="mediaPlayback"
             android:label="@string/app_name" >
             <intent-filter>
                 <action android:name="android.media.browse.MediaBrowserService" />
-            </intent-filter>
-        </service>
-        <service
-            android:name="au.com.shiftyjelly.pocketcasts.LegacyAutoPlaybackService"
-            android:enabled="false"
-            android:exported="true"
-            android:foregroundServiceType="mediaPlayback"
-            android:label="@string/app_name" >
-            <intent-filter>
-                <action android:name="android.media.browse.MediaBrowserService" />
+                <action android:name="androidx.media3.session.MediaLibraryService" />
             </intent-filter>
         </service>
 

Go to https://buildkite.com/automattic/pocket-casts-android/builds/16232/canvas?sid=019d4ec7-db9d-4371-8b95-2db5c116ecfc, click on the Artifacts tab and audit the files.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Wires Wear OS and Automotive variants into the existing Media3/Legacy playback service toggle so the correct media browser service is enabled based on the MEDIA3_SESSION feature flag.

Changes:

• Wear OS: enable runtime toggling by invoking PlaybackServiceToggle.ensureCorrectServiceEnabled() during app startup and declaring both playback services disabled-by-default in the manifest.
• Automotive: initialize feature-flag providers on startup and toggle between AutoPlaybackService (Media3) and LegacyAutoPlaybackService (legacy) via PlaybackServiceToggle.
• Cleanup: remove stray whitespace and delete an Automotive instrumentation test.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
wear/src/main/kotlin/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/wear/PocketCastsWearApplication.kt	Calls PlaybackServiceToggle during Wear app initialization.
wear/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml	Declares Media3 + legacy playback services (disabled by default) for runtime enabling.
modules/services/repositories/src/main/java/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/repositories/playback/MediaSessionManager.kt	Whitespace cleanup only.
modules/services/repositories/src/main/java/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/repositories/playback/LegacyPlaybackService.kt	Whitespace cleanup only.
automotive/src/main/java/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/AutomotiveApplication.kt	Adds feature-flag initialization and toggles the correct Automotive playback service at startup.
automotive/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml	Adds foreground-service permissions and declares both Automotive playback services with appropriate enabled defaults.
automotive/src/androidTest/java/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/AutoPlaybackServiceTest.kt	Removes Automotive instrumentation test coverage for the media browse tree.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

automotive/src/androidTest/java/au/com/shiftyjelly/pocketcasts/AutoPlaybackServiceTest.kt:1

• This PR removes the only Automotive instrumentation test coverage for the media browse tree (tabs/root + discover/filters/podcasts/episodes). Since this PR also changes which playback service is enabled at runtime, it would be good to keep at least one test that validates the Automotive service still exposes the expected browse roots (either by reworking this test for the new service setup or by adding equivalent unit/Robolectric coverage around the Automotive browse-root behavior).

[wpmobilebot]

Version 8.9 has now entered code-freeze, so the milestone of this PR has been updated to 8.10.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.