Phaser sounds/music stop playing in the new iOS 17.5.1 after losing/gaining focus in safari

[condeagustin]

Version

• Phaser Version: 3.23.0 (but the issue still happens in any phaser version, even in the latest 3.80.1)

• Operating system: iOS 17.5.1

Description

After upgrading iOS to 17.5.1 (in any iOS device), when losing and then gaining focus of safari, any phaser sound/music that was playing (before losing focus) is off for the rest of the session. Even if you tap on a UI element that is supposed to produce a sound, the sound never comes back unless you reload the whole page. This issue is 100% reproducible only on iOS 17.5.1. In the previous iOS version (e.g. 17.4.1) I tested it and this issue never happened

Example Test Code

The following official phaser web audio sample reproduces the issue 100%
https://labs.phaser.io/view.html?src=src%5C%5Caudio%5C%5CWeb%20Audio%5C%5Caudiosprite.js

Additional Information

Steps to reproduce:

1. In iOS 17.5.1, open safari with this url https://labs.phaser.io/view.html?src=src%5C%5Caudio%5C%5CWeb%20Audio%5C%5Caudiosprite.js
2. Tap on the "escape" button. This will play a long sound
3. Lose focus of safari and wait 1 second
4. Gain focus of safari
5. The sound is completely gone and any other sound is also gone no matter if you keep tapping the buttons. The only way to make them sound again is by creating a new Web Audio context and set it into phaser sound manager

[damy90]

I have the same issue on Phaser 3.80.1 and iOS 17.5.1

There is a browser error in the console (no stack trace):
Unhandled Promise Rejection: InvalidStateError: Failed to start the audio device

I was able to reproduce the issue on the phaser webaudio demos:
https://labs.phaser.io/view-iframe.html?src=src\audio\Web%20Audio\play%20audio%20file.js

Sometimes it starts working ok for no reason while I was debugging. it can still be reproduced by closing the browser completely and reopening it.

The problem is not reproducible on HTML5 audio demos but I have other issues with that fallback on my games, likely because many sounds play at the same time.

[zekeatchan]

Hi @condeagustin @damy90

Thanks for reporting this issue. Initial testing and investigation shows that iOS 17.5.1 has problems with web audio. There have been user reports elsewhere mentioning even Youtube, Spotify, SoundCloud having audio issues after the 17.5.1 update.

Since it is an issue with iOS itself, we can only wait for Apple to release new iOS updates that will hopefully address this sooner than later.

Some other sites to test and see if the issue persists:
https://codepen.io/Rumyra/pen/qyMzqN/
https://soundcloud.com/user-272592510/sets/mario-kart-wii-ost
https://pixijs.io/sound/examples/
https://threejs.org/examples/#webaudio_visualizer
https://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml5_audio_all

[photonstorm]

Have tested this on iOS 17.6.1 and it works again. Whatever it was, Apple fixed it. So am going to close this issue off.

[farhanWM]

I have iOS 17.7.2 and it breaks. I get this error when minimizing safari browser on my iOS device. Apple breaks it again?

[photonstorm]

@farhanWM test the other sites listed in the message above - what do they do?

[farhanWM]

Hi @photonstorm

So far I can only reproduce the audio issue on pixijs and codepen; the audio will stop playing, after minimizing and maximizing the Safari or Chrome mobile browser. Pixijs happens instantly; while codepen would happen after waiting about 2 minutes and then reopen the browser again.

More info: Based on my testing audio context returns as interrupted for safari browser and suspended for chrome and this is on iOS 17.7.2 and I also tested on another device using iOS 18.1.1, same issue is happening. However, audio context status for this OS says is running. For 18.1.1, the status of an audio says isPlaying, but the audio never plays and seeks stays 0 on each update.

Thanks

[photonstorm]

For my reference, example game that appears to work (WebAudio on desktop, not confirmed on mobile) https://www.pragmaticplay.com/en/games/gates-of-olympus-xmas-1000/?gamelang=en&curr=USD

[farhanWM]

For my reference, example game that appears to work (WebAudio on desktop, not confirmed on mobile) https://www.pragmaticplay.com/en/games/gates-of-olympus-xmas-1000/?gamelang=en&curr=USD

Hi I just made some test on safari and chrome mobile browser, and the audio breaks on both browsers on both mobile devices an iPad with iOS 17.7.2 and iPhone with iOS 18.1.1

Desktop windows works great as intended as well as android mobiles; this issue is mainly on iOS mobile devices with latest OS as mentioned above.