android.media.Ringtone.play() stops working after a 28 plays

Question

I have an app that is open for hours and uses a background service with foreground notification attached to it. Every once in a while a sound is played using:

try {
    Ringtone r = RingtoneManager.getRingtone(context, uri);
    r.play();
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

The sounds are working, but after a while the sounds don't play anymore.
No errors, no warnings, no crashes. Just no sound.

My users are complaining as well, so it doesn't look like a device specific issue.

Android Docs don't mention anything about this. Anyone knows why this is?

Have you tried using MediaPlayer instead of Ringtone? Something like here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12832634/android-mediaplayer-play-ringtone-one-time — Tomek, Feb 01 '17 at 11:47

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '17 at 14:03

Don't create a Ringtone or MediaPlayer in a BroadcastReceiver!

The problem was the context of the Ringtone or MediaPlayer. By triggering the sound form a broadcast receiver a new MediaPlayer or Ringtone was created every time the sound played. After 28 times, the sound just didn't play anymore.

By playing the sound from an IntentSerice, or re-useing a static instance of the MediaPlayer or Ringtone, everything played as expected.

android.media.Ringtone.play() stops working after a 28 plays

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