Bluetooth keeps pausing music on Android (FIX)

Bluetooth headphones/TWS are nowadays almost a necessity, considering how many smartphone OEMs stopped including the 3.5mm jack. It seems that this convenient listening experience is ruined for some users because Bluetooth keeps pausing music or audio content in general. We made sure to inspect possible reasons why this would happen and provide you with some applicable solutions below.

Table of contents:

1. Unpair and pair again
2. Uninstall third-party apps that stay on top
3. Disable Battery optimization for the audio app
4. Reset Network settings

Why does my music keep pausing on Bluetooth?

The most common reason we found online is, believe it or not, a third-party app that sticks in the background and gets a hold of the media controls. Apps like Roku and AliExpress are frequently mentioned. We suggest uninstalling these apps and trying again.

If that does nothing, you can try unpairing your phone and headphones/speakers and pairing again, disabling battery optimization, or resetting network settings.

1. Unpair and pair again

The first thing you can do is remove pairing and pair your phone with wireless headphones/speaker/car system again. That should, hopefully, fix the problem at hand. Although connectivity issues are not as expected on the contemporary Bluetooth standard, they can still happen.

Here’s how to unpair and pair a Bluetooth device again with your Android phone:

1. Open Settings and select Connections.
2. Select Bluetooth.
3. Enable Bluetooth and tap next to the device you want to remove. There’s usually a cog icon next to each device.
4. Tap Unpair.
5. Now, just pair your phone again with the device and check for improvements.

2. Uninstall third-party apps that stay on top

Most users report that the issues were caused, believe it or not, by a rogue app that was, for some reason, pausing the Bluetooth playback. The main culprit seems to be the Roku app but there’s a whole list of apps that work in the background and are allowed to stay on top. Also, apps like Alibaba/AliExpress or anything else that incorporates some floating overlays. This was seemingly a major issue on Pixel devices but, based on reports, Google sorted it out with an update.

Still, we recommend eliminating all apps that you even remotely suspect and giving Bluetooth playback another try. But, first, you can revoke the Allow on top permission for certain apps. Here’s how to check which apps have this permission:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Apps.
3. Tap on the 3-dots menu and choose Reset app preferences.
4. Alternatively, select Special access from the same menu.
5. Select Appear on top.
6. Disable the permission for all suspicious apps.

If that did nothing, navigate to Settings > Apps and uninstall apps that you suspect. Again, Roku and Alibaba/AliExpress are the main suspects.

3. Disable Battery optimization for the audio app

Another possible reason Bluetooth keeps pausing music is that the app shuts down and stops working in the background. To avoid this, make sure to disable Battery optimization for the app (or apps) you use to stream/play music or other audio content over Bluetooth.

Here’s how to disable battery optimization on your Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Apps.
3. Choose the app you use to listen to audio content.
4. Tap Battery.
5. Disable Battery optimization.

Alternatively, you can lock the app in RAM. To do that, open the app, swipe/tap Recents, and you should see the padlock icon at the top.

4. Reset Network settings

Finally, if none of the previous steps worked for you, you can try resetting Network settings. This will delete all devices you paired along with some other network-related things, but it should address the problem at hand.

Here’s how to reset Network settings on your Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Choose General management or System.
3. Tap Reset or Reset options.
4. Select Reset network settings or Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth.
5. Confirm and pair your Bluetooth device with your phone again.

With that said, we can conclude this article. Thank you for reading and feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or suggestions in the comments below. We look forward to hearing from you.