I use an 8th generation iPad to run Stadia, and while I wouldn’t say it’s a flawless experience, (I understand development is ongoing) it was more than good enough to play Destiny 2 for several hours.
Emphasis on was.
Don’t quite remember when this started, but upon logging in to Stadia, Safari appears to crash, on average, 40 minutes later. This will occur after launching from either the recommended PWA (Progressive Web App - a bookmark that lives on the Home Screen) or straight from the browser. Apparently it doesn’t matter if a game is being played or not, as I type this, I’ve experienced the problem several times. Though here in the community forums it seems to crash closer to every 13-15 minutes.
Oddly enough, this doesn’t seem to be a issue on an iPhone, and stranger still, after a few sessions on the phone, the problem was temporarily fixed when going back to the iPad.
Really hoping someone out there can help, as I haven’t been able to find any info whatsoever on why this is happening. I’m at my wits’ end.
Below are some details on my setup, and what I’ve already tried. (I’m not particularly tech savvy so you’ll have to forgive me if some of the “troubleshooting” I attempted doesn’t sound relevant.)
Thanks in advance.
SETUP
- 8th generation iPad running iPadOS 14.5.1
- Xbox One controller with the latest firmware
- 5 GHz Wi-Fi internet connection with at least 128 Mbps down, 11 Mbps up, 18 ms ping
PREVIOUS TROUBLESHOOTING (in no particular order)
- Cleared history and website data
- Reset network settings
- Unpaired and paired controller
- Restarted router and modem
- Used alternate DNS
- Logged in and out of Stadia on all devices
- Tested WebRTC VP9 codec
- Renewed lease on IP address
- Factory reset
I think I found the problem. And the solution.
Evidently the iPad has to recognize that a video is running. It dawned on me while accessing Control Center, sometimes I would see “Play - Stadia” in the playback control section and other times I wouldn’t. When I did: uninterrupted streaming. When I didn’t: 40 minutes on the clock.
Not long after, I also found that launching Stadia with headphones connected to the jack could prevent the necessary recognition. So now I just make sure to touch the screen at some point before I start playing (no sound otherwise) then reconnect headphones after the stream is active. Ultimately just another annoying quirk, but it really had me in a pit of despair.
Here’s hoping this’ll rescue someone else. See ya in the Stadiaverse!
Hey,
It seems to me you went through a lot of troubleshooting... My guess would be there could be an issue with your Safari browser version.
Did you try to downgrade/upgrade Safari to another version? Did you try on a different browser?
Best,
Oh yeah, those are both things I forgot to mention. Appreciate the reply.
In another chapter of this baffling saga, I tried using Chrome instead, but I would get the unstable connection warning and the stream would shut itself down after a few minutes. This is despite the fact that connection speeds (see above) are well over the minimum requirement, and I haven’t had stability problems with anything else.
Then I did consider rolling Safari back to a previous version, but I think Apple no longer signs for anything under the current one. Plus, if this problem had to do with a recent software update, surely other people would be affected by it, right?
I think I found the problem. And the solution.
Evidently the iPad has to recognize that a video is running. It dawned on me while accessing Control Center, sometimes I would see “Play - Stadia” in the playback control section and other times I wouldn’t. When I did: uninterrupted streaming. When I didn’t: 40 minutes on the clock.
Not long after, I also found that launching Stadia with headphones connected to the jack could prevent the necessary recognition. So now I just make sure to touch the screen at some point before I start playing (no sound otherwise) then reconnect headphones after the stream is active. Ultimately just another annoying quirk, but it really had me in a pit of despair.
Here’s hoping this’ll rescue someone else. See ya in the Stadiaverse!