Problem with audio playback via Obsidian Sync on iOS and Android

Lucascosta95 · June 10, 2025, 11:44pm

Hello everyone!

I recently signed up for Obsidian Sync and I’m really enjoying the experience — I consider this way of syncing to be superior to what I used to do with iCloud.

However, I’m facing a problem that has been frustrating me: audio files (.mp3/.m4a) are not playing in the mobile apps, both on the iPhone (iOS) and on an Android device.
Interestingly, the same audios work perfectly on the Desktop (Windows).

I’ve tried several solutions:
• Reinstalling the mobile apps;
• Checking the format and size of the files;
• Using different native players within Obsidian;
• Checking permissions on the devices;
• And I’ve also tested with and without plugins activated.

Unfortunately, nothing has worked so far.

My wish is to be able to listen to these audios on my phone, as part of my workflow with notes and studies — which is essential for me.

Has anyone experienced this or know how to solve it?

I appreciate any advice!

WhiteNoise · June 11, 2025, 3:45pm

You didn’t follow the bug report template and we don’t take bug reports involving third party plugins.

Two things come to mind.

Make sure the audio files are present on the device you try to use (they are synced)
Different devices (specifically the web viewers) support different audio formats (both container and codec).

core24 · June 11, 2025, 4:25pm

May be related to my big report: Obsidian notes show incorrect and inconsistent durations for mp3 attachments

Lucascosta95 · June 13, 2025, 6:07pm

Sorry for the error, it’s all new to me.
But it’s not a third-party app, it’s the native Obsidian player.
I just put the file in the note and used the CALLOUT MANAGER plugin to make it more aesthetically pleasing, but I didn’t have this problem when I used iCloud to sync. I really like Obsidian and use it for studying. It works normally on the desktop. And when I go to the folder where the files are, all the audio works.
If this error continues, I’m considering going back to iCloud instead of Obsidian sync.

I’ve included a picture so you can get an idea.