Audio playback -- only works once per app load?

So, I've noticed that often the orange audio headphones icon does nothing when I tap it. I've been trying to figure out the pattern of when this happens, but it seems to be every time I stop listening, go to my home screen, and then later come back to gospel library. Instead of showing the stop/play controls that I would expect to see when returning to the app, it shows the orange headphone icon, but tapping on it at that point will do nothing. I have to close the gospel library app completely and re-open it. This is a bummer because I have just little chunks of time sometimes that I want to continue listening, but I'm spending half my time closing and re-opening the app so that audio will work again.

Is this a known issue? Is there a workaround (besides closing and re-opening the app)?

This is on a Google Pixel (the original one) running Android 9.

This is a known issue on newer versions of Android – it should be fixed with Gospel Library 5, which is in beta.

I wish I could open the scriptures as audiobook files separately from The Gospel Library app. I listen to audiobooks from my local library using the OverDrive app, which is great because it automatically starts where I left off every time without having to manually insert a bookmark. Going from wireless headphones two listening via Bluetooth in my car works seamlessly, and I never have to figure out where I left off. Ideally I would love to be able to download the scripture audiobooks, move them to my SD card permanently, and open them separate from the Gospel Library app.

AELDuke wrote:I wish I could open the scriptures as audiobook files separately from The Gospel Library app. I listen to audiobooks from my local library using the OverDrive app, which is great because it automatically starts where I left off every time without having to manually insert a bookmark. Going from wireless headphones two listening via Bluetooth in my car works seamlessly, and I never have to figure out where I left off. Ideally I would love to be able to download the scripture audiobooks, move them to my SD card permanently, and open them separate from the Gospel Library app.

The scriptures audio can be downloaded as MP3 or M4B from the LDS Media Library website:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/audio?lang=eng

The audio icon has stopped responding when I click it so I can no longer listed to the scriptures. My audio works on other websites and I've tried using the scripture audio on both google and firefox... any suggestions?