diff --git a/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml b/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
index fe607438..75b71ba4 100644
--- a/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
         android:usesCleartextTraffic="true">
         <activity
             android:name=".PlayerActivity"
-            android:screenOrientation="landscape" />
+            android:screenOrientation="userLandscape" />
         <activity
             android:name=".MainActivity"
             android:exported="true"
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/dev/jdtech/jellyfin/PlayerActivity.kt b/app/src/main/java/dev/jdtech/jellyfin/PlayerActivity.kt
index 94bf7b32..f4ad3546 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/dev/jdtech/jellyfin/PlayerActivity.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/dev/jdtech/jellyfin/PlayerActivity.kt
@@ -45,9 +45,16 @@ class PlayerActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
 
     override fun onPause() {
         super.onPause()
+        viewModel.playWhenReady = viewModel.player.value?.playWhenReady == true
         playerView.player?.playWhenReady = false
     }
 
+    override fun onResume() {
+        super.onResume()
+        viewModel.player.value?.playWhenReady = viewModel.playWhenReady
+        hideSystemUI()
+    }
+
     @Suppress("DEPRECATION")
     private fun hideSystemUI() {
         // These methods are deprecated but we still use them because the new WindowInsetsControllerCompat has a bug which makes the action bar reappear
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/dev/jdtech/jellyfin/viewmodels/PlayerActivityViewModel.kt b/app/src/main/java/dev/jdtech/jellyfin/viewmodels/PlayerActivityViewModel.kt
index 8fa8fafe..80e30af7 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/dev/jdtech/jellyfin/viewmodels/PlayerActivityViewModel.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/dev/jdtech/jellyfin/viewmodels/PlayerActivityViewModel.kt
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ constructor(
     private val _navigateBack = MutableLiveData<Boolean>()
     val navigateBack: LiveData<Boolean> = _navigateBack
 
-    private var playWhenReady = true
+    var playWhenReady = true
     private var currentWindow = 0
     private var playbackPosition: Long = 0