Android widget not working on 3rd party launchers

[barbedwirerainbow]

Plan

Premium

Country

Ireland

Device

Samsung Galaxy A53

Operating System

Android 5.1

My Question or Issue

The new 4*2 widget with album suggestions isn't showing any album art. Was ok up until yesterday.

[hnavia]

Just tested it (again) and it seems to behave better. I can see the buttons, the thumbnails and it seems to be working as expected although the colors are a bit weird but it seems to be related to the colors of the current song/band being played (Yellow background with white controls is not really good).

However, I would expect the widget to work the same with any launcher. I Might need to reach Nova developers.

[abhishekmsharma]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

OnePlus 12, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Operating System

Android 14

My Question or Issue

The Spotify widget does not show any images on Android launchers. This is an issue with the Spotify widget and not the launchers as this has been confirmed before too. 

Spotify uses a specific permission to load images, which is different than how most apps (including music streaming apps like YT Music, Tidal, Pandora, Tidal, etc.) do, and hence this needs to be fixed by the Spotify team.

This issue has already been very well documented and explained by another user on Spotify community here --> https://community.spotify.com/t5/Android/New-Widget-album-art/m-p/5796246/highlight/true#M206012

Requesting to please get this resolved as soon as possible as this greatly hampers the usability of the app on Android devices, making it very hard for users like me to continue with Spotify due this broken core functionality. 

Thanks

[Eni]

Hey @hnavia, 

Thanks for getting back to us.

Take your time to reach out to them and let us know how it goes. 

We'll be on the lookout.

[hnavia]

Hi Eni,

Nova replied to me the following:

According to Nova Support Specialist, this is a bug in Spotify and not related to the launcher.

Kind regards.

[Vasil]

Hey folks!

We'd like to take a further look into this so we merged the related posts in this thread to keep them in on place, hope you don't mind.
We'll let you know as soon we know anything new on the matter 🙂

[samcous]

Hi there,

I've been having the same issue with the Spotify widget for several years now, both in Nova Launcher and on One UI. I've already reported this to both Nova and Samsung, and it seems like the problem lies with Spotify. Could you please look into fixing this issue that many people are experiencing? I feel like I'm being ping-ponged back and forth between Spotify and the launcher developers. At the worst, bring back the old widget that worked well without being as visually appealing.

[alexmansv]

Hello dear friends, I'm having a similar issue trying to add Spotify widget on Moto G84 with Android 14 but it appears to be missing in the widget list to be added 😢  If you could please help? Thanks in advance.

Update: After a couple of restarts the widget finally appeared in the launcher 🙂

[brietman]

Nice widget. But it's not working like expected:

1. On my Motorola ThinkPhone (Android 14) I can only add a 4 x 3 row widget. This is not in line with the picture of this post showing 4 x 2. I can change the width not the height.
2. When using Nova Launcher, the widget is not working at all. It's show empty or only the title of the song (no album covers).

[hnavia]

I've done clean installs and other testings and nothing fixes this issue. It's a Spotify code issue and not related to the phones or Android versions.

[MashaScream]

It's been 3 months or more and yet no result. 

The fact that this thread was created months ago and a fix still hasn't been found by a multibillion company just means customer care is the least of their worries (along with paying artists more than breadcrumbs).

This + the issues with Last.fm + pricing hikes have been the last straws for me. I'm sorry, myself and all the family are going for another streaming service that will take into account the opinion of those who fill their pockets.

So long.

[CaptainSkippy]

Same problem here, Pixel 8 with the latest Nova launcher. A fix would be appreciated.

[mikk541]

Hey, any updated on this?

It's been several months. The solution is in the comments, please apply it so solve the issue.

[MashaScream]

Spotify seem to have better things to do like upping prices, increasing fees for artists...

[MissDestroy]

Plan

Premium Individual

Country

Device

(Xiaomi 13T Pro)

Operating System

(Android 14)

My Question or Issue

I've recently updated my Spotify app and the 4 x 2 widget turned completely black (couldn't even open Spotify), so I removed the widget, but when I tried to put it back, it went completely missing. I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, but the issue remains still. Any solutions to this problem?

[argar]

Same here! Also miui launcher is displaying a new widget menu which is quite annoying. Perhaps it's got something to do with it.

   

[chiff22]

@Vasil

Any update on this?

[Artic1229]

It has been months, Will this issue ever be addressed or just ignored? It cannot be that hard to fix this, Spotify is the only app widget that I'm having problems with on my 3rd party launcher.

[lchrxs]

Same problem here with a samsung galaxy tab S10+ and Nova launcher 
Is this going to get solved or whats the status?

 

[Ivelina]

Hey there folks, 

Thanks to everyone that's taken the time to post their details and screenshots in this thread. We appreciate it.

Our tech team has had a look and is still investigating the situation with the Android widget and types of launchers, but for the time being we can't give an estimated time frame if or when this will be changed or fixed. 

As soon as we have an update, we will make sure to let you know, but for now the workaround would be to accept using an official launcher, or use the one widget that works.

Should you need help with anything else in the meantime, the Community's here!