Automatically switches device but only when I'm listening podcast

[brunoleal]

I have spotify on my work laptop which I listen to music while working.
If I leave spotify on (in laptop) and then go to my car and start listening to Joe Rogan podcast from mobile phone, Spotify constantly switches to the laptop device and stops playing it. I can keep manually switching to mobile phone device, but it will after a few seconds or minutes stop and switch to laptop again.
Strange thing is that if I play music in my mobile it doesn't switch back to laptop. I'm really losing my patience with Spotify as the only solution is to remember to turn off Spotify on my laptop before going to the car...

[brunoleal]

Hey folks,

Thanks for posting here and welcome!

We really appreciate all the info you kindly sent us. In this case, if you're experiencing this behavior, we'll need the following details:

• Make/model and exact OS of the affected devices.
• Exact Spotify version you are running on the affected devices.
• Troubleshooting you've tried so far.
• A video recording of this behavior.

You can attach the videos in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload them to YouTube or Google drive and make them public, so we can visualize them.

If you already sent us some of this info, no worries, you just need to send us the remaining details, so we can forward all of it to our tech team.

Keep us in the loop!

Edit: We appreciate all the sent details so far! Thank you, folks!
The issue is on our radar but we can't provide you with an exact timeframe in which it will get addressed.
In order to stay on top of all fixes, keep your app up to date at all times 🙂 Cheers!

[Vasil]

Hey @brunoleal,

Does this occur with all podcasts or just this specific one?
It's indeed not an expected behaviour and we're not seeing reports that it occurs on a global scale. I suspect it's an isolated issue, so let's try to troubleshoot it away.
I'd suggest we start with clearing the saved cache data on both devices. 
You can do so by following the steps from this guide.

Let us know how it went!
We'll be on the lookout for your response 🙂

[brunoleal]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I only hear this podcast so I don't know if it happens with others. This is really strange. Yesterday after reading your reply I did the clearing of the cache on both laptop and mobile phone and later when I went to the car, put the podcast on and it only lasted 30 seconds or so. Same situation again. I tried on both Android car and via bluetooth and same problem happening so it's definitely an issue on Spotify.

Not sure what to do to fix this.

[MihailY]

Hey @brunoleal,

Thanks for getting back to us with that info.

As a next step, we'd recommend performing a clean reinstall on both devices as described in this guide. Please note that you'll need to re-download your playlists for offline listening after that.

Let us know how it goes.

[mmcternen]

I started having this issue within the last few weeks myself.  I'll be driving and suddenly the playback switches to one of my desktops at home with Spotify running.  It has to be related to some sort of recent change as I'm seeing a lot of people start to mention this issue on this old Reddit thread Spotify Connect Keeps Switching Devices Randomly : spotify (reddit.com).

I hope there's a fix soon because it's incredibly frustrating and frankly, dangerous to have to constantly try and switch devices while driving.

[OscarDC]

Hey @mmcternen,

Thank you for joining the conversation.

To continue investigating this case, would you mind confirming if you already followed the clean reinstall process in both of your devices as mentioned previously by @MihailY?

If so and the issue persists, could you include in your next response the OS version and Spotify version you're currently running on both devices?

We'll be on the lookout.

[brunoleal]

Hi again,

Sorry for the late reply. I did try this and it didn't work.

On my laptop I'm running 1.1.99.878.g1e4ccc6e and on my Android phone I'm running 8.7.88.496

It's a really strange issue but it is still happening as explained. If I don't turn off my laptop I can't listen to the podcas on my phone without it constantly switching the device to my laptop. If I change to music, this doesn't happen.

Thanks,

Bruno

[brunoleal]

Does it happen to you with music? For me it only happens when listening to the podcast which is incredible strange... 🙂

[mmcternen]

For whatever reason, my replies are not showing.  I presume they are moderated or something.  I've done what was asked and the problem still happens.

To add to this, I was sitting here with Spotify open on my desktop.  Phone sitting idle, and Spotify open on my laptop in the other room.  Nothing was playing and I was watching the desktop app update to say that Spotify had moved to my laptop.  I'd switch it back and sometime later it would switch again.

[Dian]

Hey there,

Thanks for the replies.

It's also worth securing your Spotify account to exclude a 3rd party intrusion. Here are the steps to do so.

Did this bring any change? 

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[Orionis13]

Plan

Family Premium

Country

United States

Device

Windows Computer/Android Devices (OnePlus 5T & Pixel 6 Pro)

Operating System

Windows 11/Android 13/OxygenOS 10.0.1

My Question or Issue

If I leave the Spotify application open, but not playing, on my Windows computer and listen to a particular podcast (The Best One Yet) using Android Auto on my Pixel 6 Pro, I almost constantly get a message interrupting it saying Spotify is being used on another device. This isn't caused by streaming music nor listening to other podcasts. I suspect it has something to do with The Best One Yet having video and the way the Windows application deals with that video podcast being listened to on my Android application.

[mmcternen]

Mods.  Are the replies moderated?  Three times I've attempted to reply with a lengthy description of my steps and version details following Oscar and Mihai's recommendation and they keep disappearing.  

[brunoleal]

I did already log out from all devices before and logged in back again. Changing password will not fix this. As I explained this is a bug somehow as it only happens when I'm listening to podcast. If I put music there is no issue.

[swilcox-7]

This is not a localized issue. I’m also having this same exact issue with the Joe Rogan podcast. It started roughly a month ago (Oct. 2022). After searching the internet, I several threads about spotify’s different “connectivity” issues, but this one is almost identical to my issue, except my spotify auto switches itself from my cell phone to any nearby computer that I have ever been near. It must be due to a recent update. I only listen to Joe Rogan. Everyday. I only listen on my cell phone. I travel for work. No matter where I am (driving, home, work, grocery shopping, visiting a friend), my spotify auto switches itself (without any prompting from me) to any nearby computer that I have ever been near, past and present. Literally, any nearby computer: my neighbor, my friends’ neighbors, my coworkers, a random grocery store computer. Sometimes I’m not even near a computer and my cell phone spotify auto switches to any computer that I was once near, but I’m not near at that particular moment when spotify auto switches to it. On average, spotify is auto switching about 15x every time I use the cell app before I become enraged, then I switch to an audiobook on the libby app. I do not want to cancel my spotify, but this issue is infuriating. I have uninstalled/reinstalled the cell app and computer app probably 7x. I have toggled every switch and clear the cache roughly 20x. I have done every suggestion on the threads 5x. I cannot troubleshoot anything to the other “not my” computers, so the issue is clearly the cell phone app. This is an issue on spotify’s backend. A recent update must be causing these “connectivity” issues. The simple fix should be for spotify to stop spotify from auto switching itself without any prompting from the end-user.

[brunoleal]

Or at least allow the user to define a default device from which it will not switch. But I agree, I don't understand the advantage of having an auto switch option...

[Yordan]

Hi there @Orionis13,

Thanks for reaching out. Does this still happen if the app on PC is completely closed? Does it depend what was last played on PC? Also please send us a video of the behaviour, that would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

[Orionis13]

It does not happen if the PC application is completely closed. What are you specifically wanting to see in the video? My experience of it tends to be constantly having to press play again to listen to 5-45 seconds of podcast before it's interrupted again while driving to work. 

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for all the info you've sent so far. 

@mmcternen, would you mind checking if your replies keep disappearing if you try posting them from an incognito window or from a different device?

@swilcox-7, would you mind checking if the same happens while listening to a different podcast or when streaming music as well? Also, does the same happen if you turn Show local devices only on in the app settings?

@brunoleal, could you let us know if this started happening after a specific event such as an update? Also, would you mind checking if the same happens with other podcasts too?

We'll be waiting for your replies.

[mmcternen]

Gone again, here's of a screen shot of it being there a moment ago

[mmcternen]

@Eni it must be something about how I formatted it?  Anyways, there it is.