Gapless/Seamless Playback doesn't work

[anil030]

Plan

Premium

Country

The Netherlands

Device

Samsung Galaxy S20FE

Operating System

Android 11

My Question or Issue

The gapless playback function doesn't work on Android. On desktop, you can set the crossfade to 0 seconds, so that way you dont have an awkward pause between 2 songs. That works fine, even on my own playlists.

But on Android, you can't set the crossfade to zero seconds. The lowest is 1 second, which is not what i want. When i check the box which states "continious playing allowes songs to play without pauses", it doesn't work either. It still has pauses between songs.

I've tried clearing cache, re-installing the app, but nothing works. What am i doing wrong?

[Mihail]

Hey @anil030,

Thanks for searching for the answer you need here.

Just to make sure that we're on the same page - did you use the steps for reinstalling the app from this guide? We recommend that one, as it's more thorough and removes any corrupted files that might be causing this.

In any case, you should be able to set Crossfade to 0 when you drag the slider all the way to the left. If this in combination with turning on Gapless doesn't fix things, could you let us know if the issue persists with a different account? You can borrow a friend or family members or create a free one with a different email here.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted on how it goes.  

[anil030]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I've tried the clean reinstall but that didn't fix the problem. A friend confirmed that he has the exact same issue. So he's also not able to set the slider to zero seconds, neither am I.

[Alex]

Hi there @anil030,

Thanks for getting back to us.

Can you try increasing the number on the Crossfade option to something like 2-3 seconds. This way your app will start fading into the next song automatically, as most songs have a natural 1-2 second of silence in the beginning and end of the track.

We tried reproducing this on our end, but playback seems normal when Gapless is turned on.

Keep us posted on how you get on with this.

Cheers.

[anil030]

The songs I have tested don’t have 1-2 seconds of silence in the beginning and end of the track. On desktop, where you can set the slider to zero seconds, the same tracks transition flawlessly, without any pause. (As an example: Creature by Pop Smoke to 5% Tint by Travis Scott: these two songs transition perfectly into each other on desktop, with no pause. But that does not work on my phone)
When I set the slider to 2-3 or even 1 second, the tracks merge/morph into each other and that sounds really awful.

[Alex]

Hi there @anil030,

Thanks for the reply.

Just created a playlist with these songs on my phone and they transition normally without a noticeable gap or pause when Gapless is switched on. 

Can you make sure that Automix is also enabled? 

If after that you're still experiencing a large gap between the songs, can you try logging in with a different account on your device and check whether you get the same result?

Cheers.

[anil030]

Hi,
I have gapless switched on, as well as Automix.
I made a brand-new account to test it on my phone. Even with the new account, with both of those options enabled, there is still a gap between those songs. It seems like the music just starts playing a second later: on the screen you can see that the song changes to the next track, but it takes a second for it to start playing, even though the bar started counting. I’m really confused so I hope that my explanation makes any sense at all.

Cheers,
Anil

[Alex]

Hey @anil030,

Thanks for the reply.

I can slide my Crossfade between Off and 12s and it works okay in a playlist. Gapless and Automix are enabled. It would be helpful if you send us a screenshot of how the Settings look on your end to have a look if everything seems fine. You can also send us a short video showing what happens when he tries sliding the Crossfade. You can add those as attachments or as links to another Video/Image sharing platform.

Also, can you send us the Links/URIs of the exact tracks your making this test with.

We'll be on the lookout for your reply 🙂

[anil030]

You can view the video I’ve made thru here: https://wetransfer.com/downloads/481cc3bc496895f5fc067179a029bd1920210301154009/1af00a9185a7d890516a...

As you can see, I have turned on all the right settings. As you can hear, when a song transitions to the next one, there is a second of silence, even when the progress bar already started.

But when I start that track again, you hear no pause. Every song has that pause, even though it is not supposed to be there. It is very noticeable for example at the 7th track, “Topanga”. When the track transitions from the track before (“Only 1”), you can see that there is a second of silence. You can see that the beat drops at the 4 second mark. But when I start that song again, you can see that the silence at the start has vanished, and now the beat drops at the 2 second mark.

I hope my explanation makes sense and that the video is clear.

Thanks again,

Anil

[Alex]

Hey there @anil030,

Thanks for the reply.

Can you try reuploading the video on another platform like Youtube?

Also, providing links/URIs to the songs in question would be helpful. Since in some regions there are different version of the same song available.

Cheers.

[anil030]

Hi,

Here you go:

https://youtu.be/g1x0vCNf8UM

The tracks:

spotify:track:7KZ5MMVgBVox9ycroB2UrI

spotify:track:59JWp4PjZ9TRM8cmtaDYB1

spotify:track:3eV2WT9YhfzkxbufnBF8wK

spotify:track:11kDth1aKUEUMq9r1pqyds

spotify:track:4cEqoGTqPRZy76Yl3ymj3V

spotify:track:5aXgz1oKK8Q9z9xvTmSnrO

spotify:track:5waFNguEkggHt2R05RxNBp

spotify:track:5tnGoXhKnh5WpMX4BfMCiR

spotify:track:2tPcTFiQF9MbVUyjZ3zDhA

spotify:track:7sO5G9EABYOXQKNPNiE9NR

I hope this helps.

[Mihail · Accepted solution]

Hey @anil030,

Thanks for getting back to us.

 We were able to recreate the behavior you're describing and we've reported it to the right folks, but can't set a specific timeframe for when this issue will be fixed. It would seem that this is caused by technical time needed to load up and start playback of a new song. Results might vary depending on the specs of the device.

The best way we were able to eliminate this is by enabling 1 second of crossfade, as this causes the next song to start loading a second earlier. That same second shouldn't interfere too much with the previous song as it'll again need the technical time to load up, so it'll be actually a bit less than a second of crossfade between two tracks.

Hope this info is useful. Let us know if there's anything else we can help with.

[anil030]

Thanks for the info, glad it's not my fault. The 1 second crossfade doesn't sound that good tho, so I will be waiting for the fix. I hope it comes soon. Kinda weird that I have a flagship phone, but it's still not fast enough for spotify to load a song in time.

Anyways, thanks for your help!

[LookashG]

Hi Spotify, 

I'm getting exactly the same behavior as described by another (very helpful) user.

Some time has passed since the conversation was last active. Could you please say if the problem has been fixed or what is the current best fix for it?

Thanks!

Best regards

[Yordan]

Hi @LookashG!

Could you let us know the following:

• Your device's make, model and OS version.
• The version of Spotify you're running.
• The troubleshooting you've done so far so we avoid repeating the steps.

Does this occur on any other devices you're using? Also, does this occur when you're streaming from the app with Spotify Connect?

Keep us posted.

[anil030]

Hey all, even though this thread is marked as "solved" the issue is NOT solved. I still have the exact same issue as mentioned in the original post, so it is not fixed yet. But I'm not expecting a fix soon, for example it took Spotify seven years (!!) to add the swipe to queue function to android so yeah. Let's hope it get fixed though!

[Alex]

Hey @anil030,

Thanks for the post.

Sorry to hear that this issue is back for you.

Could you give us the info that @Yordan has requested in his post. If this issue is back, this information will help us investigate what might be causing it 🙂

Keep us posted.

[LookashG]

Hi,

My phone is a Samsung S21 5G running Android 12. One UI 4.1. Latest.

I am streaming via Chromecast to my sound system.

Trying to troubleshoot I checked all the combinations:

• only “No breaks” in playback (the toggle switch).
• only “Seamless transition” – with various overlap settings,
• both on,
• at the same time Automix is on.

The gapless playback works well on local device but not over Chromecast.

Thanks! 
Best regards

[Yordan]

Hi @anil030,

Thanks for the reply!

Crossfade, Gapless and other playback options aren't supported over Chromecast (as well as some other platforms) and only work when listening to music natively on the current device or when connected to Bluetooth.

Hope this clears things up.

Take care.

[anil030]

I know, but im not talking about chromecast, I'm talking about my phone playing music, as mentioned in the original post.