How to stop my phone from controlling volume on my computer

[albertus50]

Hello, I have the following problem: whenever i am playing music on my computer, the volume control button on my phone is directly linked with my computer spotify volume so whenever i click less volume it just changes that of my pc spotify instead of the volume of my actual phone. How can i stop that?

Thanks in advance

Plan

/Premium

Country

Switzerland

Device

Samsung S20, Hp omen 15

Operating System

Windows 10, Android 11

My Question or Issue

[Mario · Accepted solution]

Hey @albertus50,

Thanks for reaching out about this on the Community!

When you have the Spotify app open on both devices at the same time, you can control the playback of the desktop app from your phone through Connect.

To avoid changing the volume settings of your desktop app from your phone, you just need to close the Spotify app on your phone.

If this continues to happen even after closing the mobile app, let us know so we can further look into it.

We'll be on the lookout.

[albertus50]

Hello, yes thank you that helped, i didn't notice it was open on both 🙂 Thanks!

[aaymerichnavarr]

This also happens to me, even when I close the app on my phone. My devices are Poco X3 Pro and Lenovo Legion 5

[Alex]

Hey @aaymerichnavarr,

Thanks for the post.

Can you clarify if you're closing the Spotify app on your phone completely and not just minimizing it. Also, when this happens, do you still see the phone as an active device in the Spotify Connect section on your computer.

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[aaymerichnavarr]

I closed the app completely, I also connected my Bluetooth earphones to my phone and the music went from my laptop to my phone automatically. Anyway, I restarted the phone and now it does work when I close the Spotify app on the phone, tried different times to see if it happened again and it didn't. Could have been a MIUI bug since it used to have a lot of issues with spotify and connectivity.

[Alex]

Hey there @aaymerichnavarr,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Glad to hear that everything works fine now once the app is closed.

Don't hesitate to reach out again if you have questions.

[blumenkohlfrau]

This is also happening to me. I have an iPhone XR running iOS 14.7.1 and a Windows computer with a Spotify app version of 1.1.65.643.g2d707698-a. Even after "killing" the app on my iPhone, my phone volume can still control my computer Spotify instance and vice versa. It's very irritating.

The steps I'm using to "kill" the app on my iPhone are: 1. swipe up from the bottom of the screen to see the running apps 2. finding the spotify app 3. Dragging the spotify app up to remove it from the currently running apps. 4. swipe up again from the bottom of the screen to return home.

[blumenkohlfrau]

In addition, I tried restarting my phone, which fixed the problem briefly. Then some time later (maybe 10 minutes or so) my phone started to sync up volume with my computer again, without ever opening the Spotify app on my phone.

[MafeG]

Hi @blumenkohlfrau,

Welcome to the Community and thank you for posting.

It's odd what's happening between your two devices. To start, please run a clean reinstall of both apps, this is often an overlooked step, but it’s more thorough than a regular one and can be helpful to get rid of any cache that might be causing trouble. 

Please let us know how it goes. 

[jmumps]

Hello even while my iphone spotify app is closed and the desktop spotify app is open,  the volume on my phone changes. I then have to open the iphone spotify app then close it again for my phone to no longer be randomly affected. 

[CarlosE]

Hey @jmumps,

Thanks for reaching out and welcome!

Just to confirm, when changing the volume in the desktop app it also changes the volume of your phone? Is your phone appearing in the Connect list in the desktop app even when the app isn't open in your phone?

You can try restarting your router to see if that makes any difference.

Keep us posted.

[Knivesinmyeyes]

This is still happening with the app completely closed.

[Eni]

Hey there @Knivesinmyeyes, 

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community. 

Could you let us know if this happens only when you're listening to music on your PC?

Additionally, sending us the exact make/model, operating system and Spotify version of your devices would come in handy. 

Lastly, we'd like to know if this started happening after a specific event such as an update.

Keep us posted.

[Knivesinmyeyes]

This is happening on both my PC and Macbook Pro. I tested both operating systems between my phone app and their desktops apps.

My phone is an Apple iPhone 13 Pro (MLQM3LL/A), currently running on iOS 15.0.2
iPhone is using Spotify version 8.6.72

My PC is running Windows 10 Home Version 20H2, OS Build 19042.1288
My Apple Macbook Pro has a model identifier of MacbookPro15,4 (2019 version I believe); running iOS 11.6.
Spotify version on both MacOS and PC is 1.1.70.610.g4585142b

I think it started happening after updating my iPhone to iOS 15. I only started noticing it in within the past few weeks.

[Eni]

Hi there @Knivesinmyeyes, 

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

You mentioned that it occurs even when the app is closed on your phone. We'd like to know if you start listening to music in the desktop app, does the mobile app open automatically on your phone? 

Additionally, we suggest that you head over to your iPhone's settings and make sure Background App Refresh is switched Off.

We'll be on the lookout.

[AmazingMountaineer]

I had the same issue but was able to solve it.

Apparently iOS 15 changed the way Background App Refresh works. In iOS 14 it was a simple "On/Off", but in iOS 15 it is set to "On while on WiFi" by default. After changing that back to "Off", my phone volume stopped controlling Connect devices while the app was closed.

Hope this is helpful to others!

[Knivesinmyeyes]

This is still happening. Background app refresh is turned to off. It's extremely annoying that this is affecting all volume on my phone. Volume on my phone will still randomly jump even if the Spotify audio is only playing from the pc or mac. Why is my phone volume connected to Spotify volume at all?

Have you guys figured this out yet? Hoping you're working on it for the next update. Controlling Spotify volume should only happen if I'm in the app and not any other time. If I'm out of the app on my phone I expect my volume rocker on my phone to control ONLY my phone volume. 

This issue really shouldn't be marked as "solved".

[Alex]

Hey @Knivesinmyeyes,

Thanks for the reply.

Could you clarify if Spotify is still loaded up in the background of your phone and just not in focus.

If that's the case, then this is expected behavior on iOS devices for now. This is based on how volume control works and that volume sync between Spotify apps on different devices is enabled to allow for remote control. In order to disconnect this control, the app needs to be closed completely.

Keep us posted.

[brennman]

I'm having the same issue and it's extremly annoying.

It's still happening even though the app is completely closed on my iPhone (12 pro), and not running or loaded up in the background.

Please fix this, I dont want my volume randomly changing while scrolling on my phone, just because Spotify is open on my computer.