Phone media volume affecting spotify volume on other devices

[asaletnik]

Device: Samsung Galaxy S8 (Android 9, last upgrade Oct 1, 2019)

Spotify version: 8.5.30.579

Plan: Premium

Spotify connect devices:

- Win 10 PC / Notebook

- Raspberry running Raspotify

- iEAST AudioCast M5

My Question or Issue

I have noticed some weird volume changes when playing music on devices other than S8 - have been troubleshooting it for a while (turned off audio normalization, and hardware acceleration where available, etc) and tracked down to my phone causing the issue.

My scenario:

• play music - either on Win 10 client or one of connected devices
• set volume to 100%
• volume gets randomly updated to match phone media volume setting

Confirmed by setting phone media volume to few different values, every time the volume of my Win 10 client or spotify connect device was updated to match phone media volume after a while. Usually I see some activity in devices section when this happens (like my phone showing up, or disappearing).

Things I've already tried:

- disabling volume normalization on all devices

- disabling hardware acceleration on PC clients

- reinstalling Android app and PC clients

- turning spotify connect devices off, turning PC clients off (when troubleshooting)

- manually killing Android app, and turning back on - doesn't cause volume change

[DiDiDi]

Same problem here. Seems like a recent Spotify Connect 'feature', but it is incredibly irritating.

[t03apt]

Same for me. I have a Samsung A5 2017 phone with Android 8.0.0.
Please fix it ASAP.

[Grudden]

I have the same/similar problem. I am have spotify on a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge phone, my Lenovo Laptop and directly on my Onkyo receiver. All of the sudden, without me not even touching any of these devices the Spotify (it is the drag bar within spotify app on laptop not the overall volume of windows, for example) sound volume goes up to max on telephone and laptop and to really loud on my receiver. When it happens on my receiver I am glad I am not 80 years old because I would get a heart attack when it happens since it goes from comfortable listening level to above nightclub volume level (!!) and probably damaging to the ears.  

[Glenn-Jürgen]

Yes this is crazy annoying. I have the same problem, when my phone wakes up and the Spotify daemon on the phone activates the Spotify volume on my PC goes to 10% matching the media volume on my phone. The app should not change the volume if the music is not playing on the app-device unless changed by the user.

[KSansevere]

Same issue. To test it out, I even went into the Spotify app on my phone, went to the devices and raised the volume from the phone for my computer and my Spotify volume increased on my computer. They need to turn this feature off or give us an option to turn it off. I also have the same issue on my Echo devices where it resets the volume to max. Really wakes me up in the morning but is really loud.

[t03apt]

FYI: https://twitter.com/SpotifyCares/status/1194030566821285889

[asaletnik]

Thanks for the twitter link, and all the other responses 🙂 Lets hope it'll be fixed soon, it's really annoying. I didn't notice it happening over the past 2-3 days, maybe they already did.

[Katerina · Accepted solution]

Hey there everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to report this here in the Community!

This sounds like the Ongoing Issue described here. If so, as @t03apt mentioned, our tech teams are aware and looking into this. 

Further, they've done their magic and it should be fixed on the latest version of the Android app available. Could you give it another try after updating the app to see if that helps?

If you're still having troubles after that, we'd recommend following the steps in the status update of the Ongoing Issue mentioned above. This way, we can pass this along to the right teams. We'd also suggest subscribing to that thread so you can stay up to speed with any other news we have to pass on about it.

Hope this helps clarify things! Don't hesitate to give us a shout if there's anything else we can help with.

Have a lovely day 🙂

[Kiwijunglist]

Unfortunately this is still a problem.

I have Spotify playing on my Google home for baby sleep music. If I happen to change the volume on my phone using the physical volume buttons while Spotify is in the background then it changed the Google home Spotify music volume and wakes up the baby.

This even happens if I didn't actually start the spotify playback from my phone.

[Kiwijunglist]

Not fixed.

[ferdi2724]

This is still an issue and to be honest it's rather frustrating.

[Mihail]

Hey folks,

Thanks for getting in touch!

We haven't received any other reports of this ongoing issue being still active, so we'd first like to try some troubleshooting to resolve this.

Keep in mind that if the Spotify app is open in the background of your mobile device and it's connected to the same network as the playback device, adjusting the volume on your smartphone via the keys will change the volume on the desktop, where the music is played from. You can either stop the app completely on phone or once the volume bar appears at it's top, expand the drop down menu. There you'll see separate volume bars for Spotify, Media, Ringtones, etc.

If this feature doesn't work correctly, it's possible some of the app files have gotten corrupted. This is usually solved by performing a clean reinstall on all devices. You can find the relevant steps here. It would also be helpful if you let us know if the issue comes up, when connected to a different internet network.

Hope you find this useful. Keep us posted how you get on.

[doomyxx]

Hey,

> Keep in mind that if the Spotify app is open in the background of your mobile device and it's connected to the same network as the playback device, adjusting the volume on your smartphone via the keys will change the volume on the desktop, where the music is played from.

I can see how this might seem like a feature to you, but for me and I'm sure other people as well, this is a bug. At least give us the option to disable this from the settings. Force killing the app is not a solution.

Thank you!

[Ver]

Hey @doomyxx,

Thanks for getting in touch with us 🙂

We always strive to improve our app and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback with us. We'll make sure to pass it on to the right team.

You can have a look in our Idea Exchange to see if someone else has already made a similar suggestion. If there isn't one, you can submit your idea with these steps. That way other users can support it. Keep in mind that the higher the number of votes an idea gets, the more likely it is for it to be implemented.   

If you want to find more information about how your feedback reaches Spotify, you can click here.

We'll be right here if you have any questions.

[JAB2021]

I JUST UNINSTALLED SPOTIFY BECAUSE OF THIS

"TO BE EXPECTED"

EXPECT ME TO STOP USING THE SERVICE AND PAYING FOR IT

[tanocapo]

this is still an issue not solved! Pls take care of it!

[doomyxx]

Hello, 

Can you please finally add an option to disable this? This is the kind of stuff that constantly makes me paranoid about using my phone in public since Spotify just randomly decides to set my volume to max.

 Thank you

[Jeremy]

Hi there folks,

Thank you for your feedback and replies.

We understand that things can feel frustrating when things don't work as you'd like them to. Rest assured that we're always trying to improve as we always strive to improve our features.

If you think this suggestion will appeal to other users you can always create an idea on the relevant idea board. We always take new ideas and feedback into consideration to improve the app. 

You can read more about how your feedback reaches Spotify here.

We hope for your understanding and that you continue using Spotify and find it gets better in the future.

Once again - thanks for the feedback, we appreciate it. Let us know if we can help you with anything else. 

Take care!

[Bhays21]

This is still an issue... my spotify account is linked to my alexa. This has not been an issue for over a year. Tonight every time I try to adjust the volume on my phone it changes the volume on the Alexa (waking my daughter up). I have rebooted my phone, update the spotify app on my phone, and searched all over looking for a way to turn this off.