Podcast restarts after playing ad

[been__jammin]

Plan - Premium

Country - USA

Device - Pixel 5

Operating System - Android

My Question or Issue

If I am in the middle of a podcast and an ad starts playing (on JRE for instance), the podcast will restart at the beginning once the ad is complete. This is really frustrating for longer podcasts because it is difficult to find my place again. This happens about once every three podcasts or so.

[Eni]

Hey there @been__jammin, 

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community. 

First up, we'd recommend that you try logging out and then logging back in twice. We know this sounds odd, but it's how the app forces a cache refresh.

If the issue persists after that, it's well worth running a clean reinstall to get rid of any cached files that might be causing trouble. This one is more thorough than the usual one. 

If this doesn't do the trick either, could you check if this happens across devices or only on your phone?

Keep us posted 🙂 

[been__jammin]

I've been experiencing this issue for several months now. I've already logged out and reinstalled the app several times, but the issue always seems to come back.

[Eni]

Hey @been__jammin, 

Thanks for getting back in touch. 

Just to confirm, is this only happening on your phone?

On another note, is this happening while you're streaming or with your downloaded content as well?

Lastly, could you let us know if you're using an SD card?

Keep us in the loop 🙂

[been__jammin]

I have only experienced the issue on my phone. The desktop and web apps may have the same problem, but I cannot confirm since I only listen to podcasts on my phone.
I have encountered this issue with downloaded podcasts and while streaming.
I am not using an SD card with my phone.

FYI: While trying to post a reply, I was redirected to a page that said an unexpected error has occurred. When I returned to the original page, everything I had typed was gone. The last error code I received was 37FF74E2. I am currently using a chrome browser on a chromebook.

[Alex]

Hey @been__jammin,

Thanks for the reply.

Could you go into your phone's app settings and check that the Spotify app has all Permissions granted, and that there is no Battery/ Performance optimization enabled for it.

Let us know how it goes.

[been__jammin]

I don't have any Battery/Performance optimization enabled. The camera and contacts permissions are disabled, but they shouldn't have any effect on this issue.

I also keep getting "unexpected error" messages when trying to reply here. Should I write a separate post for this issue? Which category should I use for issues with Spotify Community itself?

[Eni]

Hey @been__jammin,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

If you're having issues to post in the Community, we suggest that you try using an incognito window and a different browser to check if that makes the difference. 

On another note, could you check if the OS of your phone has any pending updates?

Also, would you mind asking a friend or a relative to log in to their account in your phone to check if the issue persists with a different account?

We'll be on the lookout for your reply 🙂

[been__jammin]

I just tried replying from Firefox on my desktop PC at work and got the error message again - so it doesn't seem to be browser or OS dependent. One thing I noticed is that I can tell if the the Spotify Community website will glitch because "Quick Reply" is not shown as an option ("Reply" is the only available option). It gives an exception ID of 37FF74E2.

My phone has no pending updates. I am using a Pixel 5 so the OS is the latest available stock OS.

The issue shows up about once every 3-4 podcasts. This translates to about 12 hours of audio which would take me well over a week logged in on someone else's account. So I don't think it would be practical for me to diagnose the issue in this way.

[Eni]

Hi there @been__jammin, 

Thanks for getting back to us and for all the info you've sent so far. 

In this case, you mentioned that you only listen to podcasts on your phone, but it'd be very helpful for us to know if you can replicate this issue on a different device. This way we can understand if the issue is device-related. 

On another note, we'd suggest that you make sure the Data saver is off and that you've restarted your phone to sync up the changes.

Keep us posted.

[ThatGuyHerb]

Hey, I've actually been experiencing the same issue, specifically with the JRE podcast as well. It also only happens on my mobile device where after every few episodes the podcast will randomly restart after an advertisement. My device is a Samsung S9+, has the latest OS updates, data saver is disabled, and Battery/ Performance optimization is disabled. I've also logged out and reinstalled the app several times and restarted my phone but this random restart still remains an issue.

By the way, I also got the same unexpected error message when trying to reply to this topic.

[been__jammin]

I have never used data saver on my phone and I restart it at least every other day.

I understand that some troubleshooting is required on the user end to diagnose issues, but I believe I have provided enough information for a Spotify employee to attempt to reproduce this behavior. At the very least, I would expect some demonstration of effort on your end before asking me to spend my time testing other devices. My experience with this and other posts on Spotify community lead me to believe that Spotify's modus operandi is to get their customers to do the basic testing and troubleshooting their software developers failed to do initially. Without exaggeration, I have encountered more bugs on Spotify than any other app I've used in the last 10 years. Some of the bugs are so consistent and obvious that I can't imagine anything beyond the most rudimentary unit tests are performed - any amount of alpha testing would have caught these in a single day. Adding to the frustration, I get error messages on this website almost every time I try to reply to a post. A multi-billion dollar company should have the resources to implement some semblance of quality control over its products without having to rely on its users for free labor.

[CarlosE]

Hi @ThatGuyHerb and @been__jammin,

Thanks for your posts.

We'd like to clarify that we ask these questions when we're unable to reproduce the issue (as in this case) to try and pinpoint what the cause could be - either if it's related to the account, network environment, device or something else. If we receive enough reports or are able to effectively reproduce it, then of course this isn't necessary, but in this case we appreciate going through these steps with us as we try and help.

Now that we have two reports, we can be confident it's not something from the specific device itself. Could you let us know if you're using a VPN or have any type of content filtering configured on your network/router?

Additionally, try enabling the Offline mode and check if something like this happens while listening to a downloaded podcast in Offline mode.

Rest assured that we'll do our best to help and get to the bottom of this.

We'll be on the lookout.

[been__jammin]

I don’t use a VPN. The issue has occurred both on cellular data and on wifi. I usually download podcasts before listening to them, so I doubt it is a network issue (unless the ads rely on the network despite the podcast being stored locally). All of my phone settings are set to the defaults. I am using a Pixel 5 and always update to the latest version of the OS - so it is stock Android.

[CarlosE]

Hey @been__jammin,

Thanks for your reply.

You mentioned that you usually download podcasts before listening to them, but just to be 100% sure, could you confirm if this issue also happens when listening to a downloaded podcast while the Offline mode is turned on in the app settings?

Keep us posted.

[been__jammin]

I will see. It could take a week or more to reproduce based on my listening habits.

[Jeremy]

Hi there @been__jammin,

Thank you for your reply.

We'll be in out lookout for your reply 🙂

Have a continued great weekend!

[been__jammin]

I can't access any of my downloads in offline mode. The app just gets stuck loading with a message saying Spotify is in offline mode on the bottom of the screen. There is another post about this issue which I commented on. I previously experienced problems playing downloaded podcasts in Airplane mode, and it seems offline mode has the exact same issue. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app to see if it would make a difference, but it didn't. The link to the offline mode issues is here:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Android-Downloaded-podcasts-don-t-show-up-in-Offline...

[Alex]

Hey @been__jammin,

Thanks for the reply.

Regarding the downloaded episodes not showing when Offline Mode is ON - check out and subscribe to this Ongoing Issue thread. It would be great if you leave the requested info in there too, so that the related situation can be addressed and treated separately with the right focus. This will help the dev team investigating the issue.

Regarding the restart after ad breaks - please leave the requested info here, as these issues seem related and it would be very helpful if we can collect the necessary data from all users affected at one place. 

We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

[been__jammin]

I am aware of different thread topics. In fact, I had already posted to a thread regarding the offline podcast issue and linked to it in my message which you responded to.