Select a (Connect) device on Android

[bewickplace]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

Umidigi F1 Play

Operating System

Android 9

My Question or Issue

I have a number of Connect devices that I use around my home, which I control from my Android phone.

Today I noticed a rather strange quirk:  When attempting to select a device from the list, all work with the exception of the 5th in the list (Patio in the attached screenshot) which appears to do nothing. 

Where the list is longer (2nd screenshot), whatever is the 5th item in the list does nothing, but all others (including 4th and 6th work). In this case Patio now works and Kitchen does nothing.

The problem is repeatable on my phone (F1 Play, Android 9) and is not cleared by shutting down and restarting the app. It does not occur on an iPhone or on my wife's Huawei which is also Android 9 (although I note that the select device screen is slightly different to mine).

This is causing a problem for me as I normally only have 5 devices active and the 5th device (Patio) becomes inaccessible.

[Update:]

After a de-install re-install a "new" Connect Picker screen is displayed (see below), and can be differentiated by the logo/picture at the top of the page. This screen works fine and does not exhibit the 5th device device problem.  Only issue is that after shutting the App next time around the "old" Connect Picker screen is displayed and it still has the 5th device issue.  This must be a bug, please can I have a fix.

 

A fast fix, or any other guidance, would be appreciated.

 

[Alex]

Hi there @bewickplace,

Thanks for reaching out and sharing this in the Community!

This looks like a cache problem. Could you try running a clean reinstallation of the app, which involves deleting all app cache. You can find device relevant steps in this guide?

Let us know if the problems still occurs when you restart the app after that.

Cheers.

[bewickplace]

I afraid the clean install made no difference, it still reverted to the
"old" connect picker after initially working.

[Mihail]

Hey @bewickplace,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

The fact that the clean reinstall fixed things, albeit temporarily points to something interfering with the app's cache. Could you make sure that Spotify has all permissions enabled and is excluded from all battery optimization. Follow these steps:

1. Mobile Settings> Apps> Spotify> Permissions. Allow everything you see there.

2. Mobile settings> Apps> Spotify> Battery> Optimize battery usage> select top All (not optimized for apps)> Spotify> disable.

3. Last step - restart the phone.

Note: Menu order may differ on different devices.

It's also a good idea to check for any Android updates, as these generally have improvements for the cache and connectivity of apps.

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

[bewickplace]

Thanks for your help.  Unfortunately the tweaks to permissions and optimisation made no difference, it still reverted to the "old" connect picker.

The app clearly supports two different picker pages.  It should be straightforward for a developer to look at the logic and determine the possible causes of the page switching.  Hopefully this bug will be fixed in the near future.

[Elena]

Thanks for getting back to us @bewickplace!

Can you let us know your exact Spotify version? We'll also ask you to restart your router to make sure everything is synced up well.

Have you noticed if the Connect picker screen that allows you to choose the speaker show up if you start playback on a different device and switch to your phone or does the switch appear random?

We'll be on the lookout for your reply!

[bewickplace]

I'm currently running the latest app version 8.5.84.875, but this has been updated a couple of times recently.

The change in Picker page is not when selecting devices or handing off to another controller.  The change comes when the app is closed and then restarted when it reverts to the "old" page.

[Alex]

Hi again @bewickplace,

Do you know if there are any apps that automatically clear cache or optimize performance on your phone? If so, try disabling them for Spotify.

Also, if you're using an SD card try doing a "clean" uninstall of the app, shut off the phone and remove the SD card, then boot up and install the app without the SD card to see if that makes any difference.

Keep us posted 🙂

[bewickplace]

Sorry none of your points apply to me. Also just to note again, this not
only happens on my phone (android 9) but also the tablet I tried to on
(android 6.0.1). I also double checked my wife's phone (android 9) and it
has the same problem.

Thanks for your help.

[Alex]

Hi again @bewickplace,

Thanks for helping us go through the troubleshooting with this one.

Can you clarify if you're logging in on your wife's phone with your own account or her personal one. This will help us determine if it's an account related issue.

Also, could you check if the problem still occurs after you've restarted your home router. Network issues may also cause such behavior of the app.

We'll be on the lookout for your reply 🙂

[bewickplace]

Appreciate your help.

We only have one Spotify account, and so when using my wife's phone it was with the same account.

I have reset the network and the problem persists.  Indeed I set up an exclusive network for  my two test devices and that too had the change of picker page.  I also tried it with "local only devices" and the change of page still happened

I presume after this it looks like an account specific issue?  My account is still in the trial stage as I only recently signed up for premium.

[Jeremy]

Hey there @bewickplace,

Thank you for your reply and confirmation.

If it's possible - can you log in with another account - such as a friend's family member's on the devices this occurs on to see if the issue persists?

Also - do you get any error message when you try to connect? If so - it would be great if you can provide us a screenshot of the error message.

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Cheers!

[bewickplace]

I'm sorry I don't have easy access to another account.  The children all use their Facebook logins on iPhones.

I'd be interested to hear from other Android users to see if they see the "new" and "old" screen behaviour.  It in itself is not a problem, it's only because of the unresponsiveness of the 5th entry on the old screen that I picked up on this.  Without it I probably wouldn't have noticed.

Regarding errors: no error actually occurs everything works as you would expect other than the lack of response pressing the 5th entry.

[bewickplace]

Jeremy,
Just to advise that with the help of Spotify Support I have logged in (after a clean install) using a test account. For me this exhibited exactly the same behaviour.

[Mihail]

Hey @bewickplace,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

We've passed on all the info gathered so far to the Support Team. We recommend that you stay in communication directly with them about this issue. Keep in mind that replies may be a bit slow over the weekends, but you'll definitely get one.

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