So is the Android app really that bad?

[Dengar]

I pay for Slacker Radio Premium and their Android app is a bit buggy as well and their licensing is tad lacking.  I was looking into switching to Spotify until I read this forum.  Is there that many problems with Android?  I usually listen to my music in the car so I would be listening to the app maybe 80% of the time.  Thanks in advance.

[neo-x]

The app isn't that bad. It has it's flaws like everything else has.

I use my phone Galaxy Note with ICS 4.0.4 OS, as my ~only music device. I always just plug the device to the dock and set the car audio to get sound from AUX.

After the new app was released - few features (quite a few) were removed / never added to the new version.

You can't utilize the SD card for storring Offline playlists - only Device Memory is available.

When plugged in to a dock, the old app used to auto rotate to landscape mode if you had it set that way etc. New app doesn't support that feature.

Those are kinda my main concerns

Spotify is the only streaming app I have used, since it's working "ok" for PC/iPad/Droid - all having their issues...

You could take the premium for a month and see if it works good enough for you, or see if there is the 30d or such trial available for you.

I recomend Spotify for people, no question, mainly cause I haven't had any major problems / I have figured them out on my own.

Anyways, Welcome to the Community

[kingsoby1]

It seems like a small amount of people have had an isolated issue with offline music not staying synced (myself included).  Not sure what the reason is, but it's something to be aware of.  If i knew i would have this issue i would not have done it.

[personanongrata]

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@Dengar wrote:

I pay for Slacker Radio Premium and their Android app is a bit buggy as well and their licensing is tad lacking.  I was looking into switching to Spotify until I read this forum.  Is there that many problems with Android?  I usually listen to my music in the car so I would be listening to the app maybe 80% of the time.  Thanks in advance.

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for many people it seems to be usable, for some it isn't.  everyone has a different threshold of quality expectation for a product they pay for.  personally, i think the quality of the android app is quite horrible, but worse than that, there are bugs that have been in this app for many many months or even years that do not get fixed.  try the app -- if it doesn't work for you, don't expect anything to ever be fixed, and don't play the support games going on in here -- you will get no help except for the most mundane issues that can be fixed by reinstalling or rebooting, etc.  in the past year, the app has had two major updates, once to rewrite the UI and remove several working and desirable features, and once to add radio (complete with new bugs).  if you use bluetooth in your car, you're gonna have a bad time -- when you connect or disconnect BT, the app gets into all sorts of bad states where it won't play, tracks get locked out, anything could happen.  i frequently have buffering issues and stuttering with a full 3G signal -- sometimes my phone will randomly reboot when spotify starts going haywire.  switching 3G towers or to/from wifi seems to be problematic most of the time.  basically, it seems like the app does not properly use android APIs, and so does not respond well to just about any system event.  there is a lot of rogue data usage that no one seems to be able to figure out, so if you have mobile data caps, you will be in trouble (this happens for many even while the app is unused in the background).  you will just have to decide whether you can live with the plethora of bugs, depending on your use cases.

[kingsoby1]

In short, use your personal collection and radio apps as much as possible.

Spotify's library and feature set is awesome, but with bugs like these it's definitely not worth it.

[user-removed]

How in the earth you complain? Please try Spotify's Windows Phone app and live with bugs. I changed to Android. I tested a my brothers Android phone with my Spotify (even with Android 2.0 or something) and Spotify app was so good! Purchased a Motorola phone with Android 4.0.

I like it!!! Spotify for Android, I can now enjoy music again!

[jcunwired]

Count me in as another happy fan of the Android app. As a premium subscriber to both Slacker and Spotify, I am now using Spotify almost exclusively. I've experienced very few issues, and applaud the rapid development cycles that continue to bring us new features. I would like to have enhanced sound quality on my mobile devices (and other connected devices such as my stereo receivers), and really wish I didn't see headlines for iOS enhancements before Android  but other than that, Spotify delivers a great mobile experience.

[licenced]

As above I'd recommend trying it for a month to see it it works for you. This is an internet forum so you are bound to see a much larger proportion of complaints over praise. If you get along with the app and don't encounter any of the faults or they don't impact your enjoyment then stick with it

[personanongrata]

the diversity of opinions over this app is an interesting phenomenon.  it makes me wonder whether the myriad of issues that occur with this app really don't occur on some devices?  or is it that some people are just such casual and unscrupulous users that they don't notice?  as for the one person praising the fast release cycles -- i guess some people are just new to the scene and projecting optimism (can't fault them i guess)?

[neo-x]

I'v been a happy Android Spotify user since 2010. I haven't had much to complain about. The new App was missing stuff so thats when I came to this forum to search stuff. Ended up helping up with problems.

Many problems here are isolated incidents. If the forum has for example 30 ppl complaining something not working - it could be only a 1% or less of the volume of Spotify users who are having the same problems.

Computer problems are usually cause of diff software / hardware / drivers on the OS, and phones are also the same way. Keep track what software you have on the device and when you add more - try the software again if it still works. Thats how I do stuff.

I reinstall computers etc and wipe phones to see if I can replicate problems or such.

Try it out and see how it feels and if it answers your needs 🙂

[Liam]

I think the android app is fine - the new and the old one 🙂

[CeleryString]

I loved the app and wasn't much aware of  anydisssatisfaction as I didn't have much cause to vist here. That was untill the very last update, now the app wont go online and wont work off line, wont work at all. My support request has been ignored.

[Dengar]

Thanks everyone.  I was eligible for 30 day trial so I signed up.  So far no errors or bombs but I havent cached any playlists yet but for me I dont see the need since I dont care too much about bandwidth (have TMobile 5gb 4G, then drops to 3G).

I do love the interface and playlist building much more than Slacker, but I do wish Spotify's radio feature was more robust.  For example I have 14 Alternative stations in Slacker, just 1 for Spotify.   Ill keep running them both for a couple of months, then make a decision.  Thanks again.

[eatonjb]

I think the app is ok, but compared to many other's Rdio, Mog etc, it fails.  to buggy, and even when not buggy, featureless.  Radio is cool, but i dont use it, Folders are really nice.  but.. the SD card issue is one big one for me! and also, I love RDIO because when i come back affter a few hours, or eve a reboot of my phone, it lets me start right back up to where it was. 

the second the memory manager in Android clears out memory and spotify is closed,  it have to start all over and look for what i was listening to.. big complaint! cant live with that. 

Rdio is where it's at!

[user-removed]

Yes, the Android App is really buggy. At least on 2.3.4.

I'm using it since May 2012 and for this short period of time there have been a lot of problems:

• syncing offline data will sometimes just stop (sometimes a reboot helps, sometimes waiting is the only solution)
• you can't sync via USB (i don't have wifi at home, so i have to do all my synching when I'm at work/university/friends)
• after i finally managed to download ~20GB of data, Spotify just erased ALL MY OFFLINE PLAYLISTS
• the app randomly stops playback so you'll have to take your device, unlock it and restart playback
• sometimes the app syncs while you're on 2g/3g even when you set to sync only via Wifi (have to admit this happened only 1 time, but it really damaged my trust in the app, because if this happens when I'm not checking the app it could waste my whole bandwith quota)

but the worst thing (for me) is, that I don't see anyone dealing with these bugs. everything I read is "our developers are working on it" and **bleep** like this. furthermore they want YOU (the paying customer lol) to do their testing work, as if we were using some **bleep**ty beta or something. when I want something for free, i use betas. but when i really need something to work, I'm going to pay and thus expect a service/product without any bugs (or: at least the feeling someone cares and improves things).

I recommended Spotify to 5 friends. All of them are using it, three have even subscriped to Unlimited/Premium. I won't do this kind of promotional work anymore until things get better. In fact if there wasn't the great Desktop Client and the incomparable wealthy catalogue (at least in my genres), I would've cancelled my subscription right after my trial month.

[Neoprimal]

Just wanted to put in my 2c.

My tablet and phone apps are now working perfectly. I had an issue where Spotify would stop playing music randomly - sometimes 10s in, sometimes 20s, sometimes not for minutes. That stopped with the last update.

It really sucks when these applications have problems and they seem to take a while to fix it. I was about to cancel my Android sub and go down to the $4.99 plan for just the desktop app which I'm addicted to, but they fixed it before my billing cycle came up, lol.

I would recommend you try it for a month. There's no commitment so if you don't like it you stop, plain and simple. Nothing is perfect. Shop around and see what you like. I really don't know how people could come on here and recommend Rdio, don't get me wrong, it's good but there's no comparison in my eyes. Not only does spotify have way more music currently, but Spotify desktop has apps and some are absolutely kickbutt but don't take my word for it - try it, try both even.

Consider that many of the issues you're reading about are confined to the users that have them and not due to problems with the application. 

[pox67]

I came to these forums looking for a post exactly like this one as the Android App is driving me nuts. The Windows client is a very poor media player in itself but seems to be free of bugs.

The Android app is the lowest feature music player I have seen and also has bugs. This doesn't bode well for the evolution of the  Spotify Android App, if they can't get a simple player working then they may as well give up.

Things that really piss me off:

- Can't read full playlist names, no landscape support

- Can't sort playlists

- Playlists need a nested folder capability

- When the Spotify App comes out of memory on the phone it loses the song it was at

- Downloading music is just a buggy disaster - some songs out of a playlist will download to a phone and others won't. It will also randomly wipe your downloaded playlists. yay!

That was just a brief list, there is more...much more.

Subscription cancelled, hello competitor.

[carrie31187]

I love the app - I do wish it would auto-rotate for instances when I am using my android tablet. It is awkward that it doesn't change orientation. Does anybody know if there is a setting that I am overlooking?

[David]

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@carrie31187 wrote:
I love the app - I do wish it would auto-rotate for instances when I am using my android tablet. It is awkward that it doesn't change orientation. Does anybody know if there is a setting that I am overlooking?

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Hey - We don't have a landscape version at the moment. Soon, hopefully! 

[neo-x]

For landscape mode you can get a 3rd party app that will do exactly that. It can force everything to landscape mode or app based.