Spotify Android app crashing, update long overdue

[Rankhar]

Just sent this to Spotify, if I get a response I will share it here. If you are having problems with the Android app as well, and are surprised/annoyed by the lack of information from Spotify, please reply and make yourself heard. The more people complain, the better the chances of Spotify taking notice.

Dear sir/madam,

I recently wrote to you about problems I am having with the Spotify Android app. I am using a Google Nexus S phone, running Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3). I have been using the app on this phone for more than a year without problems. However, about two months ago, putting the app in online mode started making the app crash within a few seconds. Quickly putting it in offline mode would stop it from crashing, but because of this problem, it was no longer possible to sync new music onto my phone. I am not using any cache-cleaning apps or other such apps.

One of your employees advised me to reset my password. I did this, and also re-installed the app. It worked for a short while, but now I am having the same problems again.

I love Spotify, but this is getting a bit annoying. I pay 120 euros a year for Spotify, and its core business is providing an app for Android, iOS, and PC. Surely it should be on the top of your list to fix these issues as soon as possible? Many of my friends have Spotify on their Android phone, and many of them are having the same problems...

Many people on forums are complaining, but Spotify has so far not provided any useful information on the issue, apart from saying that we should try resetting our password. That is rather bad service for something you pay 10 euros a month for.

I now have three questions, that I hope you can answer:
- the Spotify employee that helped me told me that the Google Nexus S is not officially supported. How is this possible, as this model is one of the Google flagship phones, released by Google itself? Surely, this should be one of THE main phones on which your Android app should run?
- the Spotify app has not been updated in a very long time. Do you have an estimation of when we can expect an update?
- if you are working on an update, why do you not let your users know, so that the many people who are having problems with the app at least have something to look forward to? A simple blog message about what is going on would put many people's mind at ease, and save you from losing your paying customers.

Kind regards,

[licenced · Accepted solution]

I can't give you an official answer, but the employee was right - anything over Android 2.3.x is not currently supported and there are many people concerned about this. I raised an 'idea' on the subject here: http://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-Ideas/Spotify-needs-to-support-Android-3-Honeycomb-Android-4...

There is a slightly quicker way to get the app working again once it gets into the immediate-crash-on-startup loop you describe - delete the /sdcard/Android/data/com.spotify.mobile.android.ui directory from the SD card. This will remove all your synced playlists, but it works for me every time.

You won't get an answer on if/when a new version of the app will be available - Spotify do not comment on releases or planned features. The best you will get is a link to the Spotify blog ... but there's nothing there

[Rankhar · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your reply! 

I know the employee was right in that anything over Android 2.3.x is not supported. But that's exactly what I find strange. ICS has been out since December. You would expect a company that has mobile service as one of the pillars of its business to immediately release an update for the biggest platforms. Developers even had the opportunity to download ICS several months before December, so a new ICS Spotify app could have been ready upon release of the new OS.

I get the fact that some companies drop the ball in certain areas. But the mobile app is a core facet of Spotify's business. You don't slack off with things like that. And Spotify's policy of 'not commenting on releases or planned features', I just don't get that companies in this day and age are still doing this. Of all companies, Spotify, a company that claims to 'go social' should know that informing your customers is very important, and that the response above is not only arrogant, but also breeds frustration. Saying you have a policy of not doing something doesn't mean that not doing something is ok. "Yeah, we have bad service, but that's our policy...." Riiight.

All the users would like to hear is 'we are working on a new release that will solve your problems, we care about your user experience'. We don't need a release date, and we don't need to know which features we are going to get. We just need to know whether the thing that we are paying for, which is currently broken, will be fixed soon-ish. This is no longer a problem that just some users have; many people have this problem.

Imagine if you buy a car, and the heating breaks down every ten minutes. How would you react if the car manufacturer responded by saying 'we don't comment on whether we will fix it, and if we do eventually get round to fixing it, were not telling you when or how"...? People are paying for a product, and that product is broken. This is not a free service. This costs 120 euros per year. For that amount of money, people expect, and deserve, something more than silence. 

[Scorp1337]

Go on and work on that!

Germany / german

Galaxy SII

ICS 4.0.3 

[allannk]

Exact same problem and solution as mentioned above. 

However where I work, there's no mobile network, and hence im forced to use offline mode. This has crashed one too many times now. 

Unsubscribed. Might subscribe again whenever I hear it is fixed, unless another spotify competitor shows up first.

[IUJazzDad]

I am in Los Angeles and before today, Spotify worked but did crash regularly. Now I can't even get it to login at all...It continually asks for my FB login ID, which I have given it 6 times, and every time the app crashes. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app twice and had the same experience. Now, thanks to this Board, I learned that Spotify only operates on Android 2.3 and below - I have a Sprint EVO 3D running 2.3.4. This is becoming an aggravation. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow it will work - maybe not. But this is ridiculous to pay $10/month for this service that isn't nearly as good as it could be (navigating through one's own playlist is a sick joke) and now I can't even listen to anything at all. WTF? (as we say here in the US)

[imarkkin]

The solution mentioned in this thread really works, but still unsubscribed. Ten euros a month for a crappy Android software is just unacceptable. Also gave them feedback on the unsubscription. I really hope they do something about this and furthermore improve the features of the mobile clients.

[Rankhar]

I wouldn't call having to meddle with the folder structure of the app and losing all your synced playlists a 'solution'. At best, that is a workaround that is very bothersome. Sticking to the car metaphore, that's like installing a battery and a separate heater in your car when the normal heater has broken down. Everytime the battery dies, you have to reload it. That's not a solution. That's just simply annoying. 

I totally agree with you that 10 euros a month for crappy software is unacceptable. Very good that you provided the feedback with your unsubscription, hope it helps!

[Acedoc · Accepted solution]

Ditto that sentiment. About two weeks ago, the app on my HTC EVO started crashing each time I either save a favorite (starring) or move a song into a playlist. Reloading from the market hasn't helped, and it now is virtually impossible to create playlists. It should be a fairly easy problem to identify, given it's reproducability. Sad.

[Trondioh · Accepted solution]

Hi guys!

I´ve been a premium member for more than three years. In the beginning I was a premium member simply because I wanted to support the innovation that Spotify was at the time even though no extra features was offered. A couple of weeks ago I updated my Samsung Galaxy S2 to ICS, and the buggy unstable mess that was the Spotify App deicided not to function - AT ALL. Since the update I´ve been searching the web for any official info regarding the situation without much luck, if none at all. I refuse to pay any more of my money to a company so devoid of customer care that they seem not to care about loyal paying customers. I´m not going to renew my subscription because of this, and hope a lot of you other guys will consider the same. Please use the twitter hashtag #CancelingMySpotifySubscription to raise awareness and not let Spotify get away unpunished with this kind of lousy treatment of their customers. I live in Norway and will subscribe to WiMP instead, I suggest that all of you that have the opportunity to subscribe to a competitor of Spotify do so.

Kind regards former loyal premium subscriber

Trond

[Rankhar · Accepted solution]

Good idea about twitter, shorter hashtag might be better though, such as #cancellingspotify. 

Anyway, the three days within which Spotify claims to respond to queries has passed, and I have not yet received an answer to my questions. Not even a polite 'we're sorry you are having these problems, we're working hard on a solution'. Dissapointing...

[Trondioh]

I´ve now cancelled my Spotify subscription and went along with WiMP instead. I made an inquiry on twitter wether they supported ICS and got a positive response in under 24 hours.

Good riddance Spotify!

[bloemer]

any news on that issue? i used spotify on my samsung i9100 GS2 (official rom) fortwo weeks as a premium customer without any problem but now i have the same problem since a week.

i also deleted the /sdcard/Android/data/com.spotify.mobile.android.ui directory from the SD card and started my phone and the app new but that doesn't fix the it.

sometimes i am able to listen to two or three songs without a problem, but than the app crashes all the time. i uninstalled the app, cleared my phone cache, deleted the sdcard folder, installed it again from the app store but always the same problem. i think i ll cancel my credit card payment because i don't want to pay for something that did't work. i also send an email to spotify but i did't get any response from them. that is not acceptable. 

[licenced]

Try installing from m.spotify.com instead of the market - you may get a different version that works.

(And just to be clear I very much doubt this advice, but it seems to be given by official Spotify reps quite often so I might as well throw it out there)

[bloemer]

thank you for your help i downloaded the app from m.spotify.com now and installed the apk. hope that will work...

[gert74]

Spotify you are gonna lose customers because of this. At least I am seriously considering to cancel.my premium account because of the of support on ICS.

I'm disappointed that Spotify hasn't given any official reaction on this forum. I always thought it was a modern open company, but I guess I was wrong.

[bloemer]

so after the 6th or 7th song it crashed again and now it doesnt work at all... so you were right the apk from m.spotify.com is another version but it has the same problems like the one from the marketplace (play) store. i m gonna cancel my subscription now... maybe there ll be a fix someday 😉

[Dellocatus]

What the...

Yesterday, I've ordered a new Android handset, running ICS, and today I've come across these issues with the Spotify-App. I can't understand, why a OS, that is going to be standard soon, is not yet supported. And I'm disappointed, for I was intending to use Spotify intensively on my new device, due to my new mobile subscription including unlimited data. With this news, I will have to cancel my Spotify subscription. Hopefully, either Deezer or Simfy does support ICS.

Sorry for my English. It isn't my first language 😉

[rferrett]

It is a fair point. It is both shocking, disappointing, infuriating and hilarious that Spotify have no plans for ICS. 

When combined with their Fawlty Towers-esque poor customer service it becomes a genuine, bona fida, slap in the face to their customers and fans. It is just a massive, massive unfunny joke.

[licenced]

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@rferrett wrote:

It is a fair point. It is both shocking, disappointing, infuriating and hilarious that Spotify have no plans for ICS. 

---

While I share your pain, I don't know where you've seen that Spotify have no plans for ICS. A Spotify rep on this board stated yesterday that there is a new Android app in development and this fact was also tweeted by the Spotify France account a couple of weeks back. What they have no plans for is telling us when it might drop