Spotify App loads forever on Android 12

[pitw]

Plan

Premium

Country

Netherlands / Switzerland

Device

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G / SM-G991B/DS

Operating System

Android 12 / One UI 4.0

My Question or Issue

In short: Spotify app isn't usable on this device. Since approx. 1 week I'm not able to search or play songs. App opens and don't crash but searchs / loads forever.

Bug is documented here: https://youtu.be/87O5uQqkTUI

What I tried to fix that issue:

• Logged out / Logged in -> no success
• Updated Spotify app to 8.6.88.1104 -> no success
• Deinstalled / Reinstalled -> no success
• Rebooted Device -> no success
• Cleared cache -> no success
• Tried on another device (an old Samsung Tablet) -> worked 😉

[Jeremy]

Hi there @pitw,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community.

Can you confirm that you followed the steps that's provided in this article? There's some more steps to help thoroughly uninstall the app from your device, so if you haven't, we'd highly suggest it since the steps will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

We also suggest that you try with a different internet connection to see if the issue persists.

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Take care!

[pitw]

Yes - I can confirm that I followed the provided steps in that article.

• Cleared cache
• Cleared data
• Looked for the "com.spotify.music" folder: Don' have one a I store music on internal storage
• Did a uninstall

Then reinstalled latest app (v. 8.6.88.1104) from Google Play Store

Exactly same behaviour.

[Jeremy]

Hi again @pitw,

Thank you for your reply and confirmation.

Just to confirm, did you try with a different internet connection?

It would also be great if you can have someone log in with their account on your device - such as a friend or a family member to see if the issue persists. This will help us understand if it's account related or not.

Another useful thing to check is if there's any pending updates on the phone.

Keep us posted 🙂
 

Cheers!

[pitw]

Tested with another account - same problem. As I wrote above Spotify app works with my account on my older Samsung Tablet.

I tried different internet connections: WLAN in my office, at home and multiple 3G / 4G / 5G connections in my car.

Its very likely an OS specific problem (Android 12 / One UI 4.0).

[Jeremy]

Hi again @pitw,

Thank you for getting back in touch.

Do you have any installed any apps that might have influenced the app recently - battery savers, cache cleaners, etc?

On another note , can you access the app's settings and set it offline?

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

Take care!

[pitw]

No new apps installed. All I've done was a small system update of OS (Samsung Security Patch).

I manually disabled all the system power saving functions for Spotify. Also gave all permissions. Then cleared / cleaned cache and logged out / logged back in.

Still same problem:

•  I can use the search function: it shows up some results
• I can't play music: as soon as I click on a result it shows the green circle (see post nr 1 in this thread) which loads forever...
•  

[Alex]

Hey @pitw,

Thanks for keeping us posted.

It is very likely that this issue is related to the phone's hardware or a software change introduced with one of the recent OS updates. We haven't seen reports from other community members of this behavior on Samsung phones recently.

What you can try is to start playback on another device, like a PC and switch to your phone using the Spotify Connect function. 

Let us know if songs play on the phone this way.

[peque96]

Hej:

I was looking for information about this since I have the same issue also in Android 12. I have done everything and rebooted and deleted the app and the related data. But the result is the same. And it is not the internet since the app actually allows you to "log in" and you can see that you get the home page but then if you try to play anything or load anything after that I get a green circle that stays forever. It does not even load my playlists it appears empty. If I log in via the computer or and iOS device everything is ok. We have in the house some other android devices still in Android 11 and they work fine. 

Best regards, s.r./P

[OscarDC]

Hey @peque96,

Thank you so much for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

We appreciate the time you've taken following the troubleshooting of this thread. Just to confirm, do you perform a clean reinstall of the app with the steps listed here?

If so, as there’s a new app version, would you mind confirming the app version you're currently running on your device?

We'll be on the lookout for your next response.

[pitw]

Still not working with v. 8.7.8.1206

[OscarDC]

Hey @pitw,

Thank you for keeping us updated.

If the issue persists after the update, we'll need more information to investigate further. Would you mind confirming if you have a SD card in your device? If so, remove it and try reinstalling the app again. If that's not the case, give it a try on the Web Player to see if it has the same behavior. 

Lastly, remember to try starting a playback on another device and switch it to your phone using the Spotify Connect function and let us know if it makes the difference. 

We'll be waiting for your next response.

[pitw]

No SD Card used.

Webplayer works.

Spotify Connect doesnt work either.

[Eni]

Hey there @pitw,

Thanks for your reply.

This issue is most likely caused by an incompatibility with Android 12, as the OS is very recent and Spotify is not yet optimized for it. Rest assured, this will of course be worked on with priority as Android 12 becomes available to more devices.

Thanks for your patience. If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.

[oeffi]

Same Issue here: Nokia XR20, since update to Android 12 App is not working anymore. Sometimes it does start, but will stop working soon (Crashing the system as well).
For the moment, I uninstalled the app. Please let us know once you got it working again. In the meantime, I consider switching to soundcloud.

BR, Olli

[dun1982]

Hi, I had same problem and it is a bug in Spotify. Nothing to do with cache and other things they keep asking you do.

Go to Settings => Storage => Internal memory (you might have something else here completely). By default Spotify installs to SD card (even if it is a partition inside internal "memory") and it prevents Spotify from caching. Switch to the only Internal "memory" option and it should start working.

See my thread on the same subject essentially (https://community.spotify.com/t5/Android/New-Phone-android-12-eternal-ring-when-selecting-playlist-a...). I sent the Spotify extra debug data to get this sorted out, but workaround is to use the internal "memory" selection. If your system does not have sd card, go to storage option in bottom of the Settings menu and try out each option.

[pitw]

Doesnt work for me: my S21 5G doesnt have an SD card; Switching partitions / internal memory isnt possible (not clickable in Spotify app).

@Spotify: After 5 months of struggling with support it still not works. Even worse I have the feeling that you're far away from taking our concerns serious! Support isn't helpful at all - its clearly a bug in Spotify app. If needed get your Dev's a device with Android 12 so they can check it!

[dun1982]

Yeah, I think you have internally part of your internal flash marked as sd card (portable formatted) and spotify has tantrum because of that fact.

As another flagship device owner you are not in the top priority user as most people buy cheap or 2nd/3rd hand devices maybe in bulk, but for the highest end market most users are still sadly iOs users 😞

So once android 12 hits mainstream, these bugs get solved or billion dollar company can get their hands on reported devices and do proper testing. I am just concerned as we are already in April 2022 and thus has not been fixed (should have been detected and fixed 3 months ago already).

Luckily I found workaround in my own device, but sad that it is not available and working for you 😞

[Abhere]

Same issue for me. Ever since the new Samsung update Spotify shows 'no internet connection' whenever on WiFi. This issue is definitely unique to the new Samsung update as Spotify works perfectly on the same WiFi network on other devices.

I've tried clean re-installing, clearing host data off of my DNS and other solutions on the community page. Waiting for an update because I've paid for premium and this is not the service I signed up for. 

[AndresM]

Hey everybody.

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community. 

In this case, we recommend (for Samsung users) that you check if you have the Samsung Device Care app installed (Settings > Device Care). If so, adjust the settings in order to exclude Spotify from any optimization that may affect the app. Since the Device Care app optimizes the device's performance by managing tasks and clearing cache and info, its functions may generate conflicts with Spotify.

On another note, if you have a different device with Android 12, we suggest that you disable Spotify of any battery optimization or 3rd party app that may manage the performance of your mobile. 

After you make any change, restart the app and let us know if the issue still persists.

We'll be looking for your reply.