Spotify loses registration as media player in quick settings (losing control over playback)

[Zocker1999NET]

EDIT 2024-01-27: microG does track this issue in https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/issues/2118

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

Fairphone 4

Operating System

Lineage OS 20 with microG (Build Android 13)

My Issue

When restarting Spotify & playing back music, the app correctly registers itself as media playback with controls in the quick settings / notification area as other players do, enabling controls via media keys (e.g. from Bluetooth headsets). However, after Spotify played Music for sometime (without stopping it), the media control notification is suddenly away. This means, I cannot control anymore the playback using my headset or without unlocking my phone. I need to manually go into the Spotify app to stop music which is unfeasible in some contexts like driving.

This issue can only be solved temporarily by force stopping the app from Android settings, pausing & restarting playback or just swiping the app up from the task manager does not help.

Spotify is allowed to make all notifications categories. It’s app battery usage can be set to either “optimized” or “unrestricted” (EDIT unrestricted does not help). This does not happen to other apps registering as media players (AntennaPod, KDE Connect), which are set to “optimized” on battery usage.

EDIT: I just saw that the last update of Spotify was uploaded on 2023-10-17. This coincides to when this issue started to appear.

I can append logcat logs if requested.

[OscarDC]

Hey @Zocker1999NET,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

This type of issue is commonly related to app settings. We'd first recommend opening your settings and checking if the option "Spotify Connect in the background" is turned off. If so, turn it on and try again.

Also, as it gets temporarily fixed by stopping the app, it could be related to some damaged cache stored on your device. In this case, we'd recommend performing a clean reinstall of the app by following the steps in this article.

Lastly, include in your next response the Spotify version you're currently running to continue investigating the case.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

[highdraw]

I have the same problem, also on Fairphone 4 (/e/ OS with microG, Android 12). Also approximately since this date, now i am running 8.8.80.599.

"Spotify connect in background" is turned on, a clean reinstall did not help.

[Eni]

Hey @highdraw, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this and welcome to the Community!

If a clean reinstall using the guide linked above didn't do the trick, there're also a few other things we can try. Can you make sure that Spotify has all necessary permissions enabled?
 

1. Open your Settings menu.
2. Scroll to the bottom to find Spotify and open the app settings.
3. Enable everything you see.

It's also a good idea to exclude the app from any Battery optimization software that might be active on your smartphone. 

If the issue persists, could you ask a friend or a relative to log in to their account on your phone and check if they can replicate this behavior with their account? 

Keep us posted on how it goes.

[kmokma]

I am also experiencing this issue on my Pixel 6a running CalyxOS with MicroG. The notification becomes unsynced with what the app is actually playing (a track that had already played is displayed in the notification instead of the current one). Force close allows it work again for awhile before it happens again. I have tried checking permissions, cleared Spotify cache, uninstalled and reinstalled Spotify with no luck fixing the issue. The Spotify app version I'm using is 8.8.82.634.

[highdraw]

I also tried all battery optimization settings with no luck. If i find the time I will let someone else log in on my phone. But since 3 unrelated people experience the same issue at the same time, i don't see any point in following this seemingly random procedure. And suggesting to turn on all permissions, including camera, is a little bit weird, tbh. Thanks for trying to help, though, @Eni.

[OscarDC]

Hey folks!

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the info shared.

In order to continue investigating this internally, would you mind checking on another device with no MicroG to see if it makes any difference? In case you don't have another device, you can borrow one from a friend or a family member to test it out. 

Also, could you include in your next response the make/model of the affected headphones and check (if possible) if it happens with another Bluetooth devices?

We'll be on the lookout. 

[poltoracki]

Here to chip in as well, pretty similar setup like @kmokma actually, Just running Calyx on a Pixel 6. Spotify version is likewise 8.8.82.634, and I am also using MicroG. Don't have any inputs on devices without MicroG, i.e. those using good ol' Google Play Services. Could probably be related to that? (Since I haven't seen any other reports that mimic this one plus with the common denominator of MicroG) However I have no clue as to what could be causing the issue now that hasn't caused it before this update,**bleep** using phones with MircoG for almost 2 years now, and Spotify never failed me in that time.

All the aforementioned potential fixes regarding permissions, ect. likewise failed to fix the issue.

Could I provide any logs and or additional data that can be useful to your Team, @OscarDC ? I'd love to help out any way I can.

Kind regards!

[Vasil]

Hey folks!

Thank you all for the provided details 🙂

This is now being looked into and we'll let you know as soon as there's anything new on the matter.

Keep you apps up to date and stay on the lookout 🙌🏼

[poltoracki]

Tysm! Will do 🙂

[Novy]

Hi again folks, 

Thanks for your patience while we looked into this. 

This issue seems to be related to MicroG. Since it's not a fully supported OS, we can only recommend keeping the app up to date so that you don't miss out on any fix. 

If anything else comes up, the Community will be here.

Cheers!

[sAVioUr_]

Is there any further update in this problem? I am also facing the same issue on my pixel 6. The issue seems to start after I updated to android 14 , or when I changed my country to Germany in  Spotify (both were done nearly at the same time).

Furthermore I am not using micro g and do not have a Spotify premium subscription.

[poltoracki]

Bumping this thread again after seeing sAVioUr_'s post plus digging around online to see that a simmilar issue is occuring on other Pixels running Android 14, regardless of MicroG or not.

[IdmFoundInHim]

Neither microG nor requests for Play Services show up in logcat at all while reproducing the bug. Given reports from non-microG users, this does not seem like a microG issue. It may be at an operating system level. Regardless, the problem can be reproduced by:

1. Play music through Spotify, with media controls in the notification shade working as expected.

2. With music playing or paused, open recents and remove the app from recents

3. Use the media controls to resume or pause Spotify. The animation will stop halfway through and media controls will stop working properly. They will not update to match the song, seek time, etc. from Spotify. The buttons still work but only do what they say, so the user can only play and not pause (or only pause and not play).

Even if this is an Android bug, the problem could perhaps still be fixed by Spotify by changing how the app handles being closed. The bug does not occur when using the back button to exit the app or when the app is force stopped. The bug started around the time of both a Spotify update and a LineageOS (Android 13) update for me. That it appeared on Android 13 and 14 simultaneously seems to point to a Spotify regression but not definitively.

Logcat inspection yielded only a few notable lines.

This line only appears while the media controls are working:

    D MediaDataManager: State updated outside of notification

These lines appear when removing Spotify from recent apps (which causes the bug):

    D CoreBackPreview: Window{f4eefe3 u0 com.spotify.music/com.spotify.music.MainActivity}: Setting back callback null
    W InputManager-JNI: Input channel object 'f4eefe3 com.spotify.music/com.spotify.music.MainActivity (client)' was disposed without first being removed with the input manager!
    W UsageStatsService: Unexpected activity event reported! (com.spotify.music/com.spotify.music.SpotifyMainActivity event : 23 instanceId : 80399253)

When Spotify is starting from force stop:

    D MediaResumeListener: Checking for service component for com.spotify.music

    D MediaResumeListener: Testing if we can connect to ComponentInfo{com.spotify.music/com.spotify.music.libs.mediabrowserservice.SpotifyMediaBrowserService}

    E Spotify : [main] Failure setting callback for session spotify_root_media_resumption

    D ResumeMediaBrowser: Service connected for ComponentInfo{com.spotify.music/com.spotify.music.libs.mediabrowserservice.SpotifyMediaBrowserService}

    D MediaResumeListener: Connected to ComponentInfo{com.spotify.music/com.spotify.music.libs.mediabrowserservice.SpotifyMediaBrowserService}

    MediaResumeListener: Can get resumable media for 0 from ComponentInfo{com.spotify.music/com.spotify.music.libs.mediabrowserservice.SpotifyMediaBrowserService}

Android 13, LineageOS 20, Spotify 8.8.82.634

[sparklymachine]

I would also like to add that the Media Notification starts working fine if you toggle off and on Notifications for Spotify in Settings

[Jdkwbcl]

This is really annoying and still persists after 2.5 months. No other app has this problem so it's definitely on spotifys side, as far as I can tell. 

Issue doesn't happen in Spotify lite, by the way. 

[NorTicUs]

Same issue here, on e/OS 1.18 (Android 12) with microG. Tried a clean reinstall, gave full access to Spotify but no luck.

I tried to remove every privacy protection I found on Spotify, still no improvement. Fiddled with notifications settings, nothing.

My other media app (VLC, AntennaPod, NewPipe, ...) are still managing the quick setting nicely.

Let me know if you need additional information or log.

Thank you

[IslandRock]

double post

[dennis1805]

I'm experiencing these issues aswell on a Fairphone 4 running the latest LineageOS with microG. I also tried to reinstall the app and fiddle around with notification and battery settings. When this issue started appearing, I could at least still control Spotify with my bluetooth headphones but that stopped working too, so I can only control Spotify by opening the app.

@Novy how is LineageOS with microG not a fully supported OS? Supported by whom? The Spotify website just says "Android OS 5.0 or above" in the supported devices section.

@Novy

[wlfkrb]

I Have the same issue on a Fairphone 3 with /e/os and microg. It started with /e/os 18.1 (Android 12) and is still present an /e/os 19.1 (Android 13). I did several clean reinstalls and tweaked all possible settingst. Nothing worked. With Spotifiy light the notification player works flawless.