Spotify slow, freezes, no internet connection, cant search

[hidjededewitje]

Plan

Premium (Student)

Country

NL

Device

LG V30 (H930)

Operating System

Android 9

My Question or Issue

Hi,
My Spotify is unbelievably slow when starting up. It regularly freezes upon searching for artist or states that internet connection is lost (despite me actually having an internet connection).
It also has to regularly redownload songs. Here is a list of everything I tried:
- Log out and log in again
- Re-install
- Delete Spotify, unmount SD card, reboot device, reinstall Spotify, remount SD card
- Reset my account through Spotify support I do not use any cache clearing applications.
- Use the [COMPLETE] guide section's issues regarding issues with SD-card. (https://community.spotify.com/t5/Android/COMPLETE-GUIDE-How-to-fix-most-Android-issues/td-p/914257)

The only apps I use on my phone are social media, web browser, maps, streaming services (Netflix, Youtube) and I am trying to use Spotify. These are not cache clearing apps.
The issues persist on various different wifi networks. I don't know whether it works on mobile data, because I don't have mobile data.

I tried contacted the support chat today (for the 3rd time), but I got hung up instantly (hence I am giving the forums a shot). All the previous solutions have worked for about an afternoon/day. Hopefully the next solution will last a bit longer. What would be the next suggestion?

Thanks in advance and kind regards,

Hidde

[Jeremy]

Hi there @hidjededewitje,

Thank you for your post here in the Community and for letting us know what troubleshooting you've done so far.

Can you confirm if you followed these steps when you reinstalled the app? 

We also suggest that you try the following:

• Try an alternative connection (if on a public or office network try a private network, if possible)
• Soft reset of the device
• Ensure the operating system is up-to-date

Keep us posted 🙂

Take care!

[hidjededewitje]

Can you confirm if you followed these steps when you reinstalled the app? 

This is the same method the support recommended me. Yes, I have tried this. Unfortunately this leads to a solution for about an afternoon. Then it starts showing issues again.

Try an alternative connection (if on a public or office network try a private network, if possible)

Spotify also shows issues on my universities wifi (eduroam network).

Soft reset of the device

I have tried turning the device off and on again. I did not do a factory reset among the likes.

Ensure the operating system is up-to-date

The device is on it's most recent android version and security update. Spotify also has this.

[Eni]

Hi @hidjededewitje, 

Thanks for getting back in touch. 

Would you mind letting us know if you're using an SD card? If so, we suggest that you remove it > restart your phone > reinstall the app again following the steps @Jeremy sent previously. 

If this doesn't do the trick, there's 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.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

[hidjededewitje]

Would you mind letting us know if you're using an SD card? If so, we suggest that you remove it > restart your phone > reinstall the app again following the steps @Jeremy sent previously. 

I have tried this earlier. In fact the guide (from this forum) that I linked earlier even requires you to format the SD-card. I presume this more rigourous solution is sufficient.

Regarding spotify's demands and battery saving mode.

Spotify always had a battery saving mode exception. If I turn this off Spotify occasionally stops playing when I lock my screen.

As for the other permissions, I have allowed them once (all permissions allowed) for a week. No different results showed. I decided to turn everything off besides storage access. Frankly I don't see why a music player should have access to my microphone or camera.

Thank you for the suggestions.

[Alex]

Hey @hidjededewitje,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Another thing you can try is to do a factory reset on your phone, or try Spotify Lite.

Apart from that, have you tried logging in with another account? It's worth trying all options.

Keep us posted.

[hidjededewitje]

Another thing you can try is to do a factory reset on your phone, or try Spotify Lite.

I have not tried a factory reset. I feel like this should be a last resort issue.

I will try Spotify Light.

Apart from that, have you tried logging in with another account?

Yes. This worked perfectly fine. However the account I tried this on was a test account provided by the spotify customer support. I was only able to test this for a short time (<30min). Typically the issues only show after ~an afternoon or so.

I feel like this solution is therefor inconclusive.

I do not have another premium account that I can use to log in to.

[Alex]

Hey @hidjededewitje,

Thanks for the reply.

If the app worked better with the test account, it's worth creating a new free account and using that one for some time. If the app functions normally you might consider transferring your music library over following this guide.

Sometimes accounts get broken and a transfer is the best step forward.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[hidjededewitje]

The new account will have a new username and email. I value such information attached to my spotify account. Since the experiment was inconclusive it seems like a step that only loses these benefits.

Besides that, since I use a student account I am only able to have 1 discounted subscription.

[Alex]

Hey @hidjededewitje,

Thanks for the reply.

If the new account functions better, you can reach out to the customer support team again, as they can transfer your student discount and email address as well.

But before you do this, we'd recommend testing it out for a few days to be sure.

[hidjededewitje]

Hi,
Sorry for the late response, my life has been very busy lately.

Spotify support is not able to transfer my history (of both music and payments) they are also not able to transfer my subscription. I am not paying for 2 subscriptions.

As for the suggested other suggestion of using spotify lite. This is not possible due to spotify lite being not available in my country.

Thanks for offering help though.

[CarlosE]

Hi again @hidjededewitje,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

That's right - it's not possible to transfer subscriptions or listening history to other accounts, but they can transfer your student discount, so you'd just need to cancel the subscription in the affected account and subscribe again in the new account and you'll keep the discounted price. As you start using the new account, the app will start to get to know your taste again and give you recommendations based on that. It might take a couple of weeks.

We know it's not ideal, but sometimes issues can occur with specific accounts that can't be fixed with regular troubleshooting, so the best way to go is creating a new account.

We suggest keeping in touch with the folks from the Support team, as they can take a look at your account and provide you with more accurate info and instructions.

If you have any questions or need a hand with anything else, we're just a post away.

Cheers!