Spotify starts playing randomly on my Android device

[G_Loc]

Every now and then while listening to Spotify on my laptop, the Spotify app on my phone will launch and whatever song I was listening to will resume playing on there.  My phone is locked when this happens.  This is extremely annoying.

This started happening about 2 weeks ago.  Not sure if the problem lies with the Android app or desktop client.  Any idea why this is happening?

[G_Loc]

What the heck.  That doesn't seem right.  Why would we need to reinstall the app rather than have this fixed via an update?  I've gotten numerous updates for both the desktop software and Android app (just installed one right now - maybe this one will fix the issue?).  Sounds like one of those lazy, basic tech support script steps.

[Vanterax]

It happened again today.  I started listening on the Windows desktop app and my Nexus 6P started playing the same song.  Both were playing at the same time!!  It was darn embarassing in the office having Rage Against The Machine screaming "F-U I won't do what you tell me!"

[Kariolimfa]

It's happening to me a lot, and I'm not too happy with reinstalling as I have to download gigs of music every time... is there no solution for this yet? 

annoying and stupid problem...

[Kariolimfa]

Well, that saves me from contacting them, hopefully they will fix this. Thanks

[Leonardo]

Hi everyone!

We were aware of an issue with Connect across multiple devices, but this should have been fixed by now.

Could you guys let us know the following:

1. Device and Spotify version (on both devices).

2. Operating system (on both devices).

3. Is this happening over WiFi or 3G/4G?

4. When did this start happening exactly? Was it after an update?

5. Have you tried reinstalling the app or device? Does it help?

We'll see what we can suggest 🙂

[kolorafa]

Exactly the same thing, yesterday it happend to me first time but also yesterday it happend 3 times! It just stopped music on my desktop at work when i was listening to music on my headphones and start play on mobile with volume at full.

It's even worse because somehow even when my bluetooth was connected it still played from my phone rather play on my a2dp bluetooth where i usually play. I never play spotify from my phone speakers!

After 2'th time i did reopen spotify and closed it, but it still did the same.
After 3'th time i did switch my phone to airplain mode, but that's not a solution.

Btw, How to even close spotify? 
Asking because it still show playback notifications on my phone when i start play on my desktop.

[G_Loc]

@Leonardo - Here's the answers to your question:

1. Device and Spotify version:

   • Pixel (7.1.2) - 8.4.0.539
   • Windows 10 - 1.0.53.758.gde3fc4b2

2. Operating system (on both devices).

   • Android 7.1.2
   • Windows 10 Pro - 10.0.15063 Build 15063

3. Is this happening over WiFi or 3G/4G?

   • Wifi

4. When did this start happening exactly? Was it after an update?

   • About 2 months ago at this point.  Don't know if it coincided with an update as the Android app and Windows desktop software both update rather frequently
5. Have you tried reinstalling the app or device? Does it help?
   • Have not tried this

[GravyMonster]

@Leonardo - Here's the answers to your question:

1. Device and Spotify version:

   • Galaxy S7 Edge - 8.4.0.539 armV7
   • Windows 10 -  1.0.52.725.g943b26a8
   • OSX - 1.0.53.758.gde3fc4b2

2. Operating system (on both devices).

   • Android 7.0
   • Windows 10 Pro N 64 bit - 14393.1066
   • OSX Sierra 10.12.3

3. Is this happening over WiFi or 3G/4G?

   • Both

4. When did this start happening exactly? Was it after an update?

   • Same as G_Loc: About 2 months ago at this point.  Don't know if it coincided with an update as the Android app and Windows desktop software both update rather frequently
5. Have you tried reinstalling the app or device? Does it help?
   • Have not tried this

[lalogalindo]

I'm having the same issue.

Device and Spotify version (on both devices).

• Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
  • Spotify Version – 8.4.0.539 armV7
• Macbook Pro late 2012
  • Spotify Version – 1.0.53.758.gde3fc4b2

Operating system (on both devices).

• Android 6.0.1
• macOS Sierra 10.12.4

Is this happening over WiFi or 3G/4G?

• Over WiFi

When did this start happening exactly? Was it after an update?

• I'm not sure

Have you tried reinstalling the app or device? Does it help?

• I haven't

[mustang13]

I hadn't had this happen since the time I posted in this thread, but it just happened again. This time the scenario was a bit different. I was listening to a song on my work computer through the Spotify desktop client. My phone was connected to WiFi. I added a song to a playlist on the desktop, and immediately Spotify started playing from my phone and stopped on the computer. This time I think it had something to do with Spotify downloading the song I just added to the playlist, since I have that playlist set to download to my phone.

1. Google Pixel, Spotify Version 8.4.0.539 armV7; Windows 7, Spotify Version 1.0.53.758.gde3fc4b2
2. Android Version 7.1.2, Windows 7
3. Android was connected to WiFi, but the WiFi is not the same network as the desktop. So the communication between the devices happened over the internet.
4. Not sure exactly. As I mentioned above, I've seen it happen in a couple different scenarios.
5. Has happened on 2 different Pixels.

[mdelolmo]

Hi, I'm a member of the team at Spotify working with Spotify Connect.
First of all, thanks for reporting! and sorry for the inconvenience. 🙁
I will be investigating this issue so I'm trying to collect information to be able to fix it, so, would you be so kind to answer the following questions?
1. Which version of the Android Spotify were you using the last time this happened? (Version number, like 8.40)
2. Were you using the Spotify Connect device picker (That would be the screen you see after tapping on "Devices Available") in the Android app before the issue (even if you used it many hours before)?

3. Did the sound come out of the Android device itself or it was connected to a Bluetooth A2DP device (Headphones or Speakers)?

[G_Loc]

Hello,

Great timing as it just happened right now 5 tracks into an album.  As for your questions:

1. Which version of the Android Spotify were you using the last time this happened? 

8.4.0.539

2. Were you using the Spotify Connect device picker (That would be the screen you see after tapping on "Devices Available") in the Android app before the issue (even if you used it many hours before)?

No

3. Did the sound come out of the Android device itself or it was connected to a Bluetooth A2DP device (Headphones or Speakers)?

Sound came out of my Android device, it was not connected to any Bluetooth devices.  About an hour ago I had used Spotify in conjunction with my vehicle's Bluetooth radio, but it wasn't actively connected to any other Bluetooth devices at the time.

The desktop software detects my phone on the network and the app on my phone takes over.  I'll be more than happy to fire up Android Studio and keep an eye on the logs - perhaps they can provide some useful info.

[mdelolmo]

@G_Loc,

Thanks for the responses and your patience.

Regarding the Android logs: Thanks for your kind offer, but I'm afraid Logcat won't reveal much on a release build (We do log very little on release builds for the sake of security).

Certain piece of logic in the app would pull playback to the phone if a speaker or headphone (wired or bluetooth) is connected, but this does not seem to be your case. That was the reason of question 3.

Another possible explanation was a bug in the Android client that happened when using the device picker to transfer the playback to the local device and later restoring the app session. That was making the app to unexpectedly pull playback when restoring the session. That should be fixed in 8.4.1, but since you did not open the device picker, it doesn't sound like your issue either.

I will to analyze some Spotify Connect logs to find out what is happening.

[stemeta]

This has been happening to me everyday for the last 2 weeks. It's very annoying

[berge90]

1. Which version of the Android Spotify were you using the last time this happened? (Version number, like 8.40)

Windows 10: 1.0.53.758.gde3fc4b2

Android Nougat: 8.4.0.539 armV7

2. Were you using the Spotify Connect device picker (That would be the screen you see after tapping on "Devices Available") in the Android app before the issue (even if you used it many hours before)?

The problem only happens when the spotify widget-thing is present from the pull-down menu. So when I open the app (while spotify playing on my computer) I choose "continue" and then exit the app. This leaves the widget thing there and it could switch at any moment. There seems to be problems where the widget is not synced (it shows a different song). Sometimes the app on my phone also shows a different song than the widget, when the pc-application is playing a totaly different song. So three different songs showing.

When I contacted support and logged in with the test account they provided me with, the widget still displayed the song that was last playing on my account. Which was logged out of before logging in with the test account.

3. Did the sound come out of the Android device itself or it was connected to a Bluetooth A2DP device (Headphones or Speakers)?

Only the device. It's not connected to any bluetooth device.

Screenshot is from when I tried to explain the problem to the support guy..

[Felipeg]

Also happens to me, started about 3-4 weeks ago. I'm using Spotify version 1.0.53.758.gde3fc4b2 on macOS Sierra and a Galaxy S7 Edge with Android 6.0.1 and Spotify version 8.4.0.539. It happens randomly from time to time but almost always when I add a song to a playlist.

[mattnesb]

These answers match those I would be giving to the questions related to this problem.

[mdelolmo]

Hi all,

Once more, thanks for your responses and patience.

I'm still gathering some information to be able to confirm (or develop) the fix for the issue.

Of those affected by the issue and running the Spotify app version 8.4.0,

how many did see the following popup and selected "Listen on this phone" some time before the issue was experienced (minutes, hours)?

Best,

Manuel

[berge90]

Couple of minutes. But then it happened again several hours later without touching the phone

[Felipeg]

I haven't noticed any popups before the issue happens, usually my phone is idle (screen off) on the other side of the room. I will start to pay more attention to see if this happens and post again.