Wear OS app keeps watch always awake

[Rothlo]

Plan

Premium

Country

United Kingdom

Device

Pixel Watch (1st Gen) with Pixel 7 Pro

Operating System

Wear OS 5.0 on watch,

Android 15 on phone

My Question or Issue

With the latest version of the Spotify app on Wear OS the app no longer respects the watch gestures to sleep/dim the screen. If I am using the Spotify app and then move my hand to my side, start walking, or try to let it timeout, Spotify remains fully active with the screen at full brightness and won't put the watch to sleep. I have the always on display turned on however it doesn't enter the 'sleep' mode where the screen dims and refresh rate is reduced, and inputs are disabled.

This obviously results in accidentally bumping the watch and things like knocking the crown so the music is suddenly deafening in my ears, accidentally hitting the screen and skipping songs, and the watch is awake for ages which kills the battery.

The only temporary solution is that when I've paused or skipped a track in the app, I then have to click the crown to close Spotify where suddenly the gestures work as normal and tilt-to-wake/sleep behaves as expected.

This only occurs in the Spotify app and I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling. The app never used to have this issue.

[Ivelina]

Hey there @Rothlo,

Thanks for reaching out via the Community and welcome!

We understand it can be annoying that Spotify keeps your watch awake and appreciate you sending over these details.

You mentioned that this started with the latest Spotify app version on the watch, but could you do a quick check on both the watch and phone in case any settings have been changed with this update which may be causing this behavior? This is just to be on the safe side.

Could you also temporarily disable the Always-on display and let us know how Spotify behaves then? 

A reinstall is a great step which you've already performed as it helps resolve different performance issues, but I think you could also try to disconnect and re-pair the watch and phone to see if that'll make any difference. 

If you've found a temporary solution with closing Spotify on the watch by clicking on the crown, it's worth testing with some troubleshooting in case anything changes the behavior.

Appreciate your cooperation and hope to hear from you soon.

[JeremiasBohn]

I have the same issue with the same watch, Google Pixel 9 Pro (same Android/Wear OS versions).

@Ivelina: On the watch, there are no relevant settings for this in the Spotify app (neither on the phone, that wouldn't make sense). I don't have always-on display activated, it behaves exactly the way as described by @Rothlo.

This also happens when the watch is in cinema mode, which should turn off the screen and not reactivate it until the crown or the watch's button is pressed.

[Rothlo]

No, unfortunately turning off always on display made no difference for me either just like @JeremiasBohn says.

I've spent the last couple of days trying to debug it and can't figure it out, tried turning off and on 'Auto-launch media', tried seeing what happens when it launches with other Bluetooth devices connected and disconnected and can't figure it out.

This seems to occur about 80% to 90% of the time. Sometimes the watch app boots and it's behaves normally, most other times it boots and decides it doesn't want to work. All I'd say is when the app launches it seems to remain consistent with if its behaviour until next time the app closes and opens.

[Ivelina]

Appreciate the cooperation @Rothlo and welcome to the thread @JeremiasBohn!

As we sadly couldn't reproduce this behavior from our end and we've not come across other reports on the matter, we'd like to ask you to troubleshoot in case anything changes the behavior. 

Could you please test with the suggested steps here which you've not already tried and keep us posted on how it goes? Specifically a reinstall is recommended as it often helps resolve different performance issues.

Thanks once again and we'll be on the lookout.

[donkey56]

I am also experiencing this same problem on my Pixel 2 watch.

Spotify version: 9.0.20.603

Wear OS version: 5.0

Restarting, resetting and reinstalling app does not resolve. 

Edit: a behaviour I forgot to mention is Spotify will also automatically open on my watch when unlocking it after putting my watch on. 

[OscarDC]

Hey @donkey56,

Thank you for joining the conversation.

We appreciate the info you've included in your post and the troubleshooting you've tried so far. To continue investigating this case, would you mind confirming if this happens with multiple apps or just Spotify?

Also, would you mind confirming if this behavior happens with music and podcasts as well?

On another note, @Rothlo it would be very helpful if you could include your device info too in your next response.

We'll be waiting for your response. 

[31a6w4wrtfkb5pzajrqx]

Sorry, this is my reply, I am too having this problem, this seems to occur with only Spotify I have the pixel 9 with the beta android and a pixel 1 watch with the latest updates, I have tried all other options, and none seem to work, this has been a problem for me even when I was unaware of it, because while I was working only a 5 hour shift, at the beginning of the shift it was fully charged and beforehand I was listening for a little bit then paused through my phone, then was too busy to look at my watch, then when my shift ended my watch was at 2% because Spotify was opened, and I do not have AOD on, and I have the tilt to wake on which should turn the screen off when I flip it the other way, but only Spotify it does not work

[Eni]

Hey there @31a6w4wrtfkb5pzajrqx, 

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

Could you send us the info @OscarDC asked for previously? We'll take a closer look. 

We'll be waiting for your reply.

[31a6w4wrtfkb5pzajrqx]

Yes, and I believe the info I left out was the watch is on wear os 5 and the pixel 9 is on android 9 beta 3

[donkey56]

As of the end of last week the issue seems to be resolved, my watch screen turns off\sleeps even when Spotify is actively open. 

[Rothlo]

Yeah me too, I don't know what changed but I haven't seen this error in a few days now either 🤞.

It still occurs

[JeremiasBohn]

Unfortunately, the issue persists for me. Did you change anything? Installed any updates which might be relevant?

[donkey56]

No, I made no changes to my watch or phone. I restarted my phone (for other reasons) and my watch battery did drain to zero one day last week and that's the only thing that I could think with any potential of helping the case without there being any small updates having happened. 

[Rothlo]

**bleep** just tried it when opening to see what version it says it's on and it occurred. Clearly I was to premature with my excitement. Disregard my previous post, this is not fixed for me.

edit: also why does l.m.a.o get censored, the bleep makes it look so much worse?

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for all the info you've sent so far. 

We'd like to take a closer look at what might be happening, so could you provide us with the following (if you haven't already)?: 

• your device's make, model and OS version
• the exact version of Spotify you're running
• has this started happening after a specific event such as an update?
• the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far

We'll pass this info on to the right team to be looked into. 

We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

[donkey56]

Thought I'd check in here again. The problem had stopped on its own for one week then began and stopped again for a couple days. 

Today the issue reoccurred after putting my watch on this morning and then I was able to remedy it but am unsure what step did the trick so one of the following:

Cleared Spotify's cache via the app details on my watch.

Turned AOD on and off.

Turned touch to wake off and on. 

Turned tilt to wake off and on. 

Turned off auto launch media controls. 

Next time it occurs I'll test between each of these changes. 

[OscarDC]

Hey @donkey56,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

We're glad to know that everything seems to be working well after the processes you made. We appreciate the tips you included in your response as they could help other users with the same issue. 

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

[radekal1]

I am also having this same issue. Pixel Watch 1 on Wear OS 5, Pixel 8a on Android 16 beta, Spotify Wear OS app version 9.0.26.625

[MihailY]

Hey @radekal1,

Thanks for reaching out.

Have you already tried the steps mentioned by @donkey56 above?

@Rothlo, @JeremiasBohn, @31a6w4wrtfkb5pzajrqx, please try them as well and send over the info requested by Eni if it's still not working as expected.

Cheers,