Why does most of my current queue disappear when I re-open Spotify?

[SilentBob74]

I have been experiencing this issue for a few weeks now. I usually use Spotify on my Android phone via Android Auto in my car. I will choose an album or playlist to listen to on my drive. I also always have the "repeat all" option selected. But when I leave the car and close the app, when I next open Spotify (whether from Android Auto or from the phone app before I get to the car) the playing queue no longer includes all of the songs from the current album or playlist. Instead it will only include the last song played plus the 4 or 5 songs previously played. So I then have to browse again for the album/playlist and manually select the last song played to re-open the full playing queue.

[Lyubka]

Hey @SilentBob74,

Thanks for reaching out here in the Community!

Could you try restarting your phone to see if that makes any difference for you?

If you still experience this, it might be caused by an issue with your device's cache. Not to worry, performing a clean reinstall of the app with the steps here should help solve this. It'll also get you the latest app version with all necessary updates and fixes and will remove any corrupted files from previous installations.

Keep in mind that you'll need to re-download your offline music and podcasts afterwards.

On another note, make sure that Battery optimization is not enabled for Spotify from the system app settings, as well as that the app is granted all permissions. These settings could also be hindering the performance of the app. 
 

Hope this helps.Let us know how it goes. 

[SilentBob74]

I also emailed the details to Spotify support, as I wasn't sure if they would actually monitor these forums. As per their advice, I performed a clean reinstall. I.e. Force close, clear app cache, clear app storage, uninstall, restart phone, reinstall app. This did not, however, fix the issue. It is still there. I also answered their additional questions as follows...

• What’s your device and operating system version? (e.g. Mac Sierra 10.12, Windows 8, iPhone 6S, Android 7.0 etc.)
  OnePlus Nord AC2003 / OS = Android 11
• What’s your current app version?
  8.7.82.94
• Is this happening over WiFi? 3G/4G? Both?
  I would usually be using it in my car over the phone network (3G/4G), so I couldn't tell you if it happens on WiFi too. 
• How much storage you have left on your device?
  44.67GB free.
• Do you use any cache-clearing or task-killing apps?
  No.
• Is there an external SD card installed on your device?
  No.
• How long you've had this issue?
  I am not sure exactly, but I would say probably a few weeks.
• What actions led to it happening?
  No specific action. I first noticed it when I would plug my phone into the car, drive off and after the current song finished it would move on to an earlier song that I knew had already played. I would then go into the now playing queue to move to the correct song and it wouldn't be there, but there would just be 4 to 6 previous songs listed only. I would then, whilst driving, have to "browse" to either select the album/playlist again or to quickly choose another. After a few instances of this happening I have got into the habit of checking my now playing before I get to the car, and having to go through those same actions on my phone. This happens pretty much everytime now.
• Does the issue appear on any other devices that you use Spotify on?
  I don't know. I do know that if I go to the web player it will show the same reduced queue. but this is presumably just synced from my phone. I do not generally use the web player, or any other devices (except where controlled from my phone anyway. E.g. Spotify Connect).

And the response from support to this? They expect me to buy a new phone so that I can try it out on a different device. WTAF? I have had this phone over 2 years and it hasn't had an update for around 6 months. Yet this issue has been happening for just a few weeks. Nothing has changed on my phone that would cause this. But, yeah, expect me to buy a new phone just for troubleshooting?

[MihailY]

Hey @SilentBob74,

Thanks for getting back to us with that info.

We've tested this on our end using the same Spotify version, however, we couldn't reproduce the issue. Would it be possible to send us a video of it, so we can investigate further? If the file size is too large, you can also upload it in YouTube or Google Drive.

Keep us posted.

[ThatAction27]

I have a very similar issue. If I'm using spotify offline, when I open the app again and hit play at the current song, it won't play so I have to skip to the next song and back which often clears my entire queue and shuffles it from the start. 

[SilentBob74]

That is quite interesting. I do not use Spotify offline myself (not intentionally) and I do not download music locally. However, I have had an issue for several months now whereby my phone signal constantly dips in and out through the day when in the area directly around my home / home town. So when driving I will usually be in that area at the start or end of my journey. So it is likely that I will experience poor or no signal at some point. Indeed, when leaving my home in the morning it can be quite common for the next track not to play until I am out of the problem area.

But... this issue with network signal has been going on for several months, whereas this Spotify issue has only been happening for a few weeks. So if it is related, then it must be related to a software change that has affected how Spotify copes with a loss of data connection.

[SilentBob74]

@MihailY Thanks for your feedback. However, I'm not sure how useful a video would be. It would be two videos. The first simply showing me opening an album or playlist, selecting to play it and showing the full playing queue. The second would be some time later, a short while after I finish my journey, showing me open the playing queue to demonstrate there being less songs in there. There is nothing I have seen or could capture that would show the songs dropping out of the playlist. So this would simply be a demonstration of what I have already described but would not give any additional useful info.

[Dian]

Hi there @SilentBob74,

Thanks for the response. As stated by @Mihail, we were unable to reproduce the behavior. Therefore, we need some other way to see the exact issue and being able to visualize it via a video definitely helps with troubleshooting. So, whenever possible, please send us the recording and we'll gladly investigate further.

Could you try using the app in Offline Mode as well? It's also important to be sure if this issue is happening only when the Repeat All button or Shuffle buttons are active.

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[carbonthief]

This is happening to me too.  Restarting my phone doesn't help at all, and in fact, the issue persisted across a complete and total phone change.  2 different Android phones.  It just happens sometimes, but is particularly annoying with large playlists.  It will just forget it's playing a playlist, and just start looping the last 5 songs, forever, until I go back to the playlist and play a song from it again.

[SilentBob74]

I forgot about this thread that I started. Lol. This issue is still happening for me on a regular basis despite the following changes since...

- Several updates for the Spotify app, now taking me to 8.8.16.615

- Phone updated to Android 12

- Changed to a different phone network, so no longer having regular network drops

It is still incredibly frustrating, and despite having got into a habit of checking my now playing and re-queueing the  album or playlist before getting in the car, it occasionally doe this mid drive/Spotify session too.

Several months ago I did, as per your request, make screen recordings of me adding a playlist to my Now Playing, and then of me checking my Now Playing after a short drive. For what it's worth, you can find these here...

Spotify_AddingPlaylistToNowPlaying.mp4

Spotify_NowPlayingAfterAShortDrive.mp4

[Lyubka]

Hey folks.

Thank you for your replies.

We've forwarded this to the relevant team at Spotify, however, we can't confirm when it will be addressed. In the meantime, make sure to always keep the app up to date with the latest version, so that you don't miss out on any fixes and improvements.

Cheers! 

[Thrasher2023]

My partner and I are having this issue as well - Pixel 4a and Pixel 6. Spotify will either forget it's playing a playlist and just play 10-20 random songs in a loop or it will simply repeat a few from the list over and over.

It's extremely annoying - especially as it keeps selecting the SAME songs over and over when it forgets the playlist. As 99.9% of the time we are driving it's not possible to change anything without pulling over so please can you look into this - it's obviously a common issue. The app has one job - to play the songs I want from my playlists and it fails miserably at it!!!

[Thrasher2023]

Just to be clear - this is simply when playing a playlist in the default order, no repeat or shuffle (incidentally shuffle is awful - in a playlist with 4000 songs it plays 20 and starts again!!!!)

[happynerd1200]

Hey, I am also having this issue, which is very annoying, I hope there will be a fix for this soon.

[RM_7]

I'm having this issue as well, especially after the second-most-recent update. I'll put some songs in my queue, sync up to my car's Bluetooth, and listen while I'm driving. Then I park, turn the car off, and Spotify stops playing and also dumps my queue.

It'll still show the most recent song in the song preview in the pull-down-from-the-top-of-my-screen-phone-menu, but it'll lack the forward/backward buttons. If I swipe down on the song preview in the aforementioned menu, it'll also be missing the bar that shows you how much time has elapsed. It'll still have - the play button (though pressing it does nothing) - the little "Media Output" button in the corner - the album cover - the song name - and the band's/musician's name

This also happened once while the car was still on. The currently-playing song had been selected from the "Recommended Songs" list under one of my albums, and then I added the currently-playing song to the album it had been recommended from. I switched to my maps app, switched back to Spotify, and my queue had been dropped and the song abandoned.

1. It's quite annoying, as I listen to Spotify almost exclusively through my queue