Shuffle is getting worse

[slashjim61]

Hey, 

Lately the shuffle on my playlist is driving me crazy. Every time I play a playlist, I always get the same songs in the queue. I tried with a lot of my playlists, I always get the same queue (depending on the playlist of course).

I had the same problem for years but I used to disable/enable shuffle 3 or 4 times than I'd get a random queue but I won't work anymore. 

I also cleaned all my "likes" so it won't influence the algorithm, but nothing changed. 

I'm really thinking about switching to Apple Music. Spotify user experience is only getting worse and frankly has never been good, it has always been just ok. It's 2021 and people are still having problems with the shuffle option ... 

Plan

Premium

Device

(Mac / Iphone)

[Ver]

Hey @slashjim61,

Thanks for reaching out to us 🙂

We'd suggest you give these steps a go and run a clean reinstall. That way you can make sure the app is up-to-date and the cache is not causing any issues.

It's also a good idea to try with another account. Are there any changes?

You can also send us a video recording of what you're seeing. We'll investigate this further.

Keep us posted! We'll be right here if you have any questions.

[slashjim61]

Hi Ver,

Thanks for answering my post. 

It's still the same 10-15 songs that end up in the top of the shuffled queue, but the steps did kind of randomize the order.

I also tried with playlists that I never listen to. In this case the shuffle does its job.

I guess the problem comes from the shuffle algorithm itself.

Are there any plans to fix it ? People are talking about it all over here and reddit. 

[Eni]

Hey there @slashjim61, 

Thanks for getting back to us 🙂

We have investigated this further and can confirm that this is an expected behavior. Some of the playlists may start shuffling the first 10 songs and then shuffle the rest of them.

We are always running tests in order to better our app and the experience with it. We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback with us and will make sure to pass it on to the right team.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We'll be happy to help.

[silvserp]

Hi @Ver,

I have been experiencing the same issue since the latest Spotify update release. I followed the steps in the article you linked and it didn't solve the problem. I keep hearing the exact same songs as before.

On top of that, every time I play a song anew, Spotify plays it another time - so twice in total - before going into shuffle/radio mode. It's so incredibly annoying.

Would you please provide help for both issues? I suspect they are related and, like I said, a consequence of the update. Thank you

[Novy]

Hey there @silvserp, 

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community, and welcome 🙂 

As @Eni mentioned, some playlists may start shuffling the first 10 songs and then shuffle the rest of them, so this is an expected behavior.

Regarding the songs playing twice, could you send over a video where we can take a better look at this issue? You can send a link to it or attach it using the Insert Video option in the post editor. 

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

[silvserp]

There you go

[Alex]

Hi @silvserp,

Thanks for the video.

It seems that once you play a new song, the Repeat button gets switched ON for some reason. Try switching it OFF manually and then playing a new song, see if that helps. You can go into the app Settings and try toggling Autoplay on/off and see if that makes a difference as well.

Can you also confirm to us that you've ran a clean reinstall of the app, clearing all app data and cache? Old cache can cause issues like this on some devices.

We'd also recommend you try Logging out Everywhere and making sure your Queue is absolutely cleared before shuffling a playlist.

Keep us posted on how you get on with this.

[silvserp]

Hi there,

I can confirm I have followed all of the steps above. I tried toggling Autoplay on/off and quitting Spotify in between, and no luck.
Will you please advise? Thank you

[Mihail]

Hey @silvserp,

Thanks for getting back to us.

Could you share screenshots of how your Queue looks the first and the second time the song is playing? Also, does this happen on other device or in our web player? Make sure to include the make, model, OS versionSpotify version on every device you've tried this on.

Keep us posted. We'll be keeping an eye our for your reply. 

[silvserp]

This is happening on my MacBook Air, MacOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H1030), and on my iPad as well. It's not happening on my phone, which uses Android

[Mihail]

Hey @silvserp,

Thanks for getting back to us with the screenshots.

Could you ask a friend or family member to log in on your devices and see if the issue comes up there as well? Alternatively you can create a free one here and use it for the test. That would help us determine whether this is an account issue or not.

Keep us posted on how things work out. 

[silvserp]

Hi, I think you are wasting my time and beating around the bush. If you had a clue of what is happening, you would have pointed me in the right direction already. Instead, you're having me taking screenshots and videos for a week, just adding annoyance to the problem I have already been experiencing for two weeks. 
Terrible customer service.
Just say that everything is changing, the algorithm is getting worse, the Recent Search tab only shows random searches, and the shuffle doesn't work anymore.

I regret paying for Premium. Goodbye 

[Eni]

Hi @silvserp,

Thanks for getting back in touch. 

We're sorry to hear that you feel this way. 

We asked you to try with a different account to help us narrow down the possible cause of the issue, in this case if it's account-related. 

Also, we suggest that you try reinstalling the app again on your PC, but this time while in Safe mode to check if that makes the difference. 

Keep us posted. 

[silvserp]

Can someone just call me and sort this out on the line please?

[Novy]

Hi again @silvserp, 

Thanks for your reply. 

At the moment, we don't offer phone support. However, we'd be happy to continue with the help in the Community. 

You can also reach out to our Support team here in case you prefer. 

We'll be right here.

[silvserp]

Hi, I created a new account and the issue doesn't seem to happen on there. I can also confirm that I have a new Mac laptop and the first day I was using it, Spotify was acting normally, like in the good old days. Even the Resent Search tab looked fine. Then, a few hours later, it got messed up on the new device as well. I can confirm that my Android smartphone is the only device where Spotify behaves normally. Thank you

[Alex]

Hey @silvserp,

Thanks for the reply.

We'd recommend you try using the new account for a couple of days and see if the issue comes back.

If it doesn't you can follow the instructions in this guide to transfer your Music collection over. As this issue is not something that we were able to reproduce on our side it might be account related.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[silvserp]

I clearly won't do that, as I PAY for Premium on my original account, and if it's an account issue then it's your job to solve it. Is this really your last suggestion?

[Alex]

Hi @silvserp,

Thanks for the quick reply.

We know it must be frustrating that some features of the app are not working as expected on your original account. 

Sometimes things brake in certain accounts and the best solution is to transfer your data to a new account. This is why we suggest to use the new account for a couple of days and see if it working without issues first.

You can reach out to our customer support team, if you wish, as they can help out with the account transfer.

Hope this makes sense.