Spotify stopped working completely on macOS Catalina

[abwhite57]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

MacBook Pro (16-inch 2019)

Operating System

macOS 10.15.7

My Question or Issue

Until yesterday, Spotify has been working fine on my MacBook--when I went to launch it, it hung for about 5 seconds, then there was an error that said "Oops something went wrong".  I was still able to see the sidebar, but anything I clicked on wouldn't load either.  I followed the instructions to completely remove Spotify (quit the app, delete folders in ~/Library/Caches and ~/Library/Application Support).  When I went to try to delete the app, I found it in the ~/Applications directory, rather than /Applications, which seemed weird.  I deleted the app, restarted, downloaded a new install, which seems to run to completion, but now when Spotify launches it is just a black window.  I'm not sure what would have caused it to suddenly stop working since I haven't updated the OS or anything else between the time when it was working and when it stopped working.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Mihail · Accepted solution]

Hey @abwhite57,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community.

Just to confirm, have you tried a clean reinstall of the Spotify app on your device? We recommend the steps in that guide, as they’re very thorough and make sure no damaged leftover files remain. These changes tend to solve issues like the one you're experiencing. Give your device a quick restart as well before you open the newly installed app. 

Afterwards you should also check your host files for Spotify entries and remove any you find. Even though it was written for another topic, this page has instructions on how to do this.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted on how it goes.  

[abwhite57]

That worked!  I think the trick was competely shutting down after removing all Spotify files.  Thanks so much for your response @Mihail!

[Eni]

Hi @abwhite57, 

You're welcome! If you ever need anything else, we're just a post away.

Have a great day 🙂