Desktop App Slow / Bad / No Response

[Gil]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

Dell XPS, Core 11. Gen, 32 GB Ram, Nvidia Graphic, Focusrite 18i20

Operating System

Windows 11 23H2

My Question or Issue

I've been having a huge problem with the response time of the user interface for a week now. Play and search usually react slowly, sometimes after several seconds, sometimes not at all. Playlists are only called up with a delay, most of the time they don't appear at all. I often get the message "current track cannot be played" (or similar). All in all, the app is barely usable.

I'm currently using the app in the browser, which works without any problems.

Unsuccessful attempts: App reinstalled several times (because the error has been there for a long time, an update has already been loaded in between), cache emptied, cache paths changed, hardware acceleration deactivated, start as administartor, my interface (I use a Focusrite 18i20) exchanged for another one as a test, audio playback via the audio ports of the LCD monitors, firewall (no restrictions), I have a fast fiber optic connection (streaming 4K videos is problem-free), update checks of all drivers, bios is up to date.

Despite all my attempts, I can no longer get the desktop app to run normally. I have quite a lot of playlists, some of them large, but they didn't cause any problems until about a month ago.

Is there any other idea what is causing the problem? The computer, which is also used as an editing suite for videos and video streaming and otherwise runs fast and stable with all apps (see specs), should not be the problem.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Hardcoreboogie]

Plan
Premium
Country
Netherlands
Device
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400F / 2.90GHz / 8GB RAM
* My RAM is a bit low for this time and age, but Task Manager shows the Spotify app never uses more than 400 to 500 MB, so that's an unlikely culprit.
OS
Windows 10, 22H2
1 Gbit/s fiber optic

I have exactly the same issues! All related to the slow response / loading time of UI elements. It started immediately after installing the previous update, about 1 or two weeks ago. The most recent update, Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.43.420.gc7b23f70, didn't solve anything in that regard.

[Joan]

Hi there @Gil, @Hardcoreboogie,

Thanks for reaching out. 

@Hardcoreboogie could you please try the troubleshooting steps mentioned in the original post and let us know if that fixes the issue? Make sure a clean reinstall is among the things you try first as it can resolve a multitude of issues. 

@Gil you mentioned having a lot of playlists and this can very well be the cause. While the app can support a lot of content, the more it has to process, the more likely it is for the performance to degrade. If possible. log in with a different account and see if the behaviour is any different. You can use the account of someone you know or make a new one yourself. 

Hope this helps. Keep us posted.

[Gil]

A "clean reinstall" would now be worth a try. I should mention that I have a Macbook Pro M2 that works with the Spotify desktop app without any problems. I'll try my luck.

[Gil]

I have now tried a "clean install", i.e. really cleaning up the registry and deleting all known locations with temporary data. Unfortunately it was unsuccessful. I still have an old Core i3 Dell here as a micro PC. It also has the same problem. (Windows 10, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB M2 SSD). It hasn't been in use for about 9-12 weeks, but I didn't have any problems with Spotify (I used to listen to music on the side in my home office) till today (after Update to latest Version) 

[Gil]

Another Windows 11 update today: Spotify wanted new permissions in the firewall settings -> Accepted ("Unblock"), unfortunately without success. I'm thinking about canceling my Premium subscription and only using a Free account to follow some important playlists, but switching to other providers to listen to music. I think I've been a loyal customer for over 10 years, but that's really not an option.

[Draco4533]

Heya I’m having the exact same issue, Spotify this is serious you are more than likely going to see massive profit drops over the next couple of weeks if you don’t fix this problem.

[Gil]

Did someone solve the Problem? Still have the same Issues. So Sad

[Hardcoreboogie]

Still the same slow loading issues.

Since my last comment, I received another update: Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.44.405.g81fd6352 (even the slider menu "About Spotify" took 10 sec to load).

Since this has been going on for so long now, I'm starting to speculate it's not something Spotify considers a bug, just a new reality. Or maybe we're part of a staged rollout of some kind. One that affects only a small subset of users.

[SourRaven276]

I have been having the same issues. Nothing seems to fix it. I am considering canceling my subscription if there is no fix. I don't want to sit for 10 minutes waiting for an app that should be able to load within just seconds.

I should also mention that I've done a clean reinstall, and I have 32 GBs of ram and an intel i7 13th gen. My laptop is not the issue. I just want to be able to listen to music again.