Issue with storage option switching from SD Card to internal

[haydnrb7]

Plan

Premium

Country

US 

Device

Moto X4

Operating System

Android Pie

My Question or Issue

 This happened with my last phone, Samsung S7 running Oreo (or whatever the most recent OS is) but it was fixed when I got the Moto X4. I like to keep a lot of songs downloaded offline because my service is terrible and I also spend a lot of time in the mountains. Before I I update my phone to the new Android Pie OS there was no problems. Now everytime I reset my phone I think spotify cannot see my SD card at first and tries to download all the music to its internal storage and I have to go back in and tell it to store it in the SD card. That is extremely annyoing but not the end of the world. What is really frustrating is that I think all of the downloaded songs are still on the SD card and just keep redownloading and taking up space. Eventually this will cause me to reformat the card which will be a major pain for me since I store a large amount of photos on there also. Is anyone else have this problem? I have already uninstalled and reinstalled the application so any other suggestions or help?

[xdjoshuaaz]

Just want to say I'm also getting this problem.

Plan: Premium

Country: UK

Device: Samsung Galaxy Note9

OS: Android Pie / 9.0

Spotify version in settings: 8.4.88.150

This only started occuring after the update to Pie. After restarting my phone, Spotify switches over to the internal storage and begins downloading all music again. Moving storage back to SD card still re-downloads all music, and it wipes the Spotify data folder on the SD card as determined by free space changing drastically before and after changing storage location to SD card, so it doesn't check what music is present on the SD card (something that could be done at least to stop burning through our bandwidth/data... the files are already there?)

More than happy to install beta/debuggable APKs and to dump logcat information if needed.

Edit: just installed the alpha (8.4.90.448), still happens.

Just want to say that bugs like this can cost unsuspecting users their data plan (if cellular downloads are enabled) or their WiFi/internet data allowance (if capped). Not everyone has unlimited data, and whilst I'm not in this subset of people, I would be very annoyed if my internet was throttled or even worse if I was charged data fees because of bugs like this.

[dgs2-q_s9hk3h]

Spotify adds a layer to the encryption that seems to be specific to the app it was downloaded on. This makes it harder to copy but also means if you reinstall the app you need to re-download your music. As for the sd card Spotify doesn't start with the os you could go to settings and make sure the sd card is mounted before running Spotify 

[Cub1con]

Same problem here, App is basically not useable anymore.

[jokee]

I have same problem after updating Pie on Samsung Galaxy S9+

[unblinkingbleb]

Same here, Moto X4 running Android Pie 9.0.

This is a particularly infuriating glitch since you have to redownload everything every reboot. I've taken to not turning off my phone but that's not a healthy habit either. Please give some sort of roadmap or sign of life on this, spotify team.

[dgs2-q_s9hk3h]

This is not a problem for me on my asus or my lg. I would suggest 4 things;
1.make sure sd is selected in spotify.
2.Shut down spotify before shutting down phone it should properly close the
apt but....
3. Make sure the sd card is mounted before turning spotify on after restart
it might not happen right away depending on how much is starting at boot up
4. Make sure you don't have some "space saving" type apt that limits or
deletes apt cache

[jokee]

thank You for Your advice, but all seems OK, but not work.

[scrooke]

Same problem here since upgrading to Android (pie).  I can get files to download to the SD card and they will stay there while the phone (Samsung S9) is on, but once the phone is restarted the storage reverts to the internal storage.  This causes the files on the SD card to not be recognised and requires redownloading of the songs.  This is gobbling up my data allowance at a rapid rate.  A few years ago there was a similar problem with Spotify where downloaded songs would not stay on the device (android only, I had no problem with my apple device or PC).  I have enjoyed years of trouble free operation once that problem was rectified.  But alas, a new android operating system has toasted the useful functionality of Spotify.  Same old story, be wary of operating system upgrades as they invariably lead to tears.  Hopefully Spotify will look into this and fix the problem even though it appears to not be their fault in this instance.  Otherwise I may have to cancel my subscription.

[emeba]

I have the same problem too, started directly after updating to pie on Galaxy s9. Please fix Spotify! 

[emeba]

Someone suggested this... Try it out. I'm going to try it today.

 ....

I've actually had the problem for the last months as well and it seems it
is solved on my phone. This is what I did:

1. Delete cache and all data in the app on your phone.
2. Uninstall the app.

3. Use a pc and login to manage your account via browser
4. Navigate to your 'offline devices' and delete all listed devices from
the list.

5. Install the app on your phone and log in.

Ever since Spotify uses my SD card properly.

Good luck, fellows!