Bluetooth speaker unable to control volume when listening to podcasts

[Jack718]

Plan: Premium

Country: USA

Device: iPhone 13 Pro

Operating System: iOS  16.2

Spotify version: 8.7.94.551

I have a Bose SoundLink Flex speaker that I connect to my iPhone via Bluetooth to listen to podcasts at a speed of 1.5x (my normal setting). However, I have encountered an issue where I am unable to control the volume while listening. Despite attempting various troubleshooting measures such as disconnecting my phone, restarting it, forgetting the Bluetooth device, and factory resetting it, the issue persists. The play/pause functionality still works, but the volume controls are the ones having an issue. Upon further experimentation, I discovered that the volume control issue only occurs when the podcast speed is set above 1x. When I set the speed to below 1x (0.8x), I am able to control the volume as normal. I have consistently reproduced this bug.

[Lyubka]

Hey @Jack718,

Thank you for reaching out here in the Community.

Old cached files can sometimes interfere with the app's performance on your device. It's a good idea to clear them with the steps here. 

If the issue persists, would you mind checking on a different device than your iPhone to see if it makes any difference? This will give us a better look at the issue.

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[Jack718]

Hi @Lyubka,


Thanks for your response. I forgot to mention that I cleared the cache and removed the app before reinstalling it. I also tried connecting the speaker to my Macbook, but the issue did not occur. It seems to be a bug with the Spotify app on iOS.

[Lyubka]

Hey @Jack718,

Thanks for getting back to us and for the troubleshooting you've tried so far.

I spent some time reproducing the issue on my end as I am also an iOS user. Unfortunately, I did not get the same results while testing this.

You got us thinking that this might be an account related issue and we'd like you to try with a different account. If a family member has a Spotify account, it could be a good idea to ask them to log in on your device to see if the app behaves the same way.

In case this is not possible, it'd be great if you can create a free account for testing purposes and try it to see if you'll experience the same. This will help us understand if it's account related or not. 

Let us know how it goes. 

[Jack718]

sorry for the late reply.

I've created a new Spotify free account, and the issue still persists as I've tried to listen to podcasts and adjusted the speed

[OscarDC]

Hey @Jack718,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

To continue investigating this case, we need to gather as much info as possible. Keeping this in mind, could you check if it happens when connecting a different speaker to your iPhone? If you don't have another one, you can borrow one from a friend or family member to test it out.

Also, would you mind checking if it happens if you're in Offline mode with the episodes downloaded on your device? This will give us a better look at the issue.

We'll be on the lookout.

[Jack718]

Hi OscarDC,



I tried to see if I can replicate the issue with my Anker speaker and it seems it didn't replicate it. This seems to exclusively to be an issue with my Bose speaker, and only happens when I'm using Spotify postcasts with speeds above 1.5x.

[Jack718]

I bought another bose speaker and an ultimate ears speaker this seems to be an issue strictly affecting bose products. I'm not sure if this is a bug with bose or spotify. 

[Lyubka]

Hey @Jack718,

Thanks for getting back to us.

We'd suggest you reach out directly to the support team from Bose about this. Firmware updates on speakers and app updates from Spotify's end sometimes get out of tune which might cause issues like this.

You can check if there is a new firmware update available for your device and let it run.

Keep in mind that there are some limitations that exist for some podcasts and that might be the reason why you are unable to control volume using the Connect feature. There is an idea about changing this here. You can check it out, leave a +Vote  and share your feedback if you'd like. 

We always work on improving user's experience and we advise that you keep your Spotify up to date with the latest version so that you don't miss out on any fixes.

Cheers!