Cannot shuffle playlist when connected to bluetooth in my car

[herbert_jarrod]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

iPhone 13

Operating System

iOS 15.6.1

My Question or Issue

I purchased a new iPhone on May 12th this year, switching from Android. I've had an issue since then as far as I can tell.

I start my car, my phone connects to the bluetooth, and I pull up a playlist and hit the green Play/shuffle button. Spotify will choose a random song from the playlist and start there, but shuffle immediately turns off. The play queue will be in the same order as the playlist itself.

On the play screen, with the Play Queue open, I can press the shuffle button. It turns on for a second, shuffles the queue, and then turns itself back off, putting things back in order. I am unable to find any way to prevent this behavior while connected to my car.

I did discover today that it is specifically when connected to my car; I disconnected from the bluetooth and was able to shuffle without any problems. As soon as I reconnected, it went right back to shuffle being off.

Has anyone seen this behavior before, or know what might be going on? It's very frustrating not being able to listen to music the way that I want.

[caiannello]

Hi AlejaR, 

I have some more datapoints regarding this issue.  On my way home from work last night, skipping tracks from the steering wheel in shuffle worked as it should.. Skipped to a random track.

On the way to work this morning though, the problem had returned. Skipping tracks, using the same button as before, immediately ended shuffle mode and skipped to next track in playlist. While driving, I grabbed my phone and terminated the Spotify app, (swiped task up-and-away from Android Tasks screen) then restarted Spotify, and track skip behavior during shuffle worked correctly again! 

Cheers,

Craig

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Thanks for your comments.

@caiannello, can you please confirm if the workaround suggested by @ninjaneer89 solves the issue?

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[MjBalls]

For me that solution does not work. I experience the problem on all platforms. I'm really irritated. I'm going to have to transfer all my songs to a different platform. I like the UI of Spotify but I hate how I always hear the same songs in a huge list. What's the point of playlist set on random if it's gonna play the same songs!?

[GustavoMendoza]

The workaround provided by caianello worked for me, its a pain having to do the voice command every time but at least it works

[MaintenancePanda]

That doesn't work either. The phone recognized the Bluetooth device is a car and will not let you just change it to a regular speaker. I think it's a coding issue we as user will not be able to fix.

[kfoster]

I also have a 2014 Mazda6 and have always been able to shuffle until a few weeks ago. I have the sane exact thing happening.  Maybe it IS the car.  🤔

[MjBalls]

Nope, not the problem.... search shuffle problems on the forums and you'll find hundreds complaining about the same issue. It's not going to change. I've been looking into different streaming services.

[Raychull]

I have the same car with the same issue….

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Apologies for the lack of updates on our end.

Our tech team has investigated this and confirmed that this is a known issue between Mazda cars and Apple devices. We therefore recommend reaching out to Apple support for further help.

Cheers,

[Morgana3]

Plan

Premium

Device

Google Pixel 7

Operating System

Android 14

My Question or Issue

As of a few days ago the shuffle has been turning itself off automatically while connected to my car's bluetooth. I have a Mazda CX5. I have never had this issue in the past. I have tried rebooting my phone. I uninstalled then reinstalled Spotify. I cleared the Spotify cache. Is there anything that can be done to fix it?

[GustavoMendoza]

Enable shuffle vía voice command in the car, then you can enable shuffle in
the phone. That's the only workaround I could find so far. This is a known
issue with Mazda cars for some years and models.

[Morgana3]

I am having the same issue with my Mazda but I have an Android phone. This only became an issue for me when my phone updated to Android 14. How can this be resolved?

[GustavoMendoza]

>From many posts I’ve read, this is an issue between the Bluetooth driver
from the phone and the Mazda, in which the car overrides the phone
selection.

For me the workaround that worked so far is to enable shuffle mode for all
tracks via voice command, then I can enable shuffle mode in the phone. It’s
a pain doing this every time I get into the car, but at least I can hear my
music shuffled.

[Julesmay]

I am having the same issue. 

[Vperez007]

Same issue 2015 mazda 6

[GraniteQ]

Hello! I also have the same problem but on an android phone (with my Mazda). Is there something on spotify's side that can be fixed? Or is there someone I should be contacting?

[MartinT]

Hey @GraniteQ, 

Thanks for pitching in, as this thread is compiled by users of IOS devices, we suggest creating a new thread in the relevant Help board so that we can continue the investigation there and if any new Android users come in they will have a place to go to.

It'd be great if you could add details of what you're experiencing there - When did this start happening? Does it happen under specific circumstances etc. Any information is welcome.

We'll be on the lookout.

[Dmkieft]

I'm having the same issue with my liked songs, I tried smart and after 3 songs it stopped playing l. When doing normal shuffle the icon greats out right after selecting the option.

[Dmkieft]

Here are 2 videos showing the the issue it happens in any Playlist. 

[satt_mereno]

I believe I am having this same issue as well on the Android version of the app.  My shuffle will work fine under normal circumstances, even while connected to listen through other devices. 

However if I am connected to my car (also a Mazda, coincidentally?  2013 Mazda 3 to be specific) via bluetooth, even if I do shuffle all Liked Songs, it seems to not maintain the shuffle and will default to playing the next song in Liked Songs.  From there even if I manually try to select the shuffle feature, it will not let me select that option and seems to default to the repeat function instead. 

My app and phone are fully updated and interact fine with other bluetooth and wifi options (Sonos, JBL speakers, Google Home Mini, etc...). I also do not have "car mode" enabled but Spotify seems to recognize when I am connected to my Mazda via bluetooth that it is a car. 

This issue has been happening for at least 6 months now.