[Chromecast][Music] Chromecast is very buggy

[tiiina]

Chromecast has an overall buggy experience. The worst one is that playback randomly pauses while casting. 

These "fixed" (not actually fixed) issues are related:

• https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Spotify-Pausing-On-Chromecast-Issues/idi-p/4432989
• https://community.spotify.com/t5/Android/Please-fix-chromecast-with-Spotify/m-p/2459136

Overall the Chromecast experience seems like an after-thought. I am tempted to switch to Google Music but I would much rather support Spotify.

Please give Chromecast the support it needs. We just want to play our music without it stopping randomly. Netflix doesn't do this, YouTube doesn't do this, this problem is unique to the Spotify app.

Agents have been unhelpful in linking me to Chromecast support: I do not have a problem connecting so that suggestion is not helpful.

Uninstalling the app and resetting my Wifi doesn't help.

Please forward to your engineering team. 

Thank you

[PhilH2]

I have the same problem with the Chromecast Audio pausing every hour or so.  Obviously, I update and reset all software and systems. Then I have tried an ethernet hook up directly from the router and set the priority of that connection. But no improvement. According to these posts, this problem has been around for a while. Is Spotify working on this?

[Guido]

Hey @tiiina and @PhilH2,

Thanks for getting in touch!

We are aware of this issue and are currently investigating it. Feel free to contribute in this topic where we gather information from affected users and keep everybody up-to-date. We'll get this sorted as soon as possible.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Let us know if you have further questions.

Have a nice day!

[l_andrew_l]

Nearly 3 years later but very buggy for me as well.

On a Pixel 5 trying to play a play a podcast on chromecast it keeps disconnecting, has issues re-connecting (spins forever) but the worst thing is it often loses its place and starts from the beginning. In a 3 hour podcast you have to seek manually back to where you left off... very frustrating!

[Novy]

Hey @l_andrew_l,
 

Thank you for reaching the Community.
 

The connectivity issues between devices are usually affected by the internet connection. First, make sure both devices are on the same WiFi network and both the Spotify app and your Chromecast are updated. 
 

If the apps are updated, reset your Chromecast by holding the reset button for 25 seconds and restart the router to refresh the signal. 
 

If the issue persists, try to connect with a different device than a Pixel 5.
 

Lastly, let us know if this happens with music too or just with podcasts.
 

Cheers!

[l_andrew_l]

This appears to only be an issue specific to Spotify on Android. Casting
from an iPhone works fine as does YouTube on the same pixel 5 phone. The
wifi is stable as well so this is not an issue. So far issue has only
occurred with podcasts.

[l_andrew_l]

This appears to only be an issue specific to Spotify on Android. Casting from an iPhone works fine as does YouTube on the same pixel 5 phone. The wifi is stable as well so this is not an issue. So far issue has only occurred with podcasts.

[Alex]

Hey @l_andrew_l,

Thanks for the info.

In order to get a broader view of the issue, could you let us know if this is happening only with a specific podcast or any podcast in general?

Also, let us know what device you're casting to.

Keep us posted. 

[l_andrew_l]

It was one of the longer JRE podcasts (3 hours+)

Also just FYI I am often getting errors submitting this response form and losing my text.

[Alex]

Hey @l_andrew_l,

Thanks for the info.

Can you try the following:

1. Go to Spotify Settings on your phone > turn on "Download audio Only" and "Stream Audio Only" for Video Podcasts.

2. Download the Episode for offline listening.

3. Try casting like that and let us know if you get the same issues.

This will help us understand if the video is part of what's causing the issue.

It would also be helpful to check if you get the same issues with other podcasts.

About the community errors - The session might be abruptly ended if you're editing your post for a longer period of time and it's a anti-spam measure. But it could also be caused by corrupted cache on the browser, so you can try clearing that.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[l_andrew_l]

Ok I tried all of that (Download audio only and Stream Audio Only) but I haven't noticed any difference with the casting issues/buginess.

"Stream Audio Only" only seems to apply when not on wifi, but of course if you are not on wifi then you can't cast. When on wifi that setting doesn't seem to apply so either way it casts the video. This doesn't seem to be configurable.

Community errors happen even when posting a quick reply. Tried clearing all browser caches but still see errors when posting.

Thanks!

[l_andrew_l]

Basically every initial post fails. If I hit the back button and post again only then is it accepted.

[l_andrew_l]

Another issue: While casting if you tap on the back 15 seconds button repeatedly the playback gets extremely confused. It seems to be accepting input while seeking then doesn't know what to do with it once done. Other apps like YouTube wait until seeking taps settle to execute the final seek which is much more user friendly.

[l_andrew_l]

Although I wasn't able to turn off podcast video (as described above) I just ran into issues while streaming music to Chromecast. If you cast audio, pause it for a few minutes and press play again the connection has failed and the music will play out of the phone (despite still appearing connected on the chromecast).

[MafeG]

Hi @l_andrew_l,

Thank you for keeping in touch. 

Could you check all of your devices and make sure you're running the latest Spotify app version? 

Also, please make sure that your Chromecast doesn't have any pending firmware updates.

Keep us posted.

[l_andrew_l]

Yes, I just confirmed Spotify app is up to date, as is the chromecast.

One very consistent way to repro this (on Pixel 5) is to start casting (audio/video, long/short doesn't seem to matter), then pause for a while...say 10 minutes. The audio will play back on the device and the connection will have been lost (despite appearing connected).

[Ver]

Hey @l_andrew_l,

Thanks for the info.

It sounds like this could be indeed a device-related issue. We can try a couple more things.

Could you give these steps a go and run a clean reinstall? This one is more thorough than the usual one.

In case you're using any battery optimization or power saving apps, you can deactivate them for Spotify. Does that make a difference?

Keep us posted. 

[l_andrew_l]

Hi, I followed those steps, however the issue appears to be unchanged.

[MafeG]

Hi @l_andrew_l,

Thank you for your reply. 

Just to make sure, have you noticed the same issue with podcasts that have short episodes? 

We ask this because Chromecast has limited memory and we've observed difficulties with longer content.

Keep us posted.

[l_andrew_l]

Yes in fact the same thing happens with just songs.