Spotify Connect is garbage recently

[Oahkery]

I use Spotify on a variety of devices (Windows 10 PC, Pixel 3 Android phone, Echo Dot, very occasionally PS5), and until recently, it's worked well that I've been able to control what's playing on one device with the app on another. I can tell Alexa to play Spotify on the Dot speaker but then pick songs on my phone, or I can be listening on my PC then switch it over to my phone and Bluetooth earbuds as I'm heading out the door. However, recently, this whole feature has been garbage.

At least half the time I open the Android app when music is playing on my Echo Dot, it doesn't show that it's playing anywhere else, and if I try to play a song, it just starts playing from my phone speaker while the music continues on the Dot. Just now, I tried to switch from my PC to the Dot because I was about to head into the kitchen and start making some food, and even though it shows the Dot in my list of devices, it does nothing when I click it. The music just keeps playing on my PC. So I decided to see if it was just the Dot or if it was Spotify, so I tried to switch it to my phone. When clicking my phone in the list of devices, it stopped playing the music on my PC and showed that it was playing on my phone, but looking at the app on my phone, nothing was going on. It wasn't playing music there or showing that my PC was playing. So I clicked back to "this computer" on my PC, and it showed that it was playing on my PC, but no music was actually playing, and when I clicked the puase/play button, it said that Spotify can't play that song now (even though it had just been playing it). And my phone app still shows that Spotify isn't playing anywhere else. Nothing would play until I went to a completely different playlist and started playing that.

This is infuriating. I pay for a subscription so I can listen to what I want seamlessly wherever I am, but I'm having to constantly stop and open the app and try to get it to play, or close the app and relaunch it. I just want to listen to the music I want without all this hassle. This combined with my previous topic of an incredibly awful homepage are making me seriously reconsider my subscription, since it seems like you don't listen to users at all.

[Alex]

Hi @Oahkery,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

Sorry to hear that you're experiencing this issue with the Connect function.

We'd recommend Logging out Everywhere and logging back in only on 2-3 device, to test if everything works as expected.

If that doesn't help, restart your router or connect all the active devices to a mobile hotspot. This way you can see if the issue comes from the network connection.

Keep us posted on how you get on with this.

[igoortc]

Hello @Alex,

I don't think this issue is exclusive to @Oahkery or their local network. I am also experiencing this problem and it started happening right after the rollout of the new desktop version.

It happens when the suggestion tracks start playing after an album/playlist ends.

Use case: on Mac desktop app, album/playlist ends, suggestions start playing, open spotify connect options, select a device = nothing happens

Use case: on Mac desktop app, album/playlist ends, suggestions start playing, open spotify app on iPhone, modal "you're listening on Mac: continue / listen on this iPhone", click on "listen on this iPhone" = music stops on both devices

Use case: on Mac desktop app, play album/playlist, open spotify connect options, select a device = expected behavior

Hope this helps and your team can fix it 🙂

Thanks.

Igor

[Alex]

Hi @igoortc,

Thanks for your post.

This info is indeed very helpful. 

With issues like this we need go through several troubleshooting steps to narrow down the cause of the issue.

Could you let us know if you've tried connecting all your devices to another network as well?

Cheers.

[igoortc]

Hey @Alex,

sorry it took me so long to reply... I didn't get a notification.

No, I didn't connect my devices to another network; there have been no changes to them. The only change was the new Spotify desktop app.

The issue really is happening when recommendations start playing after an album or playlist ends and I try switching the device (either on desktop or mobile app). If I try changing the device while the album/playlist I chose is playing, everything works well.

Hope this is helpful 🙂

Cheers

Igor

[Jeremy]

Hi there @igoortc,

Thank you for your reply.

 We had some issues with connect at the end of last month but that should be solved now.

It would be great if you can confirm if you restarted your router?

If that doesn't do the trick, can you perform a clean reinstall of the app? This will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

Also, can you let us know which version of the app you have?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Cheers!

[igoortc · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jeremy,

it works! 🥳

Clean re-install of the desktop app (from the link you sent) + restarting router did the job.

My new Mac app version: 1.1.59.712.g54f36e5d-a

Thanks for all the hard work 🙂

[Jeremy]

Hi again @igoortc,

Thank you for your reply and confirmation.

We're really glad to hear that everything works as it should for you again 🙂

Let us know if we can help you with anything else.

Have a great Friday and a wonderful start of your weekend.

Cheers!