Spotify pausing automatically even though I am not transmitting audio.

[Chemomancer]

Feature is designed to prevent me from streaming to users without a subscription - but this week it has started doing it even if I just have Discord open and am *NOT* streaming. Very annoying. Hate it.

[MartinT]

Hey there @Chemomancer, 

Thanks for reaching out to us in the Community! Let's take a look together. 

This is quite odd, Discord should only pause playback whenever in a voice channel and there's audio output for 25-30secs. Just to check, does it only happen when listening to music on Discord? Or, for example, do you encounter similar issues when playing directly from your phone?

Here's what you can try if you only experience this while on Discord:

Unlink Spotify from Discord from your Discord settings. To do this, open up your Discord Settings > Connections > find the Spotify app > click Disconnect. Afterwards establish the link again and see if the same issue will pop up.

Hope this will help, keep us posted on how it goes.

[kettlepot]

it's not working right now for me, having this issue on andriod december 2024. it only is happening with discord but i am not in a VC

[11109]

I have the same issue, also on android. Spotify pauses when im opening the discord mobile app, i already unlinked Spotify and it keeps happening for no apparent reason.

[ParkerDufresne]

Happening with me too, Opening discord and spotify stops on Android phone, Started happening today, Not sure how to fix 2024 Dec 3rd.

[dbhatia247]

me too I don't know why it's happening and I'm not in VC on discord

[LemonBery64]

Hi, this is affecting me too. Discord Android user here, & the date is 12/03/2024. When I tab into discord or open it, it does this peculiar gradual pausing of Spotify. Restarting phone, reinstalling apps, checking for updates, and disconnecting & reconnecting Spotify to discord HAVE NOT worked. 

[EF5]

Definitely bugged. Same issue as those before me, also on Android. Music pauses each time I open the app. Have also noticed discord randomly playing videos sent to me when not in the app.

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for all your replies and for the info shared here.

This is indeed odd. If you haven't yet, we'd suggest you perform a clean reinstall of the app on the affected device. By doing that, the app can be up-to-date, and you can make sure the cache is not leading to this issue. You can follow these steps to do it.

We'd like to gather some additional info, in order for us to continue investigating this behavior. Please send us the following:

• The make/model and the exact OS version of the affected device.
• The exact Spotify version you're running there.
• All the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far. 
• Did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event, such as an OS update?
• A video recording of what's happening on your side. You can attach the videos in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload them to YouTube or Google Drive and make them public, so we can visualize them.

We'll be on the lookout for your replies!

[PeytonCanary]

Hey Aleja, I'm having the same problem and will be very specific to add insight, being affected by it. To start, I have an Android device as well (S24 Ultra).

This problem first occurred 2 days ago after connecting Bixby to my Spotify. Since then, I haven't been able to use Discord and Spotify without interruption and interference. I have undone the connection since then, on both Spotify's and Bixby's side, yet nothing changed. It could be a coincidence in timing, but I'll explain what happens in detail now.

When I open Discord it will pause my Spotify. To listen in Discord I'll have to press play in the swipe-down menu/notification area for my phone. If I leave the app and come back to it, it will pause again and I'll have to play my music through the notification area again. Once I have music playing over Discord again, it will ignore media completely and play over everything. Before this error started happening, I could open Discord without Spotify pausing and view media with sound. The media would pause Spotify when activated, then play Spotify automatically when I was done watching/listening to it. It seems Spotify is pausing for Discord regardless of whether or not Discord is using my output/media or not.

I have already tried undoing the app connections on both sides, clearing both's caches and data, uninstalling, and reinstalling but nothing has helped the problem. Thanks for your time and I hope this helps. 

[Dessi · Accepted solution]

Hey @PeytonCanary,

Thanks for the detailed info you've provided!

Can you check if the usage of mobile data is enabled in the background by going to your phone's settings and searching for Spotify, then clicking on Mobile data and Wi-Fi and toggling Background data on? While you're there, you can also check the Battery section and make sure that there are no background restrictions and that the battery optimization isn't turned on for Spotify. Another thing I'd recommend trying is going in your Discord app's settings -> Accessibility and turning on Reduced Motion.

Let us know if that makes a difference.

[PeytonCanary]

Thank you very much Dessi! I tried your solutions and setting Battery Usage to "Unrestricted" was enough. I was able to keep Reduced Motion on in my case but that was a good suggestion too. 

[Meanii]

Thank you! Turning on Reduced Motion was the solution for me. I was even able to manually turn on all the options that got turned off automatically when turning it on and the problem was still solved. I appreciate you!