[WP8] App crashes when it stays in the background

[mazze_germany]

The app crashes when idle in the background. This seems to be a common windows phone problem as it happens with rdio and deezer as well but not with Xbox music or Nokia music, so it must be possible to fix this somehow.

The main inconvenience is that when listening to a playlist in shuffle mode you are constantly required to relaunch the

playlist thus ending up listening to the same songs over and over again. 

[sepp0]

Got the same problem on my Lumia 920. If I don't use my phone and let it lock my screen or just leave spotify playing in the background using my phone for other stuff, Spotify will close/crash and stop playing any music. I know endomondo sports tracker has an option in the app which says "run in lock screen" or something which allows the app to continue running behind the lock screen. Shouldn't be too hard to fix?

Other:

In the WP 7.5 app there were playcontrols on the lock screen The black volume bar that pops up doesn't give the same integrated feel as the older app did. Not really a bug, but a small detail which would increese the apps "feel".

[Goodman]

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@mazze_germany wrote:

The app crashes when idle in the background. This seems to be a common windows phone problem as it happens with rdio and deezer as well but not with Xbox music or Nokia music, so it must be possible to fix this somehow.

The main inconvenience is that when listening to a playlist in shuffle mode you are constantly required to relaunch the

playlist thus ending up listening to the same songs over and over again. 

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When you say idle, you mean you're not doing anything else on you rphone? I.e. it's locked and in your pocket?

[Goodman]

Also, is there a certain amount of time, or a timeframe, in which you would say it crashes?

[mazze_germany]

Yes, that's correct. The phone is locked and I don't do anything else with it, but the song is paused (it doesn't happen as long as some music is being played). I'm on the latest Portico update (Lumia 920).

It's worth noting that the app also crashes on incoming phone calls and when connecting to and disconnecting from any bluetooth device (also when NOT paused). When idle, the app tends to close itself within the first minute, but max within the first 5 minutes.

Actually it doesn't matter whether I still interfere with the phone or not, as soon as the song is paused Spotify will simply close down (or maybe it is being closed down by Windows Phone due to some battery saving plan, which is what I would rather assume given that it also happens with Rdio and Deezer).

[Drewtech]

Phone: HTC 8X

OS Version 8.0.10211.204

Country: UK

Network: Three

Bug: when pausing a song the app seems to time-out or freeze after a while. i.e. If I pause a song and come back a few minutes later I can't resume play without going back into the original playlist.

Comment: Great App.

Request: can we have a library view added?

[isaacmcn]

Can vouch for this as well. The app seems to time out after a song is paused for a while. Same thing used to happen in WP7.x as well. I want to switch back to Spotify from Xbox Music as the service is much better, but the state of the Spotify app is stopping me.

[Diaz9910]

Here is my experience. (Lumia 920):

Song playback fails when resuming Spotify. Example. If I hit pause on my headphones, and change screens on my phone (effectively sending spotify to the background), when I hit play again it starts up the default player instead of Spotify if more than 2 or 3 minutes have passed. 
Also, if I manually go into my Spotify playlist and try to select the track I was listening to, the application locks up and I have to exit Spotify, close the app, and relaunch it to get music playing again.

Let me know if yo uneed any other info. Hope this helps.

JD 

.

[schaub818]

I'm experiencing the same issue on my Lumia 920.  If I pause a song in the Spotify app and then either navigate to another app or lock my phone, after about a minute or so I can no longer resume playing the song, nor can I start playing any other songs in the Spotify app without first completely closing the Spotify app and then re-openning it.

[marciano7601]

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@schaub818 wrote:

I'm experiencing the same issue on my Lumia 920.  If I pause a song in the Spotify app and then either navigate to another app or lock my phone, after about a minute or so I can no longer resume playing the song, nor can I start playing any other songs in the Spotify app without first completely closing the Spotify app and then re-openning it.

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i'm having the same issue here, sometimes i do have to do a power cycle or a soft reset to get the app working. Lumia 920 user as well. Also a bucket list of glitches too.

[Mafalin]

The problem is still there.

Phone: Nokia Lumia 920 with OS version 8.0.10211.204 and the 1308 firmware.

Bug: When leaving the spotify playback paused for a few minutes (I'd say about 3-5 though I'm not sure) spotify loses its connection to the playback thingy run by the OS (thread crash?) though the app itself still runs. If I manually start the same song up again or use the next/previous/play/pause buttons in the app spotify will randomly crash, not do anything or (very seldom) start the song up. If I instead choose a different song manually by tapping in a playlist the app will work a few seconds and then start the song up, working normally after that.

My feeling is that the app still thinks it's got control over the playback and only demands control again when manually switching songs thus leading to errors when playback rights are lost. The root problem would then be that the app loses playback rights in the first place (and I know it's possible to retain them indefinitely since xbox music and nokia music can do so).

[Sam]

Hey guys,

We've just released an update for the WP8 app, which may help things for you. Just head here to give it a go.

[user-removed]

Are Windows Phone 7 - Spotify users pissed off?

[Mafalin]

The update was nice, the app is much more responsive now and while it doesn't fix the app losing playback when paused or when losing bluetooth connection at least it regains it when you switch back to the app. Hoping the next update will fix the issue altogether and add local file syncing.

[Prolek]

Unfortunatelly, although the updates did come, the issue of the app closing in idle mode, unlike other music apps for WP8, is not solved. I use Spotify very often and am a subscriber, but the crashing app is realy disappointing. I know there are apps that use 'work under the lockscreen' mode, why not try that?

[dhjgv]

App crashes even during the playback when its not in the foreground!

Lumia 930/WP8.1

Please do something...

Even the Android emulated version on my BB10 didn't crash at any time 😞

[Kargarov]

I can attest to this as well. I am unsbbing as a result of the failure to resolve this issue. I use Spotify all day on my PC a twork but if I can't get the paid services I want when I drive, which I do a lot of, there's no reason for me to pay. It's been almost a year with my phone and I get that Windows isn't a popular operating system but If you're going to make an app, make it work. I've had this issue for a long time as have others from the sounds of it. 

[DryMarker]

The background player closes itself after a few minutes of not playing music. If it didn't then it would run your battery down for nothing.

[dhjgv]

It should be that efficient to not drain the battery while doing nothing... Task for the development team!

Besides it should simply NOT end itself WHILE playing...that would be a great "benefit" already...

[Prolek]

Somehow Mix Music, Xbox music (which's API is publically available) don't do that. There's no excuse.

And I don't mind it closes down. If I want to browse the stations or artists, I can wait. The problem is I can't pause the music for more that 2 minutes, because then I have to wait for the app until it's restarted only to play it back.