Why when I reopen the app my now playing disappears

[Abs912]

I used to be able to pick up where I left off when I reopened the Spotify app. Now it briefly displays the ‘now playing’ bar then disappears, meaning I have to restart the playlist/album etc I was listening to rather than picking up where I left off. I play a lot of my music on shuffle so this is proving very annoying as the shuffle has to restart.

[Cbonney]

When I open the app, there is no now playing” so I can’t continue the song, podcast, or playlist I was listening to before opening the app

[pck-alvey]

You’re not alone. Came here to say this. As well as buttons not working. I’m trying to tap different buttons on my iOS Spotify app and they aren’t working. 

[Vasil]

Hey folks! 

This seems like a very odd issue.

Try removing the app's cached data to see if that would make a difference.
Taking things a step further, you can also go for a complete clean reinstall of the app as shown here.

In case the issue persists afterwards, please provide us with the following data and we'll alert the folks backstage:

• Your iOS device and its current OS version
• Your Spotify app version
• A short video recording of the issue (if the file is too big you can upload it to Google Drive or YouTube and share a link instead)

Many thanks! We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

@Cbonney @pck-alvey 

[Redmunster]

Having the same problem - started last week for no apparent reason. If I close spotify and reopen it, the now playing tab appears at the bottom as usual. But if I am not using the phone for a while and reopen spotify, the now playing appears for a second before disappearing. It is almost as though the app is resetting itself.  I have to go into listening history in the app to continue listening. This is particularly annoying in the car as the recently played list in carplay is not correct.

I tried deleting the cache, installing and reinstalling the ios app and I updated ios to 18.0.

Currently on spotify version 8.9.76.516 on a iPhone XR

[Joan]

Hi @Abs912,

Thanks for reaching out. This is quite odd and we haven't seen anything similar recently. Could you please provide us the following:

• What device does this happen on?
• Is this on all devices or only on specific one(s)?
• When did this start happening?
• Does this happen with any kind of content - albums, playlists, podcasts, etc.?
• A video of the behaviour. If the files are too large to attach here in the Community, you can send them to us via Google Drive or as unlisted YouTube videos.

With this information, we’d be happy to investigate.

Keep us posted.

[Abs912]

Hi Joan,

Thank you for your reply. It happens on both my iPhone and iPad, it started apx 6-8 weeks ago. I am up to date with my iOS updates etc. it happens with all content, my library, playlists, audiobooks and podcasts. I have attached a screen recording of me opening up Spotify again and you will see what I was listening to briefly appear at the bottom of the screen but then it quickly disappears. I hope this is helpful.

Thank you

[Dessi]

Hey @Abs912,

Thanks for all the details!

It'd be great if you can perform a clean reinstall of the app on both your devices to make sure you're running the latest version and to remove any damaged cache. It looks like you're also connected to an external device, so can you disconnect from your headphones before opening the app to see if the Now Playing View will remain afterwards? 

Let us know how it goes.

[Abs912]

Hello, 

I have just performed the clean reinstall and sadly it hasn’t changed anything. Please see attached video, also my phone wasn’t connected to any devices at the time just plying through its own speaker. 

[Carabbit]

This is also happening to me and started around the same time frame. I've already tried the usual tech support steps.

But it also happens when I have my music paused and the app still open in the background, after an inconsistent amount of time, the 'now playing' playlist will disappear and I can't resume my music/etc from the point I was at. Music won't even play without going back in to the app and manually starting the playlist over. 

Even worse, when this happens, the phone (iOS 17) still thinks it is supposed to resume playing the paused music but since spotify has glitched out, it starts apple music which I don't even use!

[Dessi]

Hi folks,

Thanks for all the info!

We've reported this to our tech folks, so that they can have a closer look and investigate what's causing this. We'll let you know as soon as we have an update!

Take care.

[#12]

When I closed the app after listening to a playlist and then open it again the continue listening bar that shows your last listen and give the play button is not there. It is only there if the last thing I listened to was an audiobook

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Thanks again for reporting this.

Just FYI - our engineers are working on this, so in the meantime, just make sure to keep your app up to date.

Take care,