Playlists not in custom order in Sonos app

[Rob-Cooper]

From this morning the custom order of my playlists is not being reflected in the Sonos app. I like things in alphabetical order and it seems completely random now. I've raised with Sonos who said there have been no updates and it's probably a Spotify issue. Can whatever has caused this be reverted please?

[jtiv]

I'm also having this problem. I don't have an answer, but you're not alone!

[MSebring]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Windows 10 PC, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Sonos Speaker

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I have around 220 categorized playlists in my Spotify library.
When I listen to them on my Windows 10 PC I use the Sonos app.
I occasionally listen to them on a Samsung Smart TV or on another TV with a Roku device using their Spotify app.
Most often I listen to them on a Sonos speaker using the Sonos app on my PC.
(The Sonos app is the only one that can play multiple playlists in shuffle mode.)

I have all of my playlists organized into folders so when I use the Spotify app, they are easy to find. It used to be that when I looked at my Spotify library using any of the other apps (Samsung, Roku, or Sonos), my playlists would show up in the same sequence that I have them organized in the Spotify app. But, many months ago, they started showing up in random sequence when using the Samsung and Roku apps (they seem to be the same app). With more than 200 playlists, it was extremely difficult to find any particular playlist, so I pretty much stopped using Spotify through our TV sets. But it wasn't so bad because I still had my Sonos speaker that I could plug in anywhere in the house. And generally I use my Sonos speaker and the Sonos app every day to play a different subset of my collection of playlists in shuffle mode.

But something changed today and now my Spotify playlists are showing up in random sequence in the Sonos app (just like the TV apps). This makes finding the playlists I want to play almost impossible, and something that I use constantly, every day, almost useless. I don't know for sure if this is the result of a Spotify change or a Sonos change so I am reporting this problem to both of you, but I believe it's most likely to be the result of a Spotify change.

[Dominiek]

I have the same issue since this week.

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community. 

First up, it's well worth running a clean reinstall of the app to get rid of any cached files that might be causing trouble. 

If that doesn't help, try logging in with a different account on your device and check if the same thing happens. It could be a family member or friend's account. Additionally, let us know if this happens only with a specific playlist or with all of them. 

On another note, sending us some photos/screenshots of what you're seeing on your end would come in handy. You can attach them to your next response by using the Insert image option in the post editor. Make sure not to send any private info.

Lastly, could you let us know the exact make/model, operating system and Spotify version of your devices?

We'll be on the lookout.

[jtiv]

Checked a different account. Reinstalled both apps. All the playlists that should be there are there, and they are in the correct order on spotify. But when I go to Sonos, it's the playlists themselves are not in that same custom order, once I select a playlist, it's music is in the correct order. All the playlists are there, but there is no order to them. Makes it very hard to have a seamless teaching moment when I'm having to constantly pause and look for the correct playlist to have my students listen to. I am using the 8.9.19.571 spotify app version on my iphone 11. 

[Rob-Cooper]

Thank you for raising a far more articulate version of my issue. I hope Spotify fix the issue soon

[MSebring]

Your suggested solution is not helpful.
Multiple users began experiencing this problem shortly after Spotify implemented major changes.
Our playlists now show up in random sequence instead of our custom sequence when we use the Sonos app,

not the Spotify app.
Sonos has made it clear that they display our playlists in the sequence that Spotify provides them in.

Here is a screen shot from my Sonos app. The right hand panel shows my Spotify playlists in random sequence.

[Dominiek]

A clean re-install etc. has nothing to do with this issue. It is very simple: Spotify needs to check it's APIs/integration towards Spotify. In the past, the webservice/API containing playlists was "sorted on user settings". Spotify has changed this webservice one way or another (on purpose or by accident) towards "sort on last added" or "sort on last played".

Just revert this change and don't suggest users to be stupid. ("Did you try to uninstall and re-install your applications?")

[beckijr]

Another Spotify Premium subscriber here to report the same problem — in the Sonos app, my playlists have suddenly started showing in a completely random order, nothing like the custom order I've created within Spotify, yet not alphabetical either, nor by last listen. Totally random. This is a change I have noticed only in the past few days; previously the order of my playlists within Spotify are the same order seen within Sonos. Sonos says it's a spotify problem. I have uninstalled and reinstalled both Sonos and Spotify several times. I have unauthorized and reauthorized. Multiple users are reporting this unwanted change within just the past few days. Can't Spotify investigate what has changed on your end and revert to what it had before?

[andynista]

Same issue here. 900 playlists in random order in the Sonos app. Super annoying.

[nitinchandy]

I too am having the same issue since the last week... i have more than 300 playlists on my spotify which I had arranged in custom order and now it's all just jumbled up inside sonos and now it is so difficult to scroll to the one i want to play cause its now based on recently played or recently added... which is too damn random. I hope sonos sorts this issue out as it has to do with the API integration and how sonos app is pulling data from spotify

[LambertSpot]

Thanks for reporting this! As part of a migration from an old upstream, to a new one, the default value changed from "custom order" to "last added". We now override the default value and request the "custom order", we believe this should have reverted things back to how they were. Please let us know if it's not.

[jtiv]

This has fixed the issue. Thank you for your diligence in this matter!

[OscarDC]

Hey folks!

Thank you for your patience.

The relevant team has confirmed this behavior as fixed as well! If you're still having this issue, we'd recommend updating your app to its latest version. We appreciate your cooperation regarding this.

If anything else comes up, the Community will be here for you.

[MSebring]

1. The problem is not resolved for me. My Spotify playlists still show up in random sequence in the Sonos app. (They are in custom sequence in the Spotify app.)

2. I use the Spotify app on a Windows 10 PC. There was no blue dot next to my profile picture and no "Update Spotify now" option. I uninstalled and reinstalled my Spotify app. It did not resolve the problem. My Spotify app version is "Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.35.663.gb699649e".

3. I'm not sure why you suggested updating the Spotify app anyway since the Spotify app is not involved. This problem does not occur when using the Spotify app. This problem occurs when using the Sonos app, and Sonos connects to Spotify using the API. I tried unplugging my Sonos speaker, recycling my router, and plugging my Sonos speaker back in, but that didn't resolve the problem either.

[MSebring]

4. I also tried removing the Spotify service from my Sonos app and then adding it back again. That also did not resolve the problem.

Is it possible that the fix has not been rolled to all of your servers yet?

[Dominiek]

I agree with MSebring.

Moreover, it is not only the "order" that is impacted, it also seems that "Playlist Folders" are not supported properly anymore in the Sonos app. Instead of showing a playlist folder (was ok in the past), Sonos now shows the first playlist from that folder and nothing more. Quite some changes to be rolled back.

I have formatted my whole PC, cleaned my house and went to the shop - none of these fixed the issue.

[MSebring]

I just noticed something.

In both the Sonos app and the SmartTV/Roku app, my playlists are no longer in random sequence nor does the sequence have anything to do with when each playlist was last played from, but they are not in the custom sequence that I see in the Spotify app either.

The sequence they are in now is the first playlist from each of my folders followed by the second playlist from each of my folders followed by the third playlist from each of my folders, and so on.

Prior to the change which introduced this problem, I saw all of the playlists from my first folder followed by all of the playlists from my second folder followed by all of the playlists from my third folder and so on, just like they appear in the Spotify app.

It appears to me that the sort fields are out of sequence.
The playlist number within each folder is the primary sort field and the folder number is the secondary,
instead of the other way around.

[MrBlubber]

Since a few weeks if you list spotify playlists in sonos they are displayed in a wrong and weird order.
Until then they were sorted in the custom order as defined within spotify. So for instance whatever playlist you put on top will in sonos also listed first.
Since a few weeks the order is completely messed up in sonos. Its not even matching the other sort options like alphabetically, creator, or recents.

What happened? Anyone else noticed this? That needs to be fixed quickly. Right now playlist selection in sonos is a nightmare.

The sonos support so far has no clue either.