Apple Watch announcements seem to pause spotify when on a run

[Pezmc]

I just updated both my phone to iOS 15.1 and my Watch to WatchOS 8.1.

It seems like there's a new feature when you're on a run where the phone/watch reads out your distance/pace every KM to your headphones.

However, when I'm listening to music with Spotify on a run (tracked though the standard activity app), it suddenly pauses the music (which is quite jarring in of itself), makes its announcement,  then doesn't restart the music. I have to manually restart it every time.

As you can imagine it's pretty frustrating. Has anyone else had this issue? Is it simply a new bug? Or is there a way to fix it.

Tried phone/watch reboot, reinstall of spotify app and ensuring I have both the latest OS versions and Spotify versions so far.

Plan Premium

Country Spain

Device iPhone 11 Pro Max + AirPods Pro + Apple Watch 4

Operating System iOS 15.1

[Eni]

Hey there @Pezmc, 

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community. 

Could you let us know if you're using Airpods? If so, we suggest that you follow these specific steps:

1. To start, if you haven't already, reset your AirPods, and check for the issue again.
2. Also, check for any sources of interference: Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference.

On another note, we'd like to know if this happens with any kind of notification, or only with the ones you mentioned. 

We'll be waiting for your reply.

[Pezmc]

Yes, using AirPods, I've just tried to reset and had exactly the same problem. It seems related to this new "reading your distance" feature.

[CarlosE]

Hi again @Pezmc,

Thanks for your reply.

To confirm, could you try disabling that feature to see if that makes any difference?

Keep us posted.

[Pezmc]

Turning off the feature fixes the problem, but this still feels like an Apple/Spotify bug.

[Ver]

Hey @Pezmc,

Thanks for getting back to us 🙂

Could you check if the same happens with other media sources?

It's also a good idea to reach out to Apple support in order to report this behavior.

Keep us posted.

[Mrsa40]

I’ve got the same problem.  New Apple Watch new iPhone in November.  Beats earphones. I was running with Spotify and couch25K apps both in.  Both were paused at the1km announcement and I was unable go get C25K back up whilst still moving. Any ideas?

[Jeremy]

Hi there @Mrsa40,

Thank you for your reply in this thread.

Can you let us know what troubleshooting steps you've done that's been provided in this thread so that we can try to help you in the best way?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Take care!

[t0talitarian]

Same problem. Distance announcement happens, Spotify stops. Have to restart manually. Even more annoyingly, when the music starts playing again it comes out of the iPhone speaker and not airpods. Takes it a minute to reconnect with the airpods.

[Eni]

Hey @t0talitarian,

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community.

Could you let us know which troubleshooting steps you've already tried? That way we can avoid any repeating steps.

First up, we suggest that you try reinstalling the app on the watch. 

If this doesn't do the trick, we suggest that you unpair and then re-pair your Airpods again to check if that makes the difference. 

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

Keep us posted on how it goes.