Audiobooks don’t play next chapter

[handlebar548]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

iPhone 13 Pro Max

Operating System

iOS 17.1

My Question or Issue

when I download an audiobook and play through it, as each chapter ends it should automatically play the next one but it does not. I have to completely close down the app and re-open it to get the next chapter to play. I’ve deleted and reinstalled the app and restarted iPhone to no avail. 

any ideas?

[Lyubka]

Hey @handlebar548,

Thank you for reaching out here in the Community.

Could you please let us know what happens when the chapter ends? Does a song start playing or the app just stops? We'd like to know more about your issue as this could help us investigate further.

On another note, is this happening with a specific audiobook? If so, would you mind testing with another one to see if the issue will persists?

In the meantime, we'd suggest logging out and then logging back in two times in a row on your phone. It sounds a bit odd, but it forces a sync between the account and your device. 

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on 🙂 

[Username314151]

I have also noticed that audiobook chapters do not always autoplay the next chapter. Instead, the audio hangs on the preceding chapter and the elapsed time goes over the the total time of the chapter indefinitely. This has happened for me on multiple audiobooks. So it's not audiobook specific.

[Joan]

Hi there @Username314151,

Thanks for the reply. What devices does this happen on? If you haven't tested on different devices, please do so. Consider performing a clean reinstall as well, as that can help with a multitude of issues.

Let us know how it goes.

[ihaveagingercat]

This is happening to us too on a Pixel 8. Playing through the echo dot in my daughter's room and keep getting drop ins from her telling us the story has stopped again. More often than not it glitches, but sometimes it works so it doesn't really make sense!

[Phaerylove]

I've also had this happen with 2 different books, using my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Also, once I stop the app and restart it, the chapter that just ended will restart, or sometimes several chapters back. This seems to happen most often when I don't have cell service, but the books are downloaded, so that shouldn't make a difference. 

[Susan_GP]

Hi @handlebar548,

Thanks for your reply in this thread and the info provided.

First up, if you haven't, we'd recommend performing a clean reinstall of the Spotify app, as @Joan suggested. If that doesn't make any difference, could you check if this also happens when playing the Audiobooks from the desktop app or the Web Player? On another note, when it happens again, would you mind sending us a video recording of this behavior? You can attach it in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and make it public.

Lastly, and just to make sure, does only happen when listening to Audiobooks? or have you experienced it when listening to Podcasts, Playlists, or Albums as well?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.
 

[Saundra]

This is happening to me as well. Downloaded a book, but the chapters skip around. I see a lot of responses from Spotify saying things like log in and log out, and asking the user to take a lot of time consuming actions, but no messages saying they're trying to fix it on their end. If so many users are having this issue, it seems as though they should also be working towards a resolution. Any updates on what Spotify is doing to fix the problem? 

[bferrel]

There is a bug here. Doesn't happen with music or podcasts AFAICT. When listening offline, I download the entire book. Then when listening it will stop playing at each chapter boundary. I have also seen it scramble the order of chapters, giving them wrong numbers and duplicate numbers so it is almost impossible to restart the book. We thought is was due to running out of downloaded content but we see the chapter list eventually. Eventually since it seems to lock up/crash the app when it happens so we need to restart it to get to the next chapter. Again we thought it needed to get in cell range and at first didn't realize it had frozen. When it freezes it displays a button with a square inside and progress swirly around the button. You cannot capture the image because it is crashed.

Latest Android pixel 8, most recent Spotify app, 5/22/2024.

[Eni]

Hey there @bferrel, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this and welcome to the Community! 

Could you let us know if this happens across devices or only on a specific one? We'd also like to know if this happens only with the downloaded content or when you're streaming as well. 

Additionally, does this happen with all the audiobooks? Sending us a short screen recording of this behavior would come in handy. You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it).

We'll be on the lookout.

[spookdownunder]

I am also having an issue like this. Plenty of time left on listening credit. I have downloaded a book so that I can listen while runing without worrying about internet connection. But alas, the book keeps stopping platback after each, or every other (very short) chapters. I have to stop running, open phone, open app, then press play/pause until it starts playing the next chapter. What can I do about this, as it is very frustrating?

[Eni]

Hey there @spookdownunder, 

Thanks for reaching out about this about this here in the Community! 

Just to confirm, do you have the Autoplay feature activated? Also, would you mind checking if the same happens if you add all the episodes you want to hear to the queue beforehand?

On another note, does the same happen when you aren't listening to the episodes offline? You can try that over WiFi to avoid using mobile data. 

Keep us posted.

[jessicawaters1977]

I'm having the same issue.  Instead of playing through chapter by chapter Spotify stops at the end of each 'track' and play has to pressed again.  It's happened to me only in audio books, downloaded and not downloaded, while using the app on my phone.  It's a new issue for me since I upgraded phones about a month ago.  I have a similar issue when fastforwarding ads. Instead of auto playing after the 10 second lapse I have to press play each time.

Annoying as anything and makes it impossible to listen to audio books and a real pain in the **bleep** to do a podcast.

Spotify, what is being done to resolve this?

[jb76006]

Same problem as noted above by others. iPhone 6s, updated to 15.8.2. Just started with “Hard to Kill”, Patterson. Previous book was ok. Happens when I am walking and off Wi-Fi, which is usually when I listen to audiobooks on Spotify. Music advances to each song without issue. 

[AlejaR]

Hey @jb76006,

Thanks for posting here and welcome.

If you haven't yet, we'd suggest you perform a clean reinstall of the app on your mobile device. By doing that the app can be up-to-date and you can make sure the stored cache is not leading to this behavior. You can find out the steps to do it here.

If issues persist after that, we'd like to gather some additional info. Please send us:

• The exact Spotify version you're running on your device.
• Does this happen on a different mobile device? You can ask for the mobile device of a relative or a friend to open your account there and check.
• Since you mentioned this started when listening to a specific audiobook (Hard to Kill), we'd like to check, does this continue with audiobooks you listen to after that one or just persist on that specific title?

We'll be on the lookout!

[jb76006]

Same thing on my iPhone 6s

[jb76006]

First of all I have deleted and reinstalled Spotify. Secondly YOU should be doing the troubleshooting. You already have TONS of reports from users on all kinds of phones and situations! Currently listening  to Hard to Kill and the book just stops dead at the end of the chapter. 

[jb76006]

iPhone is 6s on iOS 15.8.3. Spotify is ver 5.9.74.536. First noticed it on Hard to Kill which is all downloaded. I listen to the book when walking using the downloaded version. I have deleted and reinstalled the app. 
As I have mentioned in another post Spotify already has a HUGE treasure trove of feedback on this from users on every make model and version of phone and many other audiobooks. You should have all you need to fix this.

BTW I came here from Audible books, which for me was flawless, because I already was using Spotify for music. Spotify audiobooks is as important to me as music. So if the books aren’t working properly, my incentive to stay is questionable. 

[jessicawaters1977]

Same problem with my Spotify for more than a month.  I have followed the troubleshooting, uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times, logged in and out multiple times, and only use Spotify on my phone.  The audio book doesn't autoplay through tracks.  Each track stops at the end and we manually have to click play to hear the next. 

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for your replies and for the info shared. 

@jb76006, we understand where you're coming from, but we can not replicate this behavior on our side. That's why we'll need further info to continue investigating. Aside from the info you already sent us, we'll need the following:

• Does this happen only when playing audiobooks while they're downloaded?
• Since you mentioned this started when listening to a specific audiobook (Hard to Kill), please share with us the link to it. You can follow these steps to do it.
• A video recording of what's happening on your side. You can attach the video in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and make it public, so we can visualize it.

@jessicawaters1977, we'll need the following info to better understand what you kindly mentioned. Please send us:

• The exact Spotify version you're running on your device.
• Does this happen on a different mobile device? You can ask for the mobile device of a relative or a friend to open your account there and check.
• Does this happen when playing a specific audiobook? Can you share the link to it? Please follow these steps to do it. 
• A video recording of what's happening on your side. You can attach the video in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and make it public, so we can visualize it.

We'll be on the lookout!