Changing volume on PC/Mac triggers system volume changing on iPhone/Android

[hexlogic]

Plan

Premium

Country

Ukraine

Device

(Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, iPhone 11, MBA M1 2020, Windows PC)

Operating System

(Android 11, iOS 14, MacOS 11.6, Windows 10 21H1)

Spotify version

The most recent on all devices.

My Question or Issue

Hopefully it's not only me who having this issue that I'm tired fighting.

When I listening music on my laptop/PC and open up the app on a phone (iOS, Android, doesn't matter because I had this issue on both), if I change the volume in Spotify desktop app while listening on PC/Mac, it's changing a system volume on my phone as well. This issue works on any device pair. Mac + iPhone, Mac + Android, PC + iPhone, PC + Android. It's really annoying. Can anyone help with this?

[MattSuda]

Is the iPhone/Android system volume actually changing or is it just showing the popup that the volume is being changed in the Spotify desktop app?

The volume popup is expected behavior when you have both the desktop app open and the mobile app open at the same time. This feature is called Spotify Connect. There is currently no way to turn this off.

The logic is that if you are controlling the playback on one device from another device, you would also want to control the volume too. In the mobile app you are able to press up/down volume hardware buttons to change the volume of the Spotify desktop app or the other Spotify app you are controlling. If you change the volume from the bottom right volume slider in the desktop app then it will show the volume being changed in the mobile app as well with the volume popup.

I just tested this out in iOS and it doesn't actually change the iPhone's system volume. Just a popup that the volume was changed in the Spotify desktop app which is expected behavior to let you know what the current volume is when using the Connect feature. The Connect feature is enabled when 2 Spotify apps with the same account are open at the same time.

[MattSuda]

Ahhhh! I see the issue here.

Go into the Spotify mobile app ---> Settings ---> Devices ---> and turn off "Devices Lock Screen"

This is the same setting I have turned off. If it is turned on then the system volume of your phone will also change if it is changed in the desktop app. This is because the setting is allowing you to change playback from the mobile phone's lock screen. So it will appear on the phone that it's playing locally on the device when it is not. To me this option causes more issues than is actually useful to me so that is why I turn off this setting.

[hexlogic]

Here's the video I'm changing system volume on an iPhone from Spotify app on Mac where's the actual music playing.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EYUUW6AKrKC1D_R_-lW8iFypft60LXOm/view?usp=sharing

[MattSuda]

Check out my last reply and see if turning off that setting helps

[hexlogic]

Ah, that works! But anyway it's disabling me to control music from locked screen. I think the logic behind have to be that way:

If I listen on Mac and Spotify app is not open on mobile -> do not change mobile volume, change only on Mac

It shouldn't change the volume on both

[MattSuda]

Glad to hear that works!

If the Spotify iOS app has timed out in the background after a period of inactivity it shouldn't happen. If the Spotify iOS app is in the background and not timed out, then this will happen.

When this setting is turned on, Spotify iOS app is using a workaround to make iOS think there is audio playing locally when there is not to get the lock screen feature to work to be able to control other Spotify apps from the iOS lockscreen. The way iOS works is that even when apps are closed, the music is able to be controlled in the background. There is nothing Spotify can change here. I understand it's not ideal, but due to limitations of iOS, that is the way it works right now.

With the setting turned off you should still be able to control playback of music playing directly from the iOS Spotify app. It just won't work with Connect when playing on other Spotify apps.

[hexlogic]

Fun fact: it's acting the same on Android so it's not only an iOS issue, it's just stopped working correctly at some point in time, like almost a year ago 😄

[MattSuda]

Ah ok! I remember it always working like this on iOS at least. Hopefully the developers can improve that in the future.

[kptr]

I'm in the same shoes, and it's really annoying...

My phone's volume is always turned off, but If I listen to Spotify on my Mac it changes the iPhone's volume to max, and if I watch eg. an Instagram story it starts shouting at me at max volume.

[MattSuda]

@kptr 

Try this:

Go into the Spotify iOS app ---> Settings ---> Devices ---> and turn off "Devices Lock Screen"

[laachterhof]

That does not fix the problem for me. This also occurs when spotify is not open on my phone at all. Please forward this to a developer - this is a security flaw - your mobile app is able to affect my physical phone even when spotify is not running AT ALL.

[Elena]

Hey @laachterhof,

Thanks for your post.

It seems like your issue is more related to this one, so feel free to check it out. It has been reported to our tech folks, who are currently working on a fix, so it'd be helpful if you leave reply to the relevant thread with the following info:

• Your device's model and iOS version.
• The version of your Spotify app.
• Any other troubleshooting steps you've tried.

Rest assured that we'll post an update as soon as there are any news on the matter, so we'd suggest you Subscribe to the thread so you won't miss any of it.

Cheers!

[kptr]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply but it cannot fix it.

[Yordan]

Hi @kptr,

Thanks for your reply.

Would you mind sharing the info @Elena requested above in this thread so we can send it to the developers who are investigating this? If possible, try recreating the issue on another mobile device with a different operating system (you can ask a friend to help out with this, if they don't mind, of course) to see if it's still present.

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

[Selinajohansson]

Hi! This just happened to me as well. I was listening on my Mac and was scrolling on my phone which did not have the Spotify app open or active. I then lowered the music on my phone but it lowered the music on my Mac as well. I have also disabled the connecting device In my Spotify settings but it happened anyway. I have a MacBook Air 2020 and an iPhone 11 Pro Max. 
man’s then all of the sudden the volume on my phone goes sky high.

[Alex]

Hey @Selinajohansson,

Thanks for the post.

Can you also let us know the OS versions and Spotify versions on your devices, so that we can pass this info on to the team investigating the issue.

Cheers.

[Selinajohansson]

Spoiler

Hi of course!

spotify in my Mac: 1.1.78.765.g5ea20b00

mac: macOS 11.6

iphone: IOS 15.2.1

Spotify on iPhone: version 8.7.2.1522

[Yordan]

Hey @Selinajohansson,

Thanks for the reply!

We've forwarded this info to our tech folks. As mentioned previously, it's best to Subscribe to this thread, where we will be posting updates. We'll be closing this one to keep the discussion focused in a single thread.

The Community is always here if there's anything else you need assistance with.
 

Take care!