Ipad Pro 12.9 no album art for downloads when offline

[badrowbot]

I use an Ipad Pro has my headunit in my car. I am a Premium member and I can only get album art to show up when there is any data connection. Is there any way to resolve this? I have done all of the basics; format the ipad, reinstall Spotify, redownload all songs. Am I missing a setting? Even going to offline mode doesn't affect anything. 

[badrowbot]

Tried offline setting today, no luck. 

[MattSuda]

Hey @badrowbot

How many songs are in the playlist(s) you are downloading?

Which version of the Spotify app and version of iOS?

When is the last time you did a reinstall of the Spotify app?

In the past there was a bug with album art not showing on offline mode but it was fixed a few updates ago. I used to have this same problem on both my iPhone and IPad but I do not have this problem anymore.

I tested this on my iPad Air, iOS 10.3, downloading a playlist with about 100 songs and then I turned airplane mode on, no airplane mode with wifi off, and just the offline mode in the app, and I am able to see album art. I also tested on my iPhone with a playlist of 1,000+ songs and it works.

Note: My Spotify app looks a little different because I am using the new UI that is in version 8.3 (beta) which will be released to users soon

This is what I see when there is no data connection on my iPad:

So get back to me with the info I requested so we can troubleshoot. Maybe when version 8.3 comes out you can delete the app and try a clean install of the Spotify app because for me it is working in 8.3.

[badrowbot]

8.2.0.59

Pretty sure I have my songs maxed out so somewhere around 3,000.

I just brought it in on Wi-Fi and then turned Wi-Fi off and some of my
downloaded songs had album art and some did not. I can try to take a video
of it if that would help.

I have done a clean install in fact this iPad only gets used in my car and
so Spotify is one of the very few apps that is even on the iPad.

[MattSuda]

Do you know how long it's been since you last did a reinstall though? I did a clean reinstall a few versions ago back when this issue was finally fixed and album art has been working in offline mode ever since.

I don't think a video is really necesarry. I used to have the same problem with my iPhone and iPad at the end of 2016 where only some album art would show in offline mode, so I know exactly what it looks like. On my iPhone I have 3,333 songs maxed out in offline mode and it is working for me. And my iPad doesn't have a whole lot of storage so I only tested 100, but it should still work the same way.

Since version 8.3 is what I tested (and working) I think it would be a hassle to have you reinstall the app twice, now with 8.2 and then when 8.3 comes out if the reinstall didn't work with 8.2. 

I suggest to wait until version 8.3 comes out in about a week or so. Delete the app, install version 8.3 and redownload all the songs (yes it's a pain, I know I have done it many times) and then try again with no internet connection. If that doesn't work then I can help troubleshoot further.

I definitely understand the frustration because I have had offline album art bugs on and off for a few years now but after talking to the developers and sending in my bug reports I haven't had any problems with the past few app versions. I am hoping for no more bugs going forward 🙂

[badrowbot]

Perfect I'll hold off and wait just a little bit. I've only had the iPad
for a few months so I'm inclined to think that I have reinstalled the
current version.

[MattSuda]

Hey @badrowbot

Version 8.3 has been out for a few days. Have you had a chance to do a full reinstall to see if that helps?

[badrowbot]

I'll go grab the iPad out of the car and give it a try!

[badrowbot]

Nope, more of the same.

[MattSuda]

I tried using my iPad again and I have no problem. I have a WiFi only iPad Air and tested this in airplane mode and by going into the app and turning on offline mode.

I see in your photo you have an LTE iPad model with no sim inserted and WiFi is turned on.

Can you try turning airplane mode on? Does that make a difference? Does turning WiFi off make a difference? Does going into the Spotify app settings and turning offline mode on make a difference? I also wonder if inserting a SIM card makes a difference. Maybe the album art part of the app is specifically tied to something connection wise?

The only difference between our devices is that you have an LTE model iPad Pro and I have a WiFi only iPad Air.

Pretty much I'm just trying to get to the bottom of why it won't work for you. It's very weird and I don't have the exact same iPad model to test on. If I can figure out the exact bug with your model and settings, then I can create a bug report so this can be looked into. And if you know anybody else with an iPad and Spotify having the same problem, that would be good to know, or if you could test on another iPad.

[badrowbot]

Ok small progress. Here is what I know.

Uninstalled the app, reinstalled, login and redownload all songs.

After everything has completed, I turned on Airplane Mode and it works. They initially all appear to have album art. 

Now here is what I think MIGHT be an issue. I have an OBD Wi-Fi dongle in my Tahoe and it creates its own Wi-Fi and sends the signal to an app on the Ipad. The Ipad always has Wi-Fi on because there isn't any reason for me to have it turned off. I think (pure conjecture here) there might be an issue that album art isn't always saved to the device and when Spotify detects a network to pull from, it somehow loses anything saved. Here is why I think this might be the case. Everytime the Ipad is turned on, it connects to that dongle by default. 

So I'm going to go a few days on Airplane mode and see if it holds all album art. If it does, I'll pull the Wi-Fi dongle out and turn Airplane mode off. This would mean the Ipad would connect to my home network while in the garage, but not the Wi-Fi dongle, which lacks internet connectivity. 

Tentatively, we SEEM to have a solution. Now let's see if we can troubleshoot it. Is there any chance you could find out from the devs what protocol is on album art regarding network connectivity? I'm afraid that any time I connect to that dongle now I will loose all album art....

[MattSuda · Accepted solution]

I think if Spotify detects that the device is connected to a WiFi connection it will try to load the album art from the internet. I just know the for sure way that album art works when you don't have an internet connection is in airplane mode. Really the only time I use offline mode is if I'm on an airplane and I turn on airplane mode and album art works. I turn off airplane mode and connect to the internet and it seems to keep the album art saved for offline mode. I haven't had trouble with it connecting to internet and then deleting the album art.

It could be that since you are connected to a WiFi dongle (regardless if it has internet connection or not) Spotify thinks it's a stable connection and tries to load the album art form the internet, but fails, resulting in no album art. 

[badrowbot]

That's exactly what I'm thinking is the issue. Problem is, if I ever want to use that dongle while driving I will lose it all again. Bummer but it is what it is. I'll consider this "solved"... now can you halp me get my 8.2 interface back? lol

[badrowbot]

Spoke too soon.. went to work and jumped on our Wi-Fi to add a few more playlists and sure enough the moment that I went offline the album art disappears...what a nightmare this has become.

[MattSuda]

That's weird. I haven't had a problem where going on WiFI and then to offline mode and then back to WiFi deletes album art.

My iPad never leaves my house (different use case than yours) so I am only able to test connected to WiFi and then airplane mode and/or offline mode toggle, and then back to wifi and then back to airplane/offline mode.

On my iPhone, it's always either connected to Wi-Fi or LTE. When I switch airplane mode on, album art is shown, then switch back to Wi-FI/LTE and then back to offline mode, the album art still shows up (not being deleted)

I understand your frustration. The move from MP3s (always had album art) to streaming, you expect the album art to work in offline mode.

Other people have posted that they aren't a fan of the new iPad layout as well. You can vote for this idea here: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/iPad-Bring-back-the-old-Layout-with-2-Panels/idi-p/16423...

The thing about the new iPad design is that it will allow Spotify to release new features to the iPad app faster so it is more in line with the iPhone app.

[badrowbot]

The thing is that I could deal with the new layout but considering I'm using this iPad as my head unit (and I bought it for nothing other than the Spotify app) it's frustrating that I'm going to be forced to get a data plan just for album art.

I just read downloaded everything again. Turned off wifi and no art. I just wish it would be dependable in behavior.