Spotify Connect is NOT working for volume controlling

[cenkay]

Plan : Premium

Device: iphone13

Operating System iOS

My Question or Issue

Dear community, and spotify,

I think spotify connect is not working for volume controlling. 

I have been using spotify with other speakers and web players using spotify sdks, and my devices are appearing correctly to the spotify app of my iphone. However, I can't control the volume for the connected devices from spotify app of my phone. 

About 2 weeks ago, it was working and I could control the volume through my phone, but it suddenly broken without any noticing. 

Please make it clear if this is my own problem or spotify's internal issue.

Somebody please help me to solve this issue... 

Thanks.

[Prague]

Pawsitively delighted to see you cenkay!

It's possible that the issue you are experiencing with Spotify Connect is related to your phone or network, but it could also be an issue with the Spotify app or the connected device. Here are a few troubleshooting steps that you can try to narrow down the cause of the problem:

1. Check your network connection: Make sure that your phone and the device you are trying to control are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. If they are not, you may not be able to control the volume through the Spotify app.

2. Restart your devices: Try restarting both your phone and the device you are trying to control. This may reset any settings that are preventing you from controlling the volume.

3. Check for app updates: Make sure that both your Spotify app and the device you are trying to control are up to date. Check the App Store or Google Play Store for any available updates.

4. Try using a different device: If the issue persists, try connecting to the device from a different phone or computer to see if the problem is with your device specifically.

Overall, it's difficult to determine the exact cause of the issue without more information. I might be able to provide more assistance on the subject with more information. 

For me I can control the device volume on Spotify on my soundbar but if I have it going through my PlayStation 5 it lacks the ability. Thus there are some device specific limitations which could be playing a factor in this situation.

Thanks for posting, let's try and figure this out.

Don't leave me howling at the moon, keep me in the loop!

-Prague the Dog

[cenkay]

Dear Prague to Dog,

I appreciate to your kindness and efforts for the detail steps.

However, I think my issue is not eligible with your advice.

1. All the devices are on the same wifi. 

2. I restarted both my "phone" and my "web app", but the problem remains still.

3. There is no more updates of spotify application in AppleStore. 

4. Actually I tested 2 different devices and devices; in my home using iphone13 and Window Laptop, and in my studio with iphone14 and Mac. But I experienced same issue in both places.

My problem is about using Spotify Connect for selecting other devices from the Spotify App on my phone.

Some weeks ago, I remember that I can control the volume of my "web app" from my phone using the Spotify app. However, for now, that function is gone without any notice. 😞

When I connect my Bluetooth speakers to my phone, volume control is working.

But I think it is different with my case because the speaker is paired with my phone directly, not through the Spotify Connect.

Maybe, my issue is same with your PlayStation 5 case if you can play music from PlayStation5 with controlling the playlist from your Spotify App on your phone. But in my case, it was AVAILABLE to control its volume before. 

- A sad user who lost his volume control, Cenkay.

[Prague]

Hiya dood, I've sniffed out some information for you!
So there are loads of people having the same issue dating back to 2014..

Controlling volume over spotify connect - The Spotify Community

[iOS]Not able to control the volume on a device wh... - The Spotify Community

Solved: Re: Control volume on second device (Spotify Conne... - Page 2 - The Spotify Community

Best suggestion was from a moderator:
"Can you let us know if you can control the volume through your phone if you open the Spotify app, go to the Now playing view and there you should be able to see the little green Connect icon. Once you've clicked that you should see a volume slider. Does changing the volume from there work on your speaker even if you've lost the ability to control the volume of the speaker with the volume buttons on your phone?"

Keep me pupdated,

-Prague the Dog

[cenkay]

Hi Prague the Dog,

Thank you for your searching, but I don't see the volume control on my iphone app.

As you see the screen capture, I can control the volume only with my physical button of my phone and there is no software button in the app. The volume bar on the left side, which is about 50% is filled with white, is the result of the physical button on the phone.

Also, after connecting to another device that I am using as my speaker, there is no change in the UI of the app and I cannot find the volume bar still.

( please ignore the purple mask. I removed the name of the device. )

Probably, I think it should be cared by Spotify's technical team or its function has been removed due to some reason...

Please let me know if I have to check something more to resolve this issue.

Best regards,

Nak-Kwon.

[Prague]

 

Okay I’m seeing what you’ve got going on in your end, can you select the device button bottom left and then does it feature a volume slider? 

[thmpsnkl]

I recently had the exact same issues within the last two weeks all of a sudden! It’s very irritating.

[mr_bower]

Same for me and my girlfriend since a few weeks, only spotify connect. I guess an app update broke it.

[knaapie]

Hiya! Not OP, but I am experiencing the same issue.
I use Spotify from my iPhone mainly. I am frequently not able to control the volume from the iPhone.

If I use the slider like pointed out (go to Now Playing and then tap the selected speaker), I am able to control the volume using the slider, but it is not possible using the iPhone buttons. I noticed that when I have this issue Spotify will be dropped from the iPhone Lock Screen while playing and (on my phone) from the dynamic island also.

[Elkomy]

Just adding to this list - having same problem from my iPhone 14pro and wife’s android phone. Was working a few weeks ago and seems that suddenly it broke. 

[tigerisak]

I’m also having this issue. Please advise.

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for all your replies and for the info shared.

Now, in this case, we'd like to investigate further, nonetheless, let's try some alternatives. Now, as a first step, we'd suggest you check if you have enabled Spotify Connect in the background option on your mobile devices settings. You can find it under Devices, as you can see here:

If after checking this option, this continues to happen, we'd like to confirm: can you change the volume by using the option you can see on the mobile phone? This is not the physical buttons of your devices, but the one you can access from the Connect list on the mobile phone. Here is an example:

Please double-check if moving said controller makes a difference. If not, we'd like to gather the following info:

• Make/model of the affected mobile device.
• Exact Spotify version you're running on your side.
• Device sync with Connect in which you noticed this behavior.
• A video recording of this behavior. You can attach the videos in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload them to YouTube or Google Drive and make them public, so we can visualize them.

Once we get this info, we can continue investigating this odd behavior further.

Keep us in the loop!

[tigerisak]

I can’t seem to find that setting in my Spotify app. Could you please advise? Are you sure that print screen is for iOS?

And yes I can still change the volume on the slider in the app but not with the hardware volume control which was possible in the past.

• iPhone 15 Pro
• Spotify 8.8.90.593
• Beosound Emerge, Beovision Eclipse, Beosound Emerge, Beolab8

Link to the video: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/088LRofziskJcJA_0eXxPbB1w#Film_17.10.2023_kl._16.05

[knaapie]

Hi AlejaR,

Thanks for the reply and looking into this.

Like tigerisak already mentioned, your screenshots seem not to be from an iOS device, this is an issue on iOS.

The option you mention is not available in the settings of the iOS app.

I have the following:

• iPhone 15 Pro
• Spotify 8.8.90.593
• I use Denon Home 350's, Denon Home 150's and an older Philips speaker for which I do not know the model.
• I have not added a video. The one that tigerisak uploaded shows the problem.
• Maybe also good to know, I am on iOS 17.1.1

[Bnamen]

Thank you so much for looking into this. I am having the same issue now on my new iPhone 15 Pro.. I had no issues controlling the volume on my old iPhone 13 Pro. I use Alexa speakers to play my music. I will keep an eye on this form and post for updates. I’m not sure how this works. I’m hoping that I will see replies that come up. Thanks again

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for your replies and for the info shared.

@tigerisak, @knaapie, we really appreciate the time you took to let us know about this. Would you mind checking from a different iOS mobile device to see if you can replicate this behavior? If possible, you can ask for the mobile device for a relative of a friend to open your account there and check.

@Bnamen, thanks for your reply. Would you mind sending us the exact Spotify version you're running on your iPhone and its exact OS version? It'd be really helpful if you could send us a video recording of this behavior. 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 watch it.

Folks, just to confirm, did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event such as an OS update? If yes, please send us the details.

Keep us in the loop!

[knaapie]

Hi AlejaR,

Happy to help.

First of all, I noticed this behavior first when upgrading both to iPhone 15Pro and iOS 17.

Also good to know that this is erratic behavior. Sometimes it works, sometimes the buttons do not work.

I noticed when the issue pops up I also do not see the Spotify controls on my Home Screen.

I have asked the person that now uses my old iPhone Xs, who is on my family plan.

They use a Libratone Zipp 2 to connect to via Spotify Connect. Same issue.

They are on iOS 17.0.3 and Spotify 8.8.92.666.

Cheers,

Eric

[mtollhouse]

I'm having this same problem with volume buttons on iphone not working to control volume on speaker.  It's maddening.  I'm having two potentially related issues.

(1) On iphone14pro (most recent ios), when I use spotify connect to connect to my Audio Pro C10 MK2 speaker, about 25% of the time the volume buttons on side of phone work to control speaker volume, and 75% of the time the volume buttons on phone only change the phone volume (ringer).  For months the volume buttons worked all the time, then about a week ago the volume buttons stopped working.  

(2) Problems connecting via spotify connect to speaker with Airplay.  Spotify shows that phone is connected to speaker via Airplay, and music shows as playing (with song timings counting down), but no music is coming out.  When I connect to speaker via airplay from phone to play music from Apple Music app, it works perfectly, and volume buttons work to control speaker volume. 

I tried resetting my speaker, and I've deleted and redownloaded Spotify numerous times (clean reinstall).  Sometimes the reinstall fixes the problem temporarily but then volume buttons stop working again next time I connect.  Other times reinstall does nothing.  

Please help!

[tigerisak]

Same issue on IPhone 14 Pro with same version of iOS. Please advise.

[Crbrx]

Force quit the app while Spotify is connected to the external device. That solves it for me.