When I open Spotify it mutes other audio streaming

[Pertul]

Plan

Premium

Country

Sweden

Device

iPhone 13

Operating System

iOS 16.1

My Question or Issue

There is an error with the app in iOS.

As soon as ypu open the Spotify app it mutes other streaming audio sources.

So if I am listening to radio in another app and want to go in to Spotify and just add a song to a playlist, it will directly close audio from my radio app. Same with all apps playing audio, they will all be killed as soon as I start Spotify. And even if I do not play anything in Spotify it mutes all audio, so I hear silence. 

No other music app I have does this.

Please fix so it does not kill other audio apps playing / streaming audio when you just open Spotify.

You may want to just open the app and add a song etc without playing from Spotify at that time.

It should only take over as audio source when you press play on something in Spotify, like other audio apps behave.

Thank you.

[MihailY]

Hey @Pertul,

Thanks for reaching out.

We've tested this on our end, but were unable to reproduce the behavior. The playback should generally be interrupted only when you play something in Spotify, so we'd recommend running a clean reinstall as described here.

Let us know if this helps.

[Jo]

Hi, I have the same problem. I have done a clean reinstall and it hasn’t helped.

[MihailY]

Hey @Jo,

Thanks for reaching out.

Can you please send us a short video of the issue along with your device model, OS version and Spotify version, so we can investigate further?

@Pertul, can you confirm if reinstalling the app resolved your issue?

Keep us posted.

[Jo]

Hi, the reinstall didn't immediately solve the issue but it does seem to be working okay now. Thank you.

[AlejaR]

Hey @Jo,

Thanks for your reply.

We really appreciate you keeping us posted about this inconvenience and we're happy to know that is now fixed. Don't hesitate to reach out if the app starts to behave again,

If anything else comes up, the Community will always be here for you.

[dr_michael]

hi

this annoying problem appeared again just like the last year on New Year’s eve. i bet, the problem is somehow connected to the pre new year’s feature “year round up”.

iphone 13 mini, ios 16.2. spotify app version 8.8.1.379.

the main solution doesn’t work for me because i have thousands of downloaded music in cache and via local files. redownloading it all would be a nightmare. please, fix it via version update and not reinstall.

[OscarDC]

Hey @dr_michael,

Thank you for joining this conversation.

These types of cases are usually related to some damaged cache stored on your device. We understand you have some downloaded content you don't want to delete, but it is necessary to clear those files to ensure the app is working in optimal conditions. If you're connected to a Wi-Fi network, you can re-download the content overnight in case it takes too much time, but we'd recommend performing a clean reinstall of the app by following the steps in this article.

However, if the issue persists, we'll need to gather as much info as possible to continue investigating this case. So first, would you mind checking on a different device (using your own account) to see if it makes any difference? If you don't have another one available, you can borrow one from a friend or family member to test it out. With this, we can check if the issue could be device-related or not.

We'll be on the lookout.

[Musicholic]

Hello, Spotify app keeps on muting other audio both on iOS 16.2 on my iPhone and on iPadOS 16.2 on my iPad. Both have Spotify version 8.8.2.511 installed. I followed your process for clean reinstall on iPhone and it didn’t help. Please advise a solution, this behaviour is very annoying.

[Alex]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the posts.

Can you try the following: Head into Settings > Music and make sure that the Playing over other apps switch is turned on. If it is already turned on, then try turning it off and then back on again. If this doesn’t work, you can also set it to Always so that no matter what app you’re using or what screen of your phone you’re on, music will always play in the background. After this restart your phone.

Let us know if this helps.

[hellostarshine]

Hi - where is this setting suppose to be located? Under General Settings on my phone or within the Spotify app? Because I am unable to find "playing over other apps" in either place. Thanks!

[Eni]

Hey @hellostarshine, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this. 

Could you let us know the exact make/model, operating system and Spotify version of your device?

On another note, we'd like to know which troubleshooting steps you've already tried. That way we can avoid repeating any steps. 

We'll be on the lookout.

[Fatbuddhaman]

I have this problem and have done a complete reinstall. It didn’t work. The issue is very annoying.

[Alex]

Hi there @Fatbuddhaman,

Thanks for the post.

Can you let us know what type of device (model, OS version) you're using, so we can give you more accurate advice.

Cheers.

[danr7_]

This has started happening to me on iOS 16.3.1 with the latest version of the app that introduced "Explore your genres" to the search tab.

Switching to the app when its on the Search tab will now, without fail, stop any audio playing from any other app. Please either fix this Search tab with no audio playing taking over the audio, or add a way to disable the feature causing this to happen, as it's deeply frustrating.

[Joan]

Hi @danr7_ ,

Thanks for the info. Does this happen on any other devices or only on iOS? Can you please make a screen recording of the issue and send it to us? That would be very useful in this investigation.

Thanks in advance.

[danr7_]

Hi Joan,

This only happens on iOS. I've uploaded a clip here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWbdr5wgkgM (note that Screen Record mutes playing audio)

First I change from the Music app to Spotify viewing an album and it's fine. As soon as I switch to the Search tab, the playing audio is stopped as evidenced by the stopped status in Control Centre. Then I resume playback in the Music app and as soon as I switch back to Spotify audio playback stops again.

[Lyubka]

Hey @danr7_,

Thanks for getting back to us. 

We've forwarded this info to the relevant team here at Spotify, however, we can't confirm when it will be addressed. In the meantime, please make sure to keep your app updated with the latest version so that you don't miss out on any fixes and improvements.

Cheers! 

[dr_michael]

i still have the same problem. but in my case spotify stops every playback as soon as i open it for the first time

[harryjarbaby]

I’ve noticed this for a long time too. Persists through app reinstall and even iOS reinstall.