[iOS] Spotify refuses to play albums

[Thomasmeis]

I’m using an iPhone 12 mini with iOS 17.3.1 and the latest version of Spotify.

Any time I try to play an album on Spotify and have to pause Spotify and switch to a different app and then back to Spotify, it refuses to remember the album and song I was on.  Spotify will either 1. Jump to the first song in the album followed by a radio when I return or 2. Jump straight to a radio.  It never returns to the song and album I was playing and continues playing them in the right order, even if it’s long been ten minutes.  It’s been doing this constantly for months and it’s incredibly frustrating.  I’ve cleared caches, I’ve logged in and out, I’ve turned the phone on and off, I’ve deleted and reinstalled the app several times.  Nothing helps, and this is exhausting.  

[Novy]

Hey there @Thomasmeis,

Thanks for reaching out here in the Community. 

We understand you've tried reinstalling the app, but just to confirm, have you gone through the steps of a clean reinstall? This is more thorough than a regular one and can be helpful to get rid of any cache that might be causing trouble. 

If this doesn't do the trick, would you mind sending over a video or a screen recording where we can take a better look at this behavior? 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 send a link to it, making sure to give it the right permissions so that we can watch it from our end. 

Lastly, let us know if this is happening on other devices as well or only on your phone.

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[Thomasmeis]

I’ve done a clean reinstall more than once and it doesn’t help.  I have the same problem on my iPad Mini, not just my phone.  Both are using the latest version of Spotify.  I’m attaching a screen recording through a link that shows a good example of the problem.  

When I return to Spotify and the album I’m playing, Spotify refuses to recognize the existence of any song on the album except the first one.  If I press the button to go to the next song, it just resets and pauses the song.  (It does this with every album, btw.)  Link. 

[OscarDC]

Hey @Thomasmeis,

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the info shared.

We tried to replicate this behavior on our end, but the playback worked properly after using a different app. So in this case, would you mind checking on a different device (an Android if possible) with your own account, to see if it makes any difference? If you don't have one available, you can borrow one from a friend or family member to test it out. 

Also, could you confirm if this happens with a specific album, or if it happens with any albums you tried? This will give us a better look at the issue.

Lastly, include in your next response the exact Spotify version you're currently running to continue investigating the case.

We'll be on the lookout,

[Thomasmeis]

I’ve checked this on an iPad on my account and it had the same results.  Both had the latest update of the Spotify app.  I have no access to any Android devices, so I can’t test it on Android.  It may be a bug specific to the iOS app.  This has been happening with every album on the app for at least 3-4 months.  Dozens of albums.

I’m running Spotify 8.9.19 on both iPhone and iPad.

[OscarDC]

Hey @Thomasmeis,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

We appreciate all the info you've included in this thread, it's really helpful. In order to continue investigating this with internal teams, it would be great if you could record a short video where we can take a better look as we cannot replicate it on our end. You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to watch it).

We'll be on the lookout.

[Thomasmeis]

Here is the video. 

[Eni]

Hey there @Thomasmeis, 

Thanks for sending us this info. 

Just to confirm, does this also happen if you leave the Spotify app open or only when you pause the playback for a few minutes and navigate to a different app? 

On another note, could you ask a friend or a relative to log in to their account on your iPhone to see if they can replicate this behavior with their account? This will help us determine if the issue is account-related. 

We'll be on the lookout.

[Thomasmeis]

It happens if I pause the app for a few minutes and navigate to another app, or if I pause the app and turn the phone (or iPad) off and back on and reopen the app.  It’s not account related, because I spent a few hours in a chat with Spotify customer support (no progress was made) and they had me try out two separate test accounts.  I had the same problem on both.  

[Eni]

Hey @Thomasmeis, 

Thanks for your reply!

Would you mind giving a different internet connection a go? If you've been using WiFi, it'd be great if you could try with cellular to see if the same happens.

Also, could you let us know if this started happening after a specific event such as an update either of the OS of your device or Spotify? 

Keep us posted. 

[Thomasmeis]

This happens on home wifi and on data and on public wifi networks.  It’s a constant problem.  The problem started at least 3-4 months ago, so I can’t confirm which app or iOS update, if any, caused it.  I waited a while to say anything because I kept assuming a Spotify update would fix the bug, but that never happened.

[MihailY]

Hey @Thomasmeis,

Thanks for getting back to us.

The test we've done on our side was on iOS 17.4.1. Can you try updating your devices to this version and check if the issue persists? A new version of the app was also released recently (8.9.26) so make sure you're running that one when doing the test.

Keep us posted.