upgraded to Premium now can't play Podcasts

[ash82]

Plan - Premium

Country - USA

Device - iPhone SE

Operating System - iOS version 16.5.1

My Question - Just upgraded from free to premium. Music plays fine, and I can still see podcasts I regularly listen to on the home screen, but if I try to select a podcast I get a message that says "Couldn't Open Link - Spotify can't open this type of link on this device". Podcasts also aren't showing up in the search function when I search for them -- just playlists. Have already tried both a quick and clean reinstall of the app & a forced restart of the iPhone. Please advise - thanks. 

[Billy-J]

Hey @ash82, thanks for reaching out to the Community!

Can you let me know if this happens when you try to access podcasts on the Web Player or desktop app? If not, let's try a clean reinstall of the app following these steps instead. These steps are more thorough than a simple clean reinstall and can resolve deeper issues that could be presented within the app. 

Let me know how this goes!

[ash82]

Hi Billy-J - thanks so much for responding! This is happening when trying to access podcasts from the Spotify app on my iPhone home screen (though also just tried through the Web Player on my Mac laptop and had the same issue). 

I will try this more thorough clean reinstall right now & let you know. Thank you again! 

[ash82]

Oh sorry just understood your first question! I can try through the desktop app too just to see. Should I not try the thorough clean reinstall if I'm having the same issues on the laptop (i.e. both Web Player and desktop app) or worth a try anyways?  

[ash82]

Just tried the thorough clean reinstall based on the steps you linked to and the issue has not resolved. Let me know if you have any other ideas! Again, thanks for your help!!

[OscarDC]

Hey @ash82,

Thank you for keeping in contact and sharing this info.

Sorry to jump in, but the issue you're mentioning could be also account-related. In this case, it would be great if you could have someone log in with their account on your devices - such as a friend or a family member, to see if the issue persists. This will help us understand the issue a bit more.

Also, to continue investigating this case, could you take some screenshots or record a short video where we can take a better look? You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Photos/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.

[ash82]

Hi @OscarDC - Thank you so much for this! I had a friend login to his Premium account on my iPhone and podcasts were searchable and playable through his account. 

I'm attaching screenshots. First, my home page. Then, a series showing the entirety of the menu options when I toggle to the "Search" page (all are music-related; "Podcasts" doesn't appear as an option like it did in my friend's account). When I search for a Podcast title (see screenshot of search for "the daily" - related playlists/music appears but not the podcast. I can even select "Podcasts & Shows" from the rotating menu underneath the Search bar (see screenshot) but once I've selected for "Podcasts & Shows" it gives me a "Couldn't find" message and no search results (see screenshot). Obviously I've tried this with a few different popular Podcast titles.  Thanks again so much for your help - let me know if you think of anything. 

[ash82]

@OscarDC - Rest of screenshots attached. Thanks!

[Dian]

Hey @ash82,

Thanks for the screenshots and the troubleshooting tried so far.

What is the country that's set on your account? Podcasts are not available in all regions. Let's see if that's the case for your account.

Keep us posted.

Cheers!

[ash82]

Hi @Dian - 

I'm in the US and based on the Terms and Conditions (see screenshot; near bottom of frame) it appears that's where my account is set to. 

Thanks for jumping in; appreciate it! 

[OscarDC]

Hey @ash82,

Thank you for keeping in touch.

We appreciate the screenshot you sent. However, the country registered on your account could be different to the one you're currently located in and shown in the terms and conditions.

In order to check the exact country registered on your account, we’d recommend accessing your Account page here and clicking the option "Edit profile". You'll find your country at the bottom of that page.

If the country you've registered is not the US, we'd recommend updating it by following the steps mentioned in this article to refresh the catalog.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes. 

[ash82]

Hi all - Thanks for your continued help; we're getting closer - so turns out my account is registered in Venezuela. (?! Cannot imagine why). I followed the steps from the article @OscarDC linked to. But whenever I try to add the info for a working US card into payment methods I get a "your payment method has failed. Try a different method" message. I've tried two working cards. I even tried "change country" at the bottom of the Update payment method page but when I selected USA it would send me to a page saying "Sorry, you don't have access to that plan." (Makes sense if it won't allow me to add a US payment method).

Remembered: I had this "payment method failed" problem when initially upgrading to Premium, so I linked my account to my Pay Pal (attached to a US checking account) which did 'work' at the time in that it upgraded me...though clearly not fully. I tried reselecting the Pay Pal account as my payment method since it's US-issued. It saves the payment method/seems to work but then my country remains Venezuela.

[MihailY]

Hey @ash82,

In this case, it's best to reach out to the folks over at Customer Support, as they're the ones who can take a closer look at this and assist you further.

Take care,