I am using Spotify on my Android for what I have always used it for, and for what it was originally intended.

That ones makes playlists, downloads them then plays them once downloaded.

Although the playlist is now all on the device, Spotify in the last year or so has made a big issue out of actually just playing it.

Now it starts playing songs "silently", i.e. they are playing but no sound is coming out.

About a week ago, I had to clear all my data as Spotify refused to download or play some songs that were on my playlist, and the problem has been happening regularly since then.

Yesterday I tried reinstalling the entire app. Albeit I then had to delete the whole cache again when your app decided to save in "normal" rather than "extreme" quality, and I didn't reinstall the app again after that.

But it hasn't fixed the problem.

I went into offline mode yesterday thinking that might fix it but to no avail.

By the way, a bit of advice. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Or rather don't break it. Spotify worked fine before you introduced this "connect" nonsense and has never really worked properly since. That is because, when I am listening to a downloaded playlist, or have paused after doing so, there is no need for you to be getting any network feedback at all. Pretty much treat the player like I'm in offline mode...