topic Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%) in Desktop (Windows)

High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

ConnyJ — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 12:14:31 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

Sweden

Device

Operating System

Windows 10 Home
Version 22H2
OS Build 19045.7058

My Question or Issue

I recently discovered (maybe a couple days ago) that my Spotify app (Windows store ver) on desktop has been using alot of my CPU while just idle. I have tried alot of things already, like reinstalling the app - both via their site and the windows store version - but to no avail. I also tried disabling/enabling hardware acceleration, no change. I don't have the Local Files feature turned on at the moment. I really don't know what is wrong, whether it is something on my side, or if it is a known issue with the desktop app.

I have attached a screenshot, this is Spotify when just idle.

Please, if anyone has had the same problem, or know of a fix, I would be really grateful!

Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.86.502.g8cd7fb22

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

Ivelina — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 13:23:46 GMT

Hey there @ConnyJ,

Thanks for reaching out! While we haven't seen a sudden influx of similar reports recently, high CPU usage is definitely something that we've encountered before on the forum.

To help us investigate, did you notice if this started after a specific event, such as an app update for example?

Since you've already tried a standard reinstall, I'd recommend performing a clean reinstall using the steps here. This ensures that all leftover files and potentially corrupted cache (which are often missed during a normal reinstall) are completely removed. Once this is done, test with the version downloaded directly from our website.

Additionally, since you've already disabled/enabled hardware acceleration without any difference, try checking your GPU control panel (Nvidia/AMD). Sometimes global 3D settings conflict with the app's rendering and resetting these to default, and ensuring your drivers are up to date can often resolve the spike.

Many thanks and keep us posted 🙂

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

ConnyJ — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:43:39 GMT

Hello Ivelina!

I will try your suggestions and reply back with my findings! And no I don't remember if this started at a specific point in time, like after an update or similar, but I will keep you posted!

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

ConnyJ — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 15:37:55 GMT

Hello again,

I have reinstalled the way you described, I updated my gpu drivers and restored the 3d settings in the control panel. I also restared my PC multiple times, but I don't see any change in the behaviour.

I did however notice something while talking to you on this site: while I have spotify open, and also my Edge browser with the focus being on the browser, I noticed that both Spotify and the browser are "sharing" the CPU load,

I'll send a picture to show you. This is only happening while the focus is on this community website, not any other site, like Reddit or YouTube, when I change focus to those sites or anything else it returns to around 30% load only on Spotify.

A very peculiar bug or what should you call it?

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

Paula_Vi — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 17:42:37 GMT

Hi again, @ConnyJ

Thanks for keeping in contact and thanks for trying all the troubleshooting suggested so far!

We've noticed that closing/hiding the "Now Playing view" on the desktop app when they're not using it has worked for other users. Let's try this and also toggle off the Canvas option to see if it makes any difference.

If it's possible, try disabling other options on the Display menu from the desktop app settings (one by one), to see if disabling some of those helps.

Keep us in the loop!

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

ConnyJ — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 18:06:16 GMT

I don't think that did much. I disabled every option under Display, but it still hovers at around 25-30% CPU usage.

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

MrPiggy — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 19:02:06 GMT

I have the exact same problem, probably caused by the new update, since my app updated 2 days ago.

Version 1.2.86.502.g8cd7fb22

Windows 10 Home, OS Build 19045.7058

Neither clearing the cache, disabling hardware acceleration or disabling the "Now playing" option helped. I'm on a laptop, that has an integrated AMD GPU and a dedicated NVIDIA GPU. Spotify is set to use the AMD integrated one, and there aren't many options of resetting any global 3D settings. Everything is set to normal/default.

[Android] Spotify crashes due to memory leak

stasez — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:12:20 GMT

[Android] Spotify crashes on SCREEN_ON broadcast due to progressive heap exhaustion (memory leak)

Summary

Spotify for Android crashes intermittently during active playback. The only workaround is clearing app data/cache, which temporarily resets the issue. I captured ADB logcat during a crash and identified the root cause: a memory leak that drives heap usage to 100%, after which the app is killed by ActivityManager when handling the SCREEN_ON broadcast.

---

Device & environment

- Device: OnePlus 15
- OS: OxygenOS 16.0.3.503 (Android 15)
- Spotify version: 9.1.34.2060
- Account type: Premium
- Connection: Wi-Fi
- Offline downloads: enabled

---

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Spotify and start playback.
2. Use the app normally (browse, skip tracks) for 15–30 minutes.
3. Lock the screen or switch to another app; leave Spotify playing in the background.
4. Turn the screen on again.
5. Observe: Spotify crashes silently (disappears from recents).

Clearing app data temporarily fixes the issue, but it recurs after ~15–30 minutes of use.

---

Root cause analysis (from ADB logcat)

I collected logcat during a crash. The log shows a classic heap exhaustion pattern:

The Java GC runs continuously in the background, but each cycle frees progressively less memory while total heap usage climbs:

19:46:54 — GC freed 119 MB, heap 392/472 MB (16% free)
19:46:55 — GC freed 116 MB, heap 396/472 MB (16% free)
19:46:55 — GC freed 33 MB, heap 511/511 MB ( 0% free) ← heap fully exhausted
19:46:56 — GC freed 107 MB, heap 405/497 MB (18% free)
...
19:47:05 — GC freed 70 MB, heap 441/512 MB (13% free)
19:47:05 — KILL

The runtime repeatedly expanded the heap limit (472 → 497 → 510 → 512 MB) trying to accommodate growing allocations. Multiple threads were blocked on "Waiting for a blocking GC Alloc" simultaneously — a strong indicator of a memory leak, not just high memory usage.

The crash itself was triggered by a SCREEN_ON broadcast:

ActivityManager: Killing 31575:com.spotify.music/u0a463 (adj 0):
user request after error: Broadcast of Intent
{ act=android.intent.action.SCREEN_ON cmp=com.spotify.music/p.se7 }

SCREEN_ON was the trigger, not the cause. The process was already in a terminal state when the broadcast arrived.

---

Additional observations

- The issue is reproducible and progressive — the app degrades over a session, not instantly.
- Video canvas is enabled. I had previously disabled it (album art only), which reduced crash frequency but did not eliminate the issue. Re-enabling video canvas ~3–4 days ago appears to have increased memory pressure further, suggesting the canvas feature may be a contributing factor to the leak.
- Clearing cache and data resets the heap and temporarily resolves the problem, which confirms the leak originates in app-managed state (not OS-level).
- No FATAL EXCEPTION or ANR was recorded — the process was killed externally by the OS due to memory pressure.

---

Expected behavior

Spotify should manage memory across a playback session without progressively accumulating unreleased heap allocations.

Actual behavior

Heap usage grows continuously until it reaches the system-imposed limit (~512 MB), at which point the process is terminated.

---

I'm attaching the logcat file and I hope that would help the engineering team investigate further. Feel free to contact me for any details.

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

-evan- — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:38:56 GMT

I have the same problem, assuming it's caused by the new update like you said. Spotify now uses 4% of my 9950x3d, bringing the usage of certain cores to 90%+, causing idle temps to increase by around 10 deg C. Immediately noticed it after updating.

Prior to this update the CPU usage was neglibile, can't even recall it ever using more than 1%.

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

Thaylor — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:15:13 GMT

Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.86.502.g8cd7fb22

This version is causing high cpu. Got cpu problems since last thursday of friday. Only change is this new version.

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

Ivelina — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:43:58 GMT

Appreciate your input @ConnyJ and thanks for posting in the thread @MrPiggy, @-evan- and @Thaylor.

Could you folks additionally test if the same behavior of the CPU stats persists when you've enabled Offline Mode on Spotify, as well as with an incognito-window of the browser you're using?

We'll be on the lookout!

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

ConnyJ — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:33:03 GMT

Hello again,

It does not seem to affect the web player version of Spotify, the CPU usage is normal in both incognito mode and regular.

In the app, the offline mode does not seem to change the CPU usage.

However I noticed when I logged out of Spotify in the app, the CPU usage dropped to normal levels. So it does seem to be a problem with being logged in to the app version of Spotify.

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

OscarDC — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:58:55 GMT

Hey @ConnyJ,

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

To check if this could be related to being logged into the desktop app, it would be great if you could have someone log in with their account on your PC - such as a friend or a family member, to see if the CPU usage decreases.

Also, to make sure this is not related to the stored cache, we'd recommend clearing any entries which contain Spotify from the host files on your computer by following the instructions mentioned in this post.

Thank you again for keeping us in the loop. We'll be on the lookout.

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

ConnyJ — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 23:03:38 GMT

I tried logging in with an alternative account on my PC, and nothing changed in terms of CPU load. Also I checked the host files, and I couldn't find anything saying "spotify" or "fastly".

The only thing remaining to check - it seems to me - is if there is a problem with the version that I'm on. Can I roll back a version in any safe way? Or should I just wait for an app update and see if the problem persists?

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

-evan- — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 08:05:50 GMT

I logged out of Spotify desktop app and saw the CPU usage immediately drop to near 0%. However, upon logging back in, it seems like the CPU usage has stayed low, or at least much lower than prior to the initial log out.

I'm not sure if this will persist after a computer reboot, but I willl test.

Edit: Did not persist. CPU usage increased back to 3-4% as opposed to 0% when idling. Problem still present.

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

Swift7 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 02:10:17 GMT

Experiencing the same high CPU usage as well.

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

Ivelina — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 06:59:16 GMT

Hey again folks,

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post your details.

We've now forwarded this issue on to the relevant team to investigate and as soon as we have any updates on the matter, we'll let you know here.

In the meantime, don't hesitate to give us a shout if you need help with anything else. Cheers!

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

diego_souz09 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:05:44 GMT

I've also tried every solution listed here and it didn't work, pretty annoying tbh. Specially when your laptop starts going haywire and loud with high cpu usage haha

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

ConnyJ — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:41:41 GMT

There was one moment yesterday that the CPU usage dropped down to normal levels, but after awhile it went back up to 30-35% like previously.

Now as of writing this, the CPU usage seems to have stabilised (around 1-2% idle), I don't know whether that means you guys at Spotify are working on a hotfix or not, but I'll continue to monitor this behaviour. It might just shoot up again before long.

I should also mention that my CPU model is i5 6600k.

I know, I know, it's a very old CPU, my PC is from way back in 2015, but it works fine. Sooner or later I'll have to upgrade considering the support for Windows 10 is soon to vanish, or I'll make the switch to Linux, who knows 🙂

Re: High idle CPU usage (≈30%)

olafmol — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:35:31 GMT

Same issue here, windows 10, latest desktop version. CPU is consistently high between 30-50% while doing nothing. I also notice a very high disk I/O activity, to me it seems some rogue process crapping out on disk writes or reads. Already disabled everything, rebooted, deleted cache etc. To no avail. I’ve been a paying customer from day 1 but lately the the performance of both iOS App and windows desktop app are really unusable. Playlists not loading for minutes, pressing play not doing anything for over 1 minute, basically unusable. I have a lot of playlists (several hundreds) and some playlists have thousands of tracks. But that should not be an issue, when applying smart predictive caching algorithms. Something is clearly wrong with how large numbers of playlists and or tracks are handled by the apps. I’m really annoyed.