topic Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update in Desktop (Windows)

Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

Reiknar — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 08:16:41 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

U.S.

Device

Personal Computer

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

When I attempt to play a song, I get a popup notifying me that my version of Spotify is outdated. I can either click Update or Dismiss. If I click Dismiss, it fails to play any songs and leaves them greyed out in the bar at the bottom which shows what is playing.

If I click Update, nothing happens. Well, not quite nothing. The App in the background "flashes" at me, once. But the popup does not go away, nor does anything update.

I've tried shutting down and restarting Spotify, but it doesn't attempt to update itself on startup, as most any app would and should, especially if an update is required.

A small snippet at the bottom of the popup, notifies me that, "Device not allowing you to update? You can still enjoy Spotify using the Spotify Web Player.

That's a lovely bit of dodge there ain't it? Blame my device for your app not updating. Couldn't possibly be an issue with how you've set stuff up could it? No... it's my device that's not allowing it and the only solution is to use a web browser. Seriously?What hair brained fool decided to write that bit of nonsense and set it up as part of your offered help?

Here's the problem I have with this. I don't want some random web page to be my way of interacting with Spotify, I don't want to have a web page open for this while listening.

And if Spotify can't sort this out right soon, I will certainly be canceling my account. I will miss Spotify of course, but I will go elsewhere if needed to find a better way to listen to music. If I wanted to listen in my web browser, I might as well just use Youtube.

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

Dessi — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:07:37 GMT

Hi there @Reiknar,

Thanks for reaching out and flagging this!

Not being able to update the app no matter what you try definitely sounds frustrating and we really appreciate your feedback on the suggested workaround from the pop-up! We'll do our best to get to the bottom of this and help you resolve the issue as quickly as possible so you're not stuck in a constant loop.

A good first step would be to try a clean reinstall of the app as it removes any leftover files from older installs that can sometimes block updates and cause caching issue. It’s a bit more thorough than a normal uninstall, but it often does the trick. Once that’s done, we’d recommend restarting your PC before installing the app again, just to make sure everything resets properly.

You can also try downloading Spotify from the Microsoft Store instead of the website, since the store version updates automatically through Windows, which can help prevent issues like this in the future.

Hope this helps get things back on track for you, but let us know how it goes and if you need any further assistance.

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

Reiknar — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 21:29:15 GMT

A reinstall does seem to have helped. I avoided the Microsoft Store, because I want as little to do with that as I can manage. Downloaded the app directly from your web page was a silly bit of a run around though. The large bold "DOWNLOAD" button at the top of the page, did nothing. Fortunately, I noticed a fine print link below the Microsoft Store prompt, which said "Download directly from Spotify" - that worked.

Curious why the Download button at the top of your Home Page does nothing, and why you would prefer users go through the Microsoft Store vs getting their updates from you directly.

Is it just being cheap and lazy? Not wanting to pay someone to maintain your own website properly? It's a bit off putting to say the least. Please don't bother thanking me for this feedback, rather I would prefer to get a reply that actually means something pertinent to the query. If that can't be done, then nothing at all is preferable.

Re-Installing was certainly going to be my next step to try anyway. But I was hoping things would be better managed with regards to updates on your software. Considering the money we pay, that doesn't seem unreasonable. In the end things appear to be working again, so in a week or so perhaps I'll forget about this little hiccup... that is until something gets screwy again, or you raise your price again while failing to provide anything new or noteworthy - Honestly I don't WANT you to provide anything new or noteworthy. All I want is reliable access to the music I enjoy, at a reasonable price. Push your boundaries too far and you're going to lose subscriptions. Much like Netflix has with their forced ads.

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

MentalAbsence — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 05:35:02 GMT

Dessi, I've just encountered this too, so I don't think this was a one-off issue only affecting Reiknar. Clearly Spotify has pushed out a bad update or introduced some other defect. Could you please let me know how this issue is being addressed by Spotify engineering?

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

Maria — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 10:27:09 GMT

Hey @MentalAbsence,

Thanks for posting in this thread! Sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue as well.

Just to confirm, have you tried the steps listed earlier in the thread by @Dessi?

If so, and if it persists for you, it would be great if you could send us a few more details, so we can look into this behavior further. Would you mind letting us know the following:

The make, model & OS version of your device.
Current Spotify version (if possible).

Feel free to include any other troubleshooting steps you've tried so far too. This will help us navigate the issue and also avoid repeating steps.

Keep us in the loop!

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

CharIsAFroggy — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 17:50:31 GMT

This is also happening to me. I'm using a custom built PC.
Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.85.519.g549a528b

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

Dessi — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 06:07:54 GMT

Hey @CharIsAFroggy,

Thanks for joining the thread!

There is a newer version available, so can you try a clean reinstall of the app as it seems to have helped in this case? If you've downloaded the app from the Microsoft Store so far, try doing that from the Spotify website instead and vice versa.

Let us know how it goes.

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

Mncdk — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:36:54 GMT

I ran into this problem today in Windows.

I tried restarting Spotify multiple times, but it wouldn't update itself, and pressing the Update button in OP's screenshot did nothing.

The solution for me was to press the 3 dots menu, go to Help -> About, where it said a new version was available. There I could press download and install, and things finally updated.

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

naudziunasbenas — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:01:05 GMT

that didnt work

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

Vasil — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:18:27 GMT

Hey @naudziunasbenas,

Thanks for joining the thread!

Please confirm you've gone over the following troubleshooting steps:

A complete clean reinstall of the app
An alternative app version (from the MS app store if you currently have the copy from our website and vice-versa)
Press the 3-dot menu, go to Help -> About and try updating from there - as proposed by @Mncdk

If you've gone over these steps but none have helped:

Try temporarily disabling your Antivirus software (or add an allow-list exception) and retry the update/install
See if using a different network would make a difference
If you’re in a managed/ corporate environment, try a personal network/ device or ask your IT to allow-list Spotify instead

Lastly, try clearing your hosts file as shown in this FAQ article here.
In case the issue remains, let us know what your OS version is, as well as your Spotify app version (if it's visible to you).

Hope this helps! Keep us posted on how things go 🙂

Re: Outdated Version of Spotify - Can not Update

whatever68 — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 22:04:20 GMT