topic Re: Videos are not playing anymore in Android

Videos are not playing anymore

fatquack — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 18:55:48 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+

Operating System

Android 14

My Question or Issue

Since several days videos are no longer playing on my tablet. They work fine in the browser or on my phone. I have already done a clean re-install on my tablet. Now I have lost all my downloads, but it did not solve the problem. I just get a black screen.

Re: Videos are not playing anymore

Yordan — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 11:35:23 GMT

Hey, @fatquack,

Thanks for reaching out!

Does this occur only when connected to an external Wi-Fi / Bluetooth speaker or also when listening directly on your tablet? Do you have another account which you can test this behavior with? A friend's or a relative's would do.

It's also worth checking if the issue persists when using mobile data or another Wi-Fi network.

Let us know how it goes 👍

Re: Videos are not playing anymore

fatquack — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 14:41:20 GMT

It happens both with or without external speakers. My phone, where videos do play, is on the same Wi-Fi network. My tablet has no mobile connection, only Wi-Fi.

I don't have another account available.

Re: Videos are not playing anymore

fatquack — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 17:41:36 GMT

Now it says:

"You can't play video when connected to this device" when I click "Switch to video".

???

Re: Videos are not playing anymore

Yordan — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 12:09:27 GMT

Thanks for the reply, @fatquack!

Is your tablet connected to any other devices then (for example, a TV, Chromecast, etc.)? If so, check if disconnecting lets you play music videos. If you're using Samsung's SmartThings, I'd recommend disabling it temporarily to see if it helps.

It's possible that this has to do with DRM protection and the system is detecting that you're connected to an audio - or video-recording device on your tablet. In any case, a short screen recording which captures the behavior in action would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers 🤘

Re: Videos are not playing anymore

fatquack — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 23:13:57 GMT

I did another clean re-install and now videos play sometimes. I still get the "You can't play video when connected to this device" a lot though. My tablet is only connected to the dumb speakers, I don't have any smart devices at all. The weird thing is that I only seem to get that error when I try to play a video when listening to a playlist (like a daily mix) and the video plays fine when I play it from the album. And sometimes when I click "switch to video" and get that error, after clicking it a few times it plays the video.

I did manage to capture a screenshot, but the error goes away too quick for a recording.

Re: Videos are not playing anymore

Dessi — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 15:11:57 GMT

Hey @fatquack,

Thanks for the reply and all the info you've provided!

We've forwarded this to our tech folks, so that they can have a closer look and check what's happening. We're unable to provide an ETA for a fix at the moment, but we’re regularly looking for opportunities to enhance the user experience for everyone, so your feedback on this is greatly appreciated. In the meantime, make sure you're always running the latest version of Spotify so you don't miss out on any updates.

Take care.

Re: Videos are not playing anymore

fl0wfr — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 15:10:01 GMT

I don't even understand why Spotify put some DRM on the video clips. Music is playing without any device certification, and the video is just the same as the video clip we can find on YouTube.

That's a shame because it lacks video playback on 3rd party devices like Odroid boxes, or even x86_64 mini PCs with Android TV installed...

I tried on an Odroid N2 with LineageOS + Android TV, the app offers to switch to video mode, but when it's enabled, only music is playing, no video, just a black screen.