Android TV App • Huge Data Demand Bringing Storage to Its Limit

[Daovinity]

Plan

Premium

Device

Android Smart TV

Operating System

Android 14 (TV)

My Question or Issue

After the latest Updates, the Spotify app for Android TV is storing really big amounts of data (in 1+ GB range) on the rather small internal TV storage medium causing the device to frequently asking me to make space while having almost no other apps installed.

The TV app doesn't download any songs or podcasts, etc. so I am really wondering why it uses so much data storage.

I have a rather big library so this will most probably have something to do with the issue but shouldn't cause this immense data demand.

Please have a look at this app behavior and I wish all of you a great day. 🙏🏻

[Daovinity]

Hey folks,

Thank you for the additional details.

We've forwarded your info to our folks backstage. Although we can't provide you with an immediate timeframe in which it is going to get resolved, rest assured that it is on our radar!

In order to aid us in the investigation, would you mind sharing the following info:

• Have you noticed this behavior when specifically listening to music, or podcasts? Are you watching with video or listening as audio-only?
• Are there any other patterns that you believe might have contributed to the storage filling up (like for example using the app for extended periods of time)?
• Your device's brand and model + the exact details of your Spotify app. You can find this info by opening the app's settings in the top-right corner.

As for what we can currently do to mitigate the damage - there is something we can suggest that may be worth trying out! You can see if using a USB stick (formatted as storage) to increase the capacity of your TV would make a difference. In order for this to work however, you'd need to remove the app from the TV and install it again. The new installation should utilize the USB storage instead of the TV's internal storage.

Note: Simply moving the app over to the external storage without the new installation will likely prevent it from functioning properly.

This is all for now, folks. If there's anyone else experiencing this issue, please let us know what your device models are, as well as your currently installed Spotify app versions.

We'll keep you posted as soon as there's anything new to share 🙂

[OscarDC]

Hey @Daovinity,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community about this.

If the app is taking up too much storage on your TV, we'd first recommend clearing Spotify's cache directly from your TV settings:

1. Go to the Settings menu (gear icon) on your Android TV home screen.
2. Click on Apps > See all apps.
3. Find Spotify from the list and click it.
4. Scroll down the app options and select Clear cache.
5. Click OK or Confirm to clear the temporary files.

If the issue persists, we'd also recommend selecting "Clear data" instead of "Clear cache." This will log you out, but it completely shrinks the app back down to its base size.

Lastly, if you have the option available, we'd also recommend lowering the streaming quality within your Spotify settings by selecting Settings (gear icon) > Audio Quality.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

[Daovinity]

Hello and thanks for the reply.

The issue doesn't regard the Cache but explicitly the App Data. I deleted
the App Data a few times to see if this is a temporary problem but the data
size always quickly runs up to round about 1.5 GB which is far too much for
an average TV storage to handle.

[Ivelina]

Thanks for the response, @Daovinity. We appreciate your input.

Since clearing the data only works for a short period, the app is likely building its internal database right back up every time you log in. As you mentioned that you have a bigger music library, because of it, Spotify is likely constantly working in the background to download and organize all the text, covers, and details for your songs.

To help with the load on your TV's storage, here are a few more things to try:

• If possible, ask a friend or a relative with a smaller music library to log into their Spotify account on your TV. If they use it for a bit and their data usage stays lower, you'll know for sure that your big library is what's causing the issue.
• Even though it's not ideal, try unfollowing big, automatically updating playlists (like Discover Weekly or Release Radar). This gives the TV app significantly fewer items to keep track of.
• Take a look at your specific TV's settings under Apps > Spotify. If you see an option to restrict background data or background activity, turn it off which will stop the app from updating itself when you aren't using it.
• As previously suggested, try also with lowering the streaming quality within your Spotify settings.

We're here in the meantime if there's anything else we can assist you with.

[Poppy9]

new updates broke this app. it takes up 1.5-2gb in storage, filling up tv storage, rendering the tv unusable. seems like a memory leak issue, please fix it.

[Dessi]

Hey @Poppy9,

Thanks for joining the thread!

Can you give the steps @Ivelina and @OscarDC mentioned a shot and let us know how it goes? We want to make sure we've covered some basic troubleshooting in order to find the root cause and continue looking into this.

Keep us posted.

[Poppy9]

Yes, clearing data fixes it temporarily but then it logs me off. Eventually the storage fills up again. 

Also tried everything else mentioned above and nothing helps including dropping the quality. 

For workarounds I've sideloaded an older version of the APK and am currently testing if it has issues. Previous to that I uninstalled the app and was relying on casting only.

[Dessi]

Hey @Poppy9,

Thanks for checking!

As this sounds like it might be related to the TV itself, can you let us know the make and model? In the meantime, we'd recommend doing a factory reset, if you're up to it, since it will help determine if this really is device-related. Something else you could do is reach out to the manufacturer to check if they have any insights on why this might be happening.

We'll be on the lookout.

[Poppy9]

I can confirm that an older version of the app (v1.134.2) works great. Takes about 30-50mb at most whereas the new update takes 1.5-2.0GB. What does Spotify need that much storage for of I'm streaming from Internet?

Nothing to do with the TV but it's a Song Bravia X90J. A lot of google TVs only have few GB of usable space which is very normal.

I have done a factory reset on the TV as I was troubleshooting why it was so slow and running out of space. Would work fine until I installed the Spotify app.

[Poppy9]

Attached are two others will same issue.

[Vasil]

Hey folks,

Thank you for the additional details.

We've forwarded your info to our folks backstage. Although we can't provide you with an immediate timeframe in which it is going to get resolved, rest assured that it is on our radar!

In order to aid us in the investigation, would you mind sharing the following info:

• Have you noticed this behavior when specifically listening to music, or podcasts? Are you watching with video or listening as audio-only?
• Are there any other patterns that you believe might have contributed to the storage filling up (like for example using the app for extended periods of time)?
• Your device's brand and model + the exact details of your Spotify app. You can find this info by opening the app's settings in the top-right corner.

As for what we can currently do to mitigate the damage - there is something we can suggest that may be worth trying out! You can see if using a USB stick (formatted as storage) to increase the capacity of your TV would make a difference. In order for this to work however, you'd need to remove the app from the TV and install it again. The new installation should utilize the USB storage instead of the TV's internal storage.

Note: Simply moving the app over to the external storage without the new installation will likely prevent it from functioning properly.

This is all for now, folks. If there's anyone else experiencing this issue, please let us know what your device models are, as well as your currently installed Spotify app versions.

We'll keep you posted as soon as there's anything new to share 🙂

[Poppy9]

Storage starts filling up once I install and log in. In couple days it will reach the point where it's too much for my device. (1.5gb+)

Generally I only use Spotify for music (audio only).

Spotify version last tested with the issue: 9.1.82.2154

Device: Sony Bravia X90J / VH2