Android volume keys control Spotify instead of media

[djgoosh]

Plan

Premium

Country

Israel

Device

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G

Operating System

Android

My Question or Issue

Hey there,

I have a very serious issue that need to be fixed ASAP

when I'm playing music through spotify on other device (that is not my phone)

spotify takes over the volume key of my phone even though the app is closed and isn't running in the background

this is quite dangerous since i have loud speakers connected to spotify sometimes .. in my old phones this wasn't the behavior of spotify..

for example the music is playing in the background with my denon receiver and i want to watch a video on my phone and to raise the volume up - the volume key raises the volume of spotify instead of the media..

please fix 

[Alex]

Hey @djgoosh,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

What you can try is to run a clean reinstall of the app, following the steps in this Guide.

If that doesn't help, you might want to check the app settings on your old and new phone. Check if there are any differences in the Permissions and notification settings.

Keep us posted on how you get on with this.

[djgoosh]

it didn't help at all

already tried it

please fix it

it's a problem discussed in many groups and forums..

[Eni]

Hi @djgoosh,

Thanks for getting back in touch. 

This is an expected behavior because the volume buttons prioritize the app that is currently playing music, in this case Spotify. 

However, you can manually change the volume of the sound in the phone by tapping on the 3 dots at the top in the volume bar and it'll display different volume bars. There you'll be able to choose the volume for the device and modify it from there. 

If you need help with anything else, just let us know. 

[djgoosh]

it wasn't like this

and it's very dangerous

since I'm controlling other devices

although the device isn't playing...

check out this post:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Android/Mobile-Android-volume-button-controls-Spotify-Connect-inste...

[djgoosh]

and this one

and there's alot of posts like this

start paying attention to your paying costumers instead of giving blank answers...

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Chat/Spotify-set-as-Main-Volume-Control-on-Android/td-p/4997160

[Alex]

Hey @djgoosh,

Thanks for your reply.

This is something that cannot be managed from within the Spotify app itself. If you're using Spotify Connect and playing music on another device on your WiFi network, and the app is running in the background of the phone, the music will still be streaming from the phone itself. As @Novy has suggested, since Spotify is a media app, the media volume keys will be controlling the active streaming app. 

On some devices this can be manually changed from the Sound/ Notification settings on the phone itself.

Hope this info helps.

[Paperfoxes]

I’m also having this issue. My Alexa will play my Spotify (opened through Alexa, not my phone) yet my iPhone volume is connected to what is currently playing. It’s not open on my phone or in use in the background and still I have to be careful changing volume or my Alexa (that’s strictly for use at night in my nursery) cranks the Spotify volume up very loudly (not good for sleeping babies). It’s doesn’t happen all the time so I’m having to be extra careful when changing volume (when I shouldn’t be having this issue anyways.) 

please suggest a fix. 

[Alex]

Hey @Paperfoxes,

Thanks for the post.

You can try toggling off Background app refresh on your iphone.

Let us know if this helps.

[Killgrave]

Dangerous! Stop saying Dangerous! Your are Dangerous

[smithyg]

Totally agree with dangerous, I was trying to turn up the volume on a BBC Iplayer programme I was watching and it turned up the volume of spotify in my wife's car to MAX whilst she was driving - nearly causing an accident.

No idea why spotify has started to be prioritised even when playing on other devices - even over the media active on the phone. On my Android it even comes up as Spotify volume NOT media - they are shown separately now.

[Supruku]

I'd also like a solution to this issue. It's unacceptable that this can't be addressed in spotify settings. We have a very powerful home sound system, and sometimes when I put my phone in my pocket the volume keys will get pressed and absolutely demolish everyone's ears in the house, even when spotify isn't the active app. I'm thankful it hasn't damaged our speakers yet or caused hearing damage.

[bigbasin]

I'm having the same issue. Maddening!! I have rebooted my Android. I have rebooted Roku. I have checked the "3 little dots". I have worked with my Android sound settings. I have turned off Bluetooth. I have rebooted again. And after reading about others having the same issue, with no concrete answer from Spotify, my only choice is to uninstall Spotify, and next step is to subscribe to a competitor and discontinue Spotify. Ridiculous there is no resolution since the first complaint in 2021.

[Cojones8]

Found this page as im searching for a answer on how to be able to control the Spotify audio with my volume keys on my new Pixel 8 Pro. I came from Samsung and I loved seeing able to manage Spotify volume on the Spotify connect device by just putting my hand in my pocket and go for the volume keys. 

[Akitu]

It's because of the stupid "Spotify connect" feature. Turn it off and your volume will no longer be stolen. It will go back to the previous behaviour of only needing Spotify active to affect its volume instead of taking over volume all the time even for devices halfway around the world and not running on your phone at all.

[Cojones8]

Thank you so much for the solution!

[LaidBackAJ]

Adding some context as I was searching for something here. I'm using a OnePlus 9 Pro. I use Spotify Connect mostly because playlist management is terrible on desktop but great on mobile; I can add the currently-playing song to multiple playlists at the same time on mobile but as far as I can tell you can only do this one playlist at at time on desktop.

Now, for what's relevant to the conversation at hand, if I have the YouTube app open and playing audio on my phone, with Spotify playing on my PC, my phone's volume buttons modify my phone's media volume, and thus YouTube's volume, as expected.

However, if I replace YouTube in that example with certain other apps, e.g. TikTok and Instagram, and do the exact same thing, my phone's volume buttons modify the remote Spotify audio instead.

I hope this helps the dev team track down the issue because this discrepancy is unacceptable.

[Baron · Accepted solution]

After searching the internet high and low with no useful answer, I think I found a solution: If you go into the app settings (Android's Spotify app settings, not Spotify's internal app settings) go to the apps 'permissions' settings then turn off the 'nearby devices' permission. This worked a treat in preventing Spotify from stealing my volume control!!

[Jubudii]

Finally!! This is the first thing I've seen that actually fixed it 😭 so many forums with empty responses from support that did nothing. Everyone saying it's "Spotify connect" which isn't even a setting anymore. Thank you thank you thank you!!