BUG: "Music" feed API Timeout (Offline Backup Error) caused by following 8,000+ artists

[Clay82]

Plan

Premium

Country

Italy

Device

Pixel 9 Pro XL

Operating System

Android 16

My Question or Issue

Hello,

I am contacting you to report a structural technical bug related to my account. Please note that I have already performed all the basic troubleshooting steps (clearing cache, clean app reinstall, disabling offline mode/offline backup). Therefore, I kindly ask you to skip the standard troubleshooting macros and escalate this ticket directly to the advanced technical support or development team.

The Problem: On my Android app, when I try to access the "Music/Followed" filter on the Home screen, the feed crashes and returns the error screen: "It didn't work - Refresh or play your offline backup" (screenshot attached).

The Root Cause (Edge Case): This issue is triggered by the fact that I follow over 8,000 artists. The feed aggregation algorithm fails to process this massive amount of data, times out (server-side), and the app mistakenly triggers the "Offline Backup" fallback UI. This is confirmed by the fact that the feed also fails to load on the Desktop Web Player, proving it is an account/API limitation, not a local device issue.

Aggravating Factor (Completely locked out of new releases): Due to recent UI updates or A/B testing, the "What's New" Bell icon has been completely removed from both my home screen and my profile side menu. Consequently, with a broken "Music/Followed" tab and a missing Bell icon, I am entirely locked out from checking new releases from my library on my phone.

I urge you to forward this report to the Android development team. The current interface and the new filtering system clearly cannot handle the libraries of "Power Users" without resulting in an API timeout.

Looking forward to a technical response.

Thank you.

[Clay82]

Hey folks,

The relevant team is looking into this. Rest assured we'll let you know as soon as we have any updates to share, stay tuned.

The Community is here in case you need assistance with anything else in the meantime.

[Paula_Vi]

Hi there, @Clay82 

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the Spotify Community!
 

To investigate this further, it would be very helpful to check if it happens the same on other Android, Apple or Windows devices. You can also check how much internal storage you have left on your mobile, and let us know if this has happened after a recent system update. 

Lastly, just to confirm, do you have any cleaner/optimizer app installed on your mobile? 

Keep us posted!

[Clay82]

Hi Paula,

Thanks for getting back to me. To answer your troubleshooting questions directly:

- Other devices: Yes, as I mentioned in my original post, this exact same timeout issue happens on the Desktop Web Player (Windows/Mac) as well. This definitively confirms it is not an Android-specific issue or a device-specific bug.

-  Internal storage: I have plenty of free storage (over 40GB available), so local space is not the bottleneck.

-  System update: No, this is not related to a mobile OS update. The issue started recently alongside Spotify's own UI changes (specifically the introduction of the "Offline Backup" screen and the removal of the What's New Bell).

-  Cleaner apps: No, I do not have any cleaner, optimizer, or aggressive battery-saving apps installed on my device.

Since the "Music" feed fails to load even on a standard desktop web browser, this points entirely to a server-side API timeout caused by the massive size of my followed artists list (8,000+), rather than any local hardware, storage, or cache issue.

Now that we have ruled out local device factors, could you please escalate this ticket to the advanced technical/development team so they can investigate the account API timeout?

Thank you for your help!

[x666andre]

It's not solved. I still can't see the new releases, and when I refresh nothing happens.

 

[Luisa83]

It does not work for me either. Same as above. I get that notification and when I refresh nothing happens.

[Eni]

Hey there @Clay82, 

Thanks for your reply. 

We've passed this info on to the relevant team so they can take a closer look. We'll let you know as soon as we have any updates about this. 

On another note, make sure to send us the exact Spotify version your phone's running. 

Cheers! 

[Clay82]

Hi Eni, 

thanks for the support. 

My Spotify Android App Version is 9.1.36.1948

I remain hopeful as I await a solution to my problem. Keep me updated as soon as there is any new news.

Thank you!

[Clay82]

@Eni @Paula_Vi

Any news from the development team? The "new release" feature was one of my most used features; it doesn't make sense to me to use Spotify without it anymore!
Help Us!

[ck003]

I'm having this same problem as specified in this post and was advised to cross post here by one of your support people.  There also appear to be many Reddit members having the same problem with Android devices presently who have posted in r/truespotify.  

[Luisa83]

I am having the same issue as mentioned by the original post and I am here to make sure it is well highlighted.

[wardreekus]

I’ve had the exact issue since the new look was introduced.

Spotify iOS version  9.1.36.1949

iOS 26.4.1

77G available on iPhone 13

Following 10k+ artists 

Following feature is an indispensable part of my Spotify listening, not having it the last two months is frustrating. 

 

[Luisa83]

My Spotify version Is 9.1.40.1486 Android 

Android 15

I follow thoisands of artista and It Is hard for me without the What's New feature

[Clay82]

Any news from the development team? The "new release" feature was one of my most used features; it doesn't make sense to me to use Spotify without it anymore!

Help Us!

[Yordan]

Hey folks,

The relevant team is looking into this. Rest assured we'll let you know as soon as we have any updates to share, stay tuned.

The Community is here in case you need assistance with anything else in the meantime.

[Novy]

Hi everyone, 

Our teams have made some changes backstage and this should be fixed, could you confirm if this is the case on your end? 

We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

[ck003]

Now appears fully-functional with both Android and the web player/PWA on my end.  Thanks.

[Clay82]

I can confirm that it's working for me now.

Since we're talking about this feature, I'd like to suggest a change or addition, if possible. It would be fantastic for those who follow thousands of artists! The ability to filter the list of new releases! The ability to select a time range of releases and then automatically import them into a playlist! That would be incredibly useful! Currently, to listen to each new release, you have to select it, listen to it, exit, and select the next one. Creating an automatic playlist for a specific time range would make listening to new releases much smoother and more convenient! Can you pass this along to the developers? I don't think I'm the only one who wants a feature like this! Thank you very much!

[wardreekus]

This looks..amazing! Thanks so much! Please pass my gratitude on to your team! 

[Novy]

Thanks for the confirmation, folks, we're glad to hear everything's working correctly!

The Community will be here if you need a hand with anything else!

[Luisa83]

I got the What's New button back. Thanks!