Bug: Android app crashes on startup with too many playlists

[SimonCox]

There appears to be a limit on the number of playlists supported in the Android app.  The bug manifests itself by causing Spotify to crash on startup leaving the user no choice, but to wipe the app and all sync'ed data, remove the additional playlists from a desktop app then re-install and re-sync.  It's been around for over a year and has even been acknowledged by a Spotify employee.  Sort it out.

https://getsatisfaction.com/spotify/topics/android_app_crashing_due_too_many_playlists

And

• http://getsatisfaction.com/spotify/to...
• http://getsatisfaction.com/spotify/to...
• http://getsatisfaction.com/spotify/to...

These might be also the same problem:

• http://getsatisfaction.com/spotify/to...
• http://getsatisfaction.com/spotify/to...
• http://getsatisfaction.com/spotify/to...

[gerryn · Accepted solution]

Yep, same problem here. Android ICS 4.0.3 on Nexus S and ASUS Transformer Prime.

This is from my post at the getsatisfaction thread;

Just encountered this problem across all my mobile devices, but not Windows. 

I have the latest version of ICS (4.0.3 at this time) on Samsung Nexus S, and ASUS Tranformer Prime, the Nexus S will simply crash to desktop, while on the Prime the application refuses to login[correction; refuses to stay in "online" mode, login works fine], but I was still able to use my offline playlists as I had time to go "offline" in the settings since it didnt crash[correction; it also crashes on the Prime now...]. 

I have now reduced the number of playlists and wiped all data on the phone and tablet, and I am able to have Spotify work at least.... 

This is an issue over a year old, some kind of status update would be nice instead of a completely ridiculous "backup your playlists" workaround. 

[ghostmode]

yup same problem here...I have the htc 3d.  Most of my friends who bought spotify for phones other then iphones have cancelled their plans do to horrible app performance.  I have been hoping that spotify decides to spend some time fixing this problem soon or I will probably end up doing the same.

[izb]

Same problem for me on the HTC Desire S.

I had to delete over 250 playlists and re-install spotify to get it to stop crashing on startup. Not a good solution.

[overfloater]

250? Wow.

Galaxy Nexus, stock 4.0.2. The app started crashing on startup yesterday but I was only at around 30 playlists. Restarting the phone, clearing local data, even uninstalling/reinstalling Spotify didn't solve the problem.

However, deleting a couple of playlists via the desktop app first, then restarting the phone did allow Spotify to launch. I've since tried adding a bunch of new playlists -- up to about 40 -- and the app still seems perfectly happy. (Well, as happy as it ever gets.) So if it is indeed possible to have "too many playlists", it's not an absolute number. I'm currently resyncing offline playlists (fun times), so we'll see how that pans out.

is it possible that certain playlists just freak the app out, and that that could happen at any number of playlists?

Seriously, though, the Spotify mobile AND desktop apps are some of the buggiest apps/applications I've ever dealt with. All platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, even the Windows client. The app crashes several times an hour on an iPhone 3GS (iOS5), skips frequently, and is generally slow and unresponsive when it is working. If you can't get a reliably functional Android app either, I'll be downgrading Premium to Unlimited this month. The FB integration, social feed, and desktop apps are buggy and random enough that I'm debating dropping the sub altogether. I only subbed to Spotify for an element of convenience in the first place, not because of the terrible music catalog -- but since I seem to spend most of my time fighting with and troubleshooting the apps, the whole "convenience' factor is kinda wearing thin.

[overfloater]

Grrkpphfll.... *choke*

I resynced my offline playlists after having uninstalled/reinstalled Spotify to troubleshoot this issue ... not too many, but 100+ tracks in all so it took a while. All looked fine.

So I get ready to leave the office, put in my earphones, launch Spotify again, and... "You have synced offline playlists to more than 3 devices. This device will now be desynced."  [<- link]  And all the playlists were immediately wiped.

AYFKMWTS?

if it's not one ridiculous bug, it's another.

I only have 2 devices with offline playlists. I've only EVER had 2 devices with offline playlists: one iPhone, one Android phone. Even uninstalling/reinstalling Spotify for Android today should only put me at the 3-device limit, not over it -- and only if you fail to tie the Spotify installation to the hardware device ID, which clearly you do.

Moreover, why couldn't Spotify manage to count to 3 before spending the better part of an hour gradually syncing those offline playlists, rather than wasting its time downloading only to wipe them right away?

Think I'm pretty much done beta testing your terrible mobile apps and awful programming logic. Let us know when they're actually ready for public release. Dropping my sub down to Unlimited from Premium, and we'll see if the desktop Spotify client alone can maintain that after I investigate Rdio as a mobile replacement. 

[izb · Accepted solution]

Any word on this? Just as a reminder, this bug was ignored for a year already on the getsatisfaction "support" site. Any word from spotify on this would be nice. Even a "we're aware of the problem and are fixing it" response.

[Castor]

Great to see that this issue is not forgotten by us users at least!

This has been a problem for me since day 1 of "Spotify Mobile"...

Having "migrated" all/most of my listening to Spotify, deleting/fidgeting with playlists is not a realistic "work around" at all. However, even though I would like to be hopeful about a potential solution (even just allowing me to access e.g. my "starred" songs on my android would be better than no access at all) - the issue was completely ignored for all intents and purposes on "Get Satisfaction". Perhaps as increasing numbers of "power users" in the US start encountering the same problem we will be heard!

Some "love" for those of us who really use Spotify to the fullest would be much appreciated! Fingers crossed - and thanks to everyone in this thread for caring!  

[SteveBrammer]

Very disappointing that there's no response from anyone at Spotify in this thread 😞

[izb]

Come on spotify.. at this point I'll settle for a "yes, we have read this thread". 

[Richard]

Hey everyone,

I'll start by saying that yes, we have read this thread. And we are listening.

This isn't something that we have a fix for right at the minute though. I'm not really sure whether it's a hardware or software issue. But it is a known bug.

For now the workaround we suggest is to limit the number of playlists you have on your account. If you have multiple albums saved for instance, try just saving a track from each in a new playlist. This is an easy way to cut the load down.

Hopefully this will be more stable in future releases. There's a lot of things for us to improve in the Android app, this included.

[izb]

Thanks!

By the way, I'd really love a way to mark a playlist as for/not for mobile sync. This would be a great feature that would also work around this bug.

[Castor]

Completely agree with izb - such a feature - being able to mark individual playlists or being able to only select "starred" tracks for mobile sync would probably solve this problem for most of us "power users" (currently have more than 1k playlists and 3k albums in my wonderful Spotify collection - so deleting/limiting playlists really isnt a work around for ppl like me... ;)).

Thanks for the reply from Spotify and acknowledgement of this problem! 😃

Fingers crossed for a solution!

[SimonCox]

@Richard, sorry, but that's just not good enough.  Spotify have known this is an issue for a very long time.  This is a pretty simple bug to reproduce so I don't understand how you can say you don't know whether hardware or software is to blame (given the variation of hardware, it would seem unlikely to be hardware issue).  If you aren't able to reproduce (?!?) i would be more than happy to run some sort of debug build that has diagnostic logging enabled to help track down this frustrating bug.

Also, that really isn't a workaround.  A workaround would provide some means of having more playlists.

- Angry paying user

[kingdelillo]

I upgraded and haven't been able to log in. I have ONE playlist currently and had ZERO when I first tried to login.

It always says I'm offline (whether using 4g OR wifi) and then crashes immediately.  I've never been able to play a single song.  I have the HTC Rezound.  I assume I will have to cancel at the end of my trial.  Any tips?

[Richard]

Crashing with just one playlist doesn't sound like it would be related to this bug, so it's probably something else.

Changing your password has been known to stop random crashes on some Android devices, so I'd recommend giving this a go.

[kingdelillo]

I appreciate the tip, but it didn't work.

 I contacted spotify support, and they said my phone was not compatible.  It's not on the list, but I still find that hard to believe.

So...I guess I should just cancel? 

[xxnitsuaxx]

Let me get this straight - I pay you specifically so that I can take my Spotify playlists with me on my Android phone (the most popular smartphone OS in the USA).  Your application (once again, on the most popular platform in the country) has had this EXACT problem for over a YEAR and the company's recommended fix is that I create random playlists with random tracks?  Bugs are acceptable - not fixing them for a year while you expect your customers to perform ludicrous workarounds is not.  How do you justify keeping my money again?

[Castor]

Personally, I have had these problems right from the start of my Spotify/Android use - and I started reporting/following the discussion about the playlist problem on getsatisfaction.com towards the end of May 2010... So for us EU users the problem has been around for much longer...

[izb]

That's a year and 9 months.

wow...