Can't clean install on Android 11, Spotify is deleting songs when I turn off my phone.

[Zakcm]

Plan

Premium

Country

Canada

Device

Samsung s20 FE 5g

Operating System

Android 11

My Question or Issue

Spotify is deleting my songs when I turn off my phone and every odd time signs me out of my accout. Funny enough, if Spotify was in offline mode when I turn my phone off and is signs me out, it wont let me sign in cause it cant connect to the internet and I need to re install the app. I sign in with Facebook.

I can't clean install on adroid 11 since you can't see the contents of the Android > Data folder, just shows 0 items. I have also tried signing out of all accounts and I formatted my external memory card where I usually keep my songs.

This only started happening to me a week ago and I've owned this phone for may 2 months now. Any suggestions on how to clean install on Adroid 11 or what it may have happened all of the sudden?

[Mihail]

Hey @Zakcm,

Thanks for reaching out.

Could you check if the issue persists if you take out the SD card, restart the device an perform one more clean reinstall? Start the app without inserting the SD card and let us know if you could replicate the behavior. 

On another note - do you experience similar issues on another device? It would also help us a lot if could you ask a friend or family member to log in on your smartphone and see if the issue comes up there as well. Alternatively you can create a free one here and use it for the test.

Keep us posted! We'll be happy to lend a hand if you need more help. 

[Zakcm]

So I found a way to clean install using 3rd party file apps. It looks like it's a problem with songs saving to the SD card. The songs are not re-downloaded when saved on my device. I turn the phone off, wait a bit, start it up and the songs are there. When I save the songs to my SD card, turn the device off, wait a bit and back on again, the songs start re-downloading to my device instead of retrieving the already exsisting downloads on the SD card. While its downloading if I go to storage in the settings of Spotify, the app picks up that my SD has less storage space available, but changes back to the pre download available space amount after the songs are downloaded to my device. 

I clean install on my SD card as well. I have to take it out and pop it into my computer to delete the Spotify file. But it seems like this is not fixing it, the songs redownloading or transfering to my device storage when I turn on the phone.

[Novy]

Hi @Zakcm, 

Thanks for your reply. 

In this case, we'd recommend making sure that your SD card is not formatted as Internal memory, as this could cause issues with the Spotify cache. It should be formatted as Portable.

Also, if you're using a cache clearing app on your phone, we'd suggest disabling it to see if you notice anything new. 

Let us know how it goes.

[Zakcm]

I don't believe its possible to format the card as internal memory on a Samsung device or at least not without knowing. The problem started around last week now that Im remembering, and Spotify pushed an update out on April 19... I'm starting to think the update has something to do with this. Nothing has changed in my phone from before this started happening, no cleaning apps, and I only formatted the SD card as an attempt to fix this problem.

[Eni]

Hey there @Zakcm,

Thanks for your reply. 

Just to confirm, is the issue also happening if you remove your SD card and restart your phone?

On another note, we recommend checking if your phone's OS has any pending updates. 

Keep us posted.

[Zakcm]

Yes, It happens even when I save the songs to the SD card, remove the SD card, and restart the phone. It will download to my device.

No OS updates.

Regards

[Ver]

Hey @Zakcm,

Thanks for the info 🙂

Just to double-check- does the issue occur when you try with another account on the same device? It's also a good idea to log in to your account on another device to check if there are any changes.

If possible, could you try with another SD card to see if the issue persists? 

Keep us in the loop! If you have questions, you know where to find us.

[Dacosja]

The solution for me was based off this post.

I installed a 3rd party app to restrict Spotify from auto-start. Now the SD card has time to mount before Spotify tries to manage it unsuccessfully right after the phone boots, which was causing it to use Device Storage instead. The bug is still there, but this workaround fixed it for me.