Erratic playback behaviour when using Google Cast speakers

[Oskold]

Plan

Premium

Country

Sweden

Device

Google Pixel 8

Operating System

Android 16

My Question or Issue

When playing music on my Google Cast speakers and speaker groups, the playback is not working properly. When I listen to a track and chose a new track, for example by searching for it in the Spotify Android app, the current track being played starts over from the beginning. When I once again press to chose another song, the desired song starts playing, but after a couple of these inputs playback stops all together and I must cycle to another speaker or group and then back to make it work again, but the strange behaviour persists. 

Tried:  - Disconnecting and reconnecting Spotify Account in Google Home
           - Clearing Spotify app cache
           - Reinstalling the Spotify app

           - Rebooting Wifi router

           - Factory resetting of speakers and reconnecting them to Google Home

           

[bratatatat]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

PC & Mobile

Operating System

Windows 11 & Android 16

My Question or Issue

Starting within the past week, Spotify activity does not sync to any connected apps when I have my output device set to without manual intervention if I have a device other than "This Computer"/"Wired Connection" or "This phone" selected.

For example, I have Spotify (both PC and Android) connected to my Sonos speakers. After the first song I play manually, activity sync stops and even though songs are still playing, this is not reflected in either Discord or Last.fm. The only thing that causes the activity to show again is if I switch the device from the Sonos speakers to "This computer"/wired connection on my PC or "This phone" on my phone app.

This is happening with both Discord and Last.fm, as well as a site utilizing the Spotify API to populate activity for a group of friends.

I have unlinked and relinked all connected apps without improvement. I tried to update but I appear to be on the most recent version.

Current status of each connected app after additional testing:

Spotify API: Live updates appear to be working after manually unlinking and relinking to website.

Android App: removing and reconnecting Discord and Last.fm did not resolve. However, now after manual song change, bringing Discord app to foreground seems to force status update.

Windows Desktop App: removing and reconnecting Discord and Last.fm did not resolve. Unlike Android experience, bringing either Spotify or Discord to foreground does not force activity status update, only stopping the song and manually restarting it or skipping the song can force activity update to Discord for the next song, but not the songs to follow.

Last.fm: No changes. Has not seen new activity for past 2 hours.

[Yordan]

Hey, @Oskold,

Welcome to the Spotify Community!

Have you tried using another Wi-Fi network to see if that makes a difference? You can ask a friend or a relative to create a mobile hotspot for your to connect to temporarily. Also, make sure all devices are running the latest updates.

Let us know how it goes.

[Oskold]

Hi Yordan and thank you for the reply.

You mean connecting both the speaker and the phone to a mobile hotspot? 
Not sure if that's possible without factory resetting the speakers.

[Paula_Vi]

Hi there, @Oskold 

Thanks for keeping in contact! 

Yes, we mean connecting both the speaker and the phone to a mobile hotspot or a different Wi-Fi network, just to check if it makes a difference.

Keep in mind that the playback works better if both the speakers and the phone are connected to the same internet connection.

Let us know how it goes! 

[Oskold]

I am not doing that, they are all connected to the same network. Also it works flawlessly from the desktop version. The problem seems to be in the Android app. It also used to work in the Android app but not anymore.

[Ivelina]

Thank you for the response @Oskold.

We completely understand your frustration and it makes total sense that you'd expect things to work on your phone if you're not experiencing issues on the desktop version, and also because things used to work on the Android app as you mentioned.

We ask for this quick network test, because the desktop and mobile apps connect to speakers differently. Sometimes, a network update could block mobile signals while letting desktop traffic through.

Testing with a mobile hotspot could help us isolate the issue. If it works, then your router could likely be blocking the phone. On another note, if it doesn't work, then the Android app itself might be the issue and we will continue to look into this. 

Would you be willing to try this quick hotspot test? 

Keep us posted and we're here in the meantime if anything else comes up. 

[Doctorina]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

Pixel 10

Operating System

Android

For the last couple months the Spotify app has stopped playing songs from search on a single tap. Instead, when I tap the song I want in the search list, the song that's currently playing restarts. Only when I tap the desired song again does that song actually start to play.

It's been driving me batty, and I haven't seen anyone experiencing a similar issue out there. Things I've tried:

-  restarting phone

-  clearing app data 

-  reinstalling app

Reinstalling actually did fix it for a few days, but then the issue returned.

I'm at a loss. Has this happened to anyone else, and did you find the solve? 

[Joan]

Hi there @Doctorina,

Thanks for reaching out. We'll be happy to help you get everything in working order again.

You've already done some great troubleshooting, but when you did, were the steps followed separately or one after another? Consider following the full clean reinstall steps to ensure the app is reset to its usual state.

If the issue persists after this, could you please send us a video of the behaviour. If the files are too large to attach here in the Community, you can send them to us via Google Drive or as unlisted YouTube videos. This will helps us look deeper into this.

Let us know how it goes.

[Oskold]

I have now replaced my Wifi router with an entire new mesh network, but the problem still persists.

[Joan]

Hi @Oskold,

Thanks for the info and for your cooperation.

We've forwarded all the info you've provided us to the appropriate team. We'll let you know in this thread once we have news to share.
 

In the meantime, if there's anything else we can help you with, don't hesitate to reach out.

[Doctorina]

Hi Joan! I followed the clean reinstall steps, but no joy. The behavior repeated as soon as I opened the app again.

I managed to get a recording of it this time; you can see my attempt to click the song "No One Is Alone" results in the currently playing song restarting. Only when I click it again does "No One Is Alone"  become the currently playing song. 

Edit: Oh! Something I just thought to test! This behavior only happens when I'm connected to my Sonos speakers. I just tried playing from the phone itself and it works as expected. 

[Paula_Vi]

Hi again, @Doctorina 

Thanks for keeping in contact and thanks for letting us know these additional details!

Make sure your Sonos app/firmware are fully up to date. Before searching something in the app, explicitly tap the Devices Available icon (the speaker icon) and confirm your Sonos is selected. Then, search for a song and tap it. This might help pre-establish the Connect session.

Spotify Connect relies on your phone and Sonos being on the same Wi-Fi network. If your phone is on 5GHz and Sonos on 2.4GHz (or vice versa), the link between them may be failing. Try putting both on the same band to see if it makes a difference.

Finally, just to confirm, does it behave the same if you try connecting your phone to another remote device (different speakers, Bluetooth headphones, a TV or something else)?

Keep us posted!

[Doctorina]

Hi Paula!

Still no luck. I updated my speakers, but that didn't have any impact on the issue. I also checked my router and confirmed that my phone and the speakers are all on the 5G network. 

I did discover something interesting, though. I tested it on a few different devices as you suggested, and got these results:

• Bose headset - no issue
• Google Home Mini - issue occurs
• Samsung Frame TV - issue occurs

It seems like the issue is only happening with devices that connect via Wi-Fi?

[MihailY]

Hey @Doctorina,

We've merged your report with the one from @Oskold, as both appear to describe the same behavior.

We're currently checking this with the relevant team and will keep you posted as soon as we have any updates to share.

Cheers,

[Maxxie0]

I’m having a very similar issue since July 22nd.

My Last.fm stopped scrobbling completely while streaming Spotify. Just like mentioned above, the sync completely drops out when playing music through external output devices rather than directly on 'This Computer' or 'This Phone'.

I’ve already tried disconnecting and reconnecting Spotify Scrobbling via my Last.fm applications settings, but the issue persists.