Loads of problems with the Spotify app [freezing, not loading, pausing]

[plasticniki]

Hello there.

Long time premium Spotify user here. Been having insane Android issues these past few months (I'd say roughly six months), including but not limited to:

• taking ages to load (all "pages" even downloaded playlists/albums etc)
• black screen on start up
• cutting out and playing again
• random freezes and crashes
• searches just not working (often resulting in the "oops something went wrong try again" message, or, just nothing)

I have a relatively decent phone (Sony Xperia Z3 Compact) running Android 5.1.1. Until a couple of weeks ago I had a 64gb card (can't remember the brand) which I have recently swapped for a 128gb Integral card. I thought that doing a complete factory reset of the phone with new micro SD would help, but it didn't. The SD card is a decent class 10. I don't experience any problems with any other apps. The problems occur on wifi connections (home / work / other), and on my three 3G/4G connection. I mainly listen to playlists which are offline but the problems occur regardless of whether or not the music is being streamed or playing from downloaded tracks.

Stuff I have tried:

• turning phone off and on again: Spotify seems to work fine for roughly five minutes then back to the problems above;
• complete factory reset of phone: didn't work
• swapping the micro SD card: didn't work
• several (roughly 5 in the last week) reinstalls of the Spotify app: doesn't work
• turning "stamina mode" off / on: I use Stamina mode on my phone which cuts out the data connection when the screen is off -- obviously I added Spotify to the exclusions list, but I have also tried disabling it completely: doesn't make a difference

Any suggestions about what the hell is going on? I've actually just deleted the app completely from my phone again and have signed up for a 3 month Google Play Music trial. I guess the next step would be to use Spotify without the SD card but that would render the entire app pretty useless for me.

[woodandrew90]

Have you tried a complete uninstall and reinstall of the Spotify app?

If not, the factory reset of the device may have deleted or corrupted elements of the Spotify app files.

[plasticniki]

Yes, several times (for example, 5 times this past week).

I would expect a (several) completely fresh install(s) on a completely fresh device to be adequate and not corrupting?

[woodandrew90]

I agree, and I also experienced some of the issues you describe. Things are definitely worse since a few months ago.

One option that some people report on this forum is to go back to a previous version of the app.

Here is one (see message number 13) https://community.spotify.com/t5/Help-Android/No-SD-Card-Found/td-p/1075801/page/2

[greenhats]

I've had all of these problems too. I'm on a Galaxy S4 on 4.4.2 and have tried all the troubleshooting steps too.