Spotify skipping / not playing random local files

[Icku]

Plan

Premium

Device

Xiaomi MI 9T

Operating System

Android 9 (1.19)

My Question or Issue

I've recently changed my device and on the new one I have a problem with playing local files (downloaded, both offline and online). Spotify doesn't play random tracks unless I click on the track few times, then it starts suddenly working fine.

If I try queuing whole playlist or shuffle play it skips random songs, but if I go back and forth - i.e. tap previous and next a few times or manually slide it starts playing the song it skipped previously and then may even randomly skip the song it played previously.

An example: Track 1 plays fine, track 2 is skipped, track 3 plays fine - I manually go back to play track 2 and it plays fine then track 3 is skipped and it goes directly to track 4.

The problem keeps reccuring and it happens to completely random songs synced / downloaded from my PC. On my old phone it worked normally. I've tried all of the solutions from FAQ, i.e. restarting, clean reinstall, clearing cache, etc. Google doesn't help either.

Both app and files are on the internal storage (no SD card slot), all permissions are granted. Has anyone ever had a similar problem?

I hope I wrote it in an understandable fashion.

[SolarM]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

Xiaomi 9T

Operating System

MiUI 11

My Question or Issue

My local files struggle to play on my device, they usually play after attempting to play them a couple times, however this means that they are sometimes skipped over in playlists without my noticing

[Webfeger]

same here.. 

[shinnokina]

Plan

Premium

Country

Hungary

Device

Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

Operating System

Android 9, MIUI 11.0.11

My Question or Issue

After moving to this new device, my playlist started skipping offline songs (not immediately, after a few days of using the new phone), not all of them but some of them, and those are greyed out in every playlist they are in. The playlist also skips some of the songs that come after a greyed out one, as well, regardless if it is local or from the Spotify catalogue. The greyed out songs can be played by individual tapping (so they are downloaded) but get skipped when on autoplay list. I tired every suggestion in this closed thread over here but nothing seems to work. 

• I cleared my offline devices list.
• I uninstalled Spotify both on computer and phone, re-synced all my local files.
• I rebooted my phone.
• I gave the app all the permissions possible to give.
• I am syncing through the same wifi channel,
• There is no firewall blockage.
• I tried clearing cache, too.

The issue persists. The files look OK upon resyncing but after a few minutes they get greyed out again. It drives me crazy. 

[shinnokina]

anyone has a solution, please? this issue persists. I took the app out of any cleaning cycles, locked it, disabled battery savings on it, still skips the local files.

[SolarM]

Bumping because I haven't had a reply in the few months this thread has been up. Is anyone else experiencing a similar issue? The songs stay downloaded but appear greyed out, they are skipped over in playlists meaning I have to manually play any of them if I want to listen to them.

[shinnokina]

still having the same issue and it is March now.... 

[shinnokina]

yeah two years on and spotify still has no reply. This such a bummer for a paid service... Just as an FYI since I have upgraded to android 11 and yet another device, and the issue is STILL ON.

[Jeremy]

Hi there folks,

Thank you for your posts here in the Community. We just came across this thread.

We'd like to investigate this further.

For those who didn't, can you try to perform a clean reinstall of the app? This will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

Another useful step is to change the source folder of the local files on the pc. The steps are: Uninstall Spotify on both devices > create a new folder somewhere else on the pc and move the local files there > install Spotify again > remove any potential source folders and add the new one > download the playlist again.

If that doesn't do the trick - can you try the following:

• Add some songs from our catalogue to the playlist as well as the local file/s and make sure they have ‘Show unavailable songs in playlists’ turned on in Settings

• Play some music on the device that has the local files to see if it shows via Connect on the other device

• Make sure the router supports the Bonjour protocol. If the router is made after 2005, it will likely have this protocol. The best way to handle this is to check the router make/model and Google it

We'll keep an eye out for your replies.

Take care!

[shinnokina]

Hi. These have been tried before. It only works for a few days and then the songs get randomly greyed out. Some remain playable upon deliberate tapping but the playlist skips them in auto play mode. 

[Jeremy]

Hi again @shinnokina,

Thank you for getting back in touch with us and for your confirmation.

If you have an SD card we suggest that you uninstall the app > turn off your phone > take out your SD card > turn on the phone again (without the SD card) > reinstall the app since the card can be corrupted.

As a next step we can recommend that you check the phone's battery settings and make sure that Spotify is set as an exception if you're using the battery optimization option.

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

[Spectrumnist]

Same problem using the desktop version of Spotify.

Managed to get it to play by right clicking the local file song in my Spotify playlist and adding it to the queue.
Works for now, but I might need to test with repeat and shuffle in a smaller testing playlist.

[shinnokina]

Hi. All of this has been suggested and tried before (battery settings, restart, delete and reinstall etc). I don't have an SD card. After app reinstall and phone restart it might work for a few days, then the songs randomly get greyed out again. They play upon separate tapping but when the playlist is on, the playlist simply skips them. Seeing how others have complained of this before too (in many other topics), maybe Spotify should consider this to be  a bug and look at it instead of repeating the same user instructions again and again. And this has been going on for years now. I have switched phones since the original post and this happens on the new phone too. 

[Alex]

Hey folks,

Thanks for the posts.

For both of your issues it might be worth changing the format of the songs which are getting grayed out. I'd recommend downloading the or converting them to .MP3. Other supported formats are:

• .m4p (unless it contains video)
• .mp4 (if QuickTime is installed on your computer)
• .m4a (unless it’s an Apple lossless file; ALAC or ALE)

Note that Spotify supports only legally obtained audio files.

@Spectrumnist, you can try changing the default local file directory on your hard drive and see if that makes a difference.

@shinnokina, since this is happening on multiple phones the issue might be related to your account or network connection as well. If possible you can ask a friend or family member to log in with their account on your phone and try how that works with local files for a few days. Something else you can try as a workaround is to import local songs straight from your phone's memory. To do this go to Settings > Import > Show local audio files. Then you'll see a new folder called Local Files in your phone's Library.

Hope this info helps. Keep us posted on how you get on.

[shinnokina]

It's 2024 and this issue keeps reappearing again and again. And still y Spotify won't consider this a bug. It's frankly, disappointing and prompts me to stop using the subscription since it is just annoying I cannot keep playing my own audio files. Sorry, I'm not going to copy my mp3s onto my phone. The reason I chose Spotify is because it lets you sync your owned mp3 files from the computer. If I have to physically move my mp3 to my phone, what's the point of paying to Spotify? I can just use the default music player on the phone. It's revolting there is no real customer service here. There is nothing wrong with my internet connection and I am on the same wifi channel as the computer. I am repeating this for the 100th time now. I constantly have to delete and reinstall the app and then resync the files only to have to do it the next day AGAIN. This is trying and revolting for a paid service. Spotify is about to lose a paid subscription, I'm fed up with this.

[Icku]

Just a FYI, but it wasn't working even if the mp3s were on the phone. Funny to know that it's still not fixed. I decided to stop paying for premium and stop using Spotify shortly after reporting this issue in 2019 xD

[shinnokina]

How about reporting this issue to delevopers, Alex? Obviously it is not going away.