Android widget not working on 3rd party launchers

[barbedwirerainbow]

Plan

Premium

Country

Ireland

Device

Samsung Galaxy A53

Operating System

Android 5.1

My Question or Issue

The new 4*2 widget with album suggestions isn't showing any album art. Was ok up until yesterday.

[barbedwirerainbow]

Hey folks!

We'd like to take a further look into this so we merged the related posts in this thread to keep them in on place, hope you don't mind.
We'll let you know as soon we know anything new on the matter 🙂

[Joan]

Hi @barbedwirerainbow,

Thanks for reaching out. If possible could you check on any other Android devices and see if the same issue happens? In the meantime, consider performing a clean reinstall, that can help with a multitude of issues.

Let us know how it goes.

[barbedwirerainbow]

Hi Joan,

I think the problem is with Nova Launcher. Tried it on the built in Home UI
and it's fine.

[OscarDC]

Hey @barbedwirerainbow,
 

Thank you for keeping in contact. 
 

We're glad to know that everything is working fine with the built-in home UI. We appreciate the time you took following the process and sharing what works for you. Hopefully, this tip will help other users too.

In case you need anything else, remember that we're just a post away.
 

Cheers!

[KieronQuinn · Accepted solution]

The reason it's not working on third party launchers is because the app is blocking it from doing so. Please pass this on to the app development team, they'll understand:

The app is checking that the launcher has the android.permission.BIND_APPWIDGET permission. This is not a permission third party launchers can obtain, it is only granted to system apps, and built-in launchers generally use it to bypass the need to show the usual "Allow x to add widgets" dialog that third party launchers have to. 

There is no way to verify calls to your Content Provider come from the widget. Please remove this permission check.

Thank you

[barbedwirerainbow]

Thanks Kieron, this is really helpful.

[barbedwirerainbow]

Hi Oscar,

I've been in touch with Nova and they have confirmed that Kieron's message below is correct and that the issue is with Spotify's widget rather than with the launcher.

[blessedcheesemaker]

Oscar - are we going to see a fix for this from Spotify? Seems like a clearly defined problem (thanks Kieron) that should be readily fixable. Surely Spotify isn't limiting itself to working only with stock launchers in Android?

[conordcallaghan]

Google pixel 7, android 11

Spotify version 8.9.26.592

I just got off the chat with a spotify representative who told me they had no idea how to fix it and to put an idea here on the off chance someone decides to do something about it 

Troubleshooting : 

- i have removed and readded the widget

- i have restarted my phone

- I have checked for updates for both spotify and my phone (yes they are up to date)

- I have logged out and back in

- i have reinstalled spotify

I cannot get the widgets to work. They will show the song title, if that. Nothing else. The widget shows that it will display an album cover, skip and rewind buttons, and recently played playlists. The widget has never displayed any of that. Neither widget, actually because i tried both 

after doing some googling on how to fix this it seems like the widgets on android (and ios too for that matter) might be in need of a little TLC, i have to dig to find stuff about my problem because there are so many other types of problems with them lol 

Attachments:

One attachment is what spotify says the widget will look like, the other attachments are the only way ive been able to get the widgets to slightly work 

[conordcallaghan]

this isthe other image of broken widget 

[hnavia]

Plan

Premium

Country

Chile

Device

Samsung S23 Ultra with One UI 6.1

Operating System

Android 14

My Question or Issue

The widget is not working for me. I have a Samsung S23 Ultra with One UI 6.1 (the issue comes since One UI 6.0) and the Spotify version is 8.9.26.592. 

[Ivelina]

Hey @hnavia and @conordcallaghan,

Welcome to the Community!

Could you let us know if you're using some sort of theme or a launcher on your phones?

We'll be on the lookout 🙂

[hnavia]

Hi @Ivelina,

Now that you mention yes. I'm using Nova Launcher latest version.

Not sure if there's a configuration I should change.

Thank you and kind regards.

[AlejaR]

Hey @hnavia,

Thanks for your reply and for the info shared.

In this case, would you mind checking if there's a pending update for the app? If yes, we'd suggest you install it to see if this is still happening afterwards.

On another note, we'd suggest disabling the Nova launcher and going back to the built-in UI of your mobile device to see if you notice any difference.

Lastly, and just to confirm, do you use any cache-clearing or task-killing apps? Take into account that these apps can affect the performance of the app. If yes, we'd suggest setting up Spotify as an exception to those. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

Keep us in the loop!

[hnavia]

Hi @AlejaR,

I went back to the official launcher OneUI and indeed the launcher works better. The color is still odd though.

 

Also, I don't use any app killer or cleaner at all. 

[Eni]

Hey @hnavia, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Just to confirm, besides the color, does the widget work as expected? 

On another note, are you getting the same background color with all content? Also, does the same happen while connected to a different network?

Keep us posted.

[hnavia]

So here are my answer to the questions:

• Besides the color, does the widget work as expected?
  • No, I can't see the buttons when playing music (using the default OneUI 6.1 launcher, the official from Samsung)
• Are you getting the same background color with all content?
  • Yes, the widget color is not changing/adjusting
• Does the same happen while connected to a different network?
  • Yes, I tried my WiFi, 5G and also another WiFi network without any changes

[MartinT]

Hey @hnavia, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

You mentioned not using any task cleaner/killer apps. But this experience leads me to believe that there might be something in the cached files of Spotify that might be affecting the widgets performance. Try clearing Spotify's cached files, check out this article for more info on how to do that. 

Hope this will help out,

[hnavia]

I did that and it's the same. No changes.

By the way, I've already tried uninstalling Spotify, deleting all references of it from the internal storage. Widget still the same.

If I don't use Spotify for some time, the widget goes black with a message saying that Spotify is in "offline mode".

[AlejaR]

Hey there @hnavia,

Thanks for your reply and for all the info you kindly shared so far.

There are a couple of things you can double-check on your side. We'd suggest making sure your device's OS is up-to-date. If there are any pending updates for your OS mobile device, try installing them to see if you notice any difference.

On another note, does this happen on different Android mobile device? It’d be awesome if you could check. You can ask for the mobile device of a relative or a friend to open your account there and check.

Keep us in the loop!