Repetative advertisements and shuffle function.

[10323]

Plan

Free, have used premium for years

Country

Netherlands

Device

Samsung galaxy S24 / Windows 11 

Operating System

 Android 16 and windows 11

My Question or Issue

The shuffle function doesn't seem to work, it plays my liked songs in the same order everytime, after and restarting the app, getting advertisements, or playing a other song in my liked list it just starts playing the first song of the "shuffle list" again..

This also happens with advertisements themself, its changes between one or two advertisements. When I 'Downvote' the advertisement with the reasoning 'I'm seeing this advertisement to often' or 'This advertisement isn't relevant for me' nothing happens and get to see the same advertisments for weeks on end.

I have no issue with advertisements but the point is that they seem very targeted, intrusive and invasive. For example, I'm getting an advertisement of a funeral company that I've used for a relative of mine, but now I'm seeing a advertisement of that company every half hour and therefore remind me about the passing of the relative? It really takes away the pleasure of using spotify because of this. Is this normal "Advertising behaviour", because in my eyes its not and feels like harrasment.

This happens on computer and phone both diffrent spotify account and contact info, diffrent network (home&cellular), the devices havent been connected ever (no wireless connection option on computer)

[10323]

 

[Vasil]

Hey @10323,

Sorry to see you've had such an experience with the free tier of the app.

Could you let us know if the options for tailored ads had been switched on for you? Have they always been off?
To hopefully reset the ad-loop, what I'd advise as a starting troubleshooting step here is to clear the app's cached data.
Keep in mind that any recurring issues with adverts can be reported in this thread here.

And, as for the Shuffle function, we’re always testing possible improvements, so you or someone else may see something new or get a limited feature temporarily on the app. Any feedback you may have about this is valuable so feel free to share it with us 🙂

Note: Listening on demand continues to be available on the Spotify app on desktop.

We'll be on the lookout for you reply.

[10323]

Yes tailored advertisements are turned off as seen in screenshot of in my last reply, the message before you answered.

I've tried emptying the cache, and even reinstalled the app completely multiple times now. It also happens on the Webplayer, however then my adblock is able to block the advertisements. I rather not use the free version like that since it feels somewhat like stealing since you'll get no revenue because of the adblock if I understand correctly.

I was hoping if could see this happening on your side (backend) aswell, and might give more insight on why this is happening. Or maybe its completely not a fault on Spotify their end but solely on mine. 

Hope you are able to give me some more information regarding this.

Thanks for the response.

[OscarDC]

Hey @10323,

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the info shared.

We want to confirm that we couldn't replicate the behavior on our end using different devices and free accounts. Unfortunately, we don't have visibility from the Community to check on which side the issue could be happening or why. So we'd recommend switching Tailored ads between On/Off to see if it makes any difference.

Also, you can create a new free account with a different email address (just for testing purposes) to see if the issue persists from there. If not, we'd recommend transferring your content to the new account by following the steps mentioned here and using that one.

Lastly, we'd recommend reporting any adverts in the article that @Vasil previously sent. We can also report it from here if you prefer, we just need the following info:
 

• Reason for complaint:
• Name of ad:
• Is it a visual or an audio ad:
• Rough time & date of when you heard the advert:
• Device the ad appeared on:
• Its OS version:
• Your exact Spotify app version:

We'll be on the lookout.

[10323]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

[10323]

 

 

Also, today I found out that even the Alarm build in on android plays advertisements when using spotify. It also played an advertisement without sound, making me miss my alarm and it not only plays songs not from "my liked songs", but aswell as suggested songs. 

Everything seems so user-unfriendly with spotify, but hey, atleast we now got a chatfunction(?)

This isn't making me come back to spotify premiun any sooner, yet its making me want to look for an alternative, sadly.

[10323]

 

Good example here: Listen this advertisement and get 30 minutes no advertisements. 11 minutes later I get 3 advertisements?

9 minutes instead of 30! Then proceeds to only play 1 out of the 3 advertisements and then proceeds to play songs again for 10 mins.

only 6 minutes later!

Reminder:

https://www.spotify.com/de-en/safetyandprivacy/dangerous-deceptive-content

Welldone on destroying a great platform.

[Vasil]

Hey @10323,

Thank you for the additional details!  The screenshots are definitely very helpful. 
We're looking into the advertisement issue, as well as the one with the Alarm clock, and we'll keep you posted as soon as there's anything new to share.

[10323]

Is it normal for advertisments to play in the middle of songs now too? Making it skip to another song after the advertisement? And then the waitinglist of the songs that are going to be played next, changes everytime aswell without me doing anything. 

It really is very annoying behaviour of the app.

Relevant processes in android while recieving an advertisement: 

SandboxedProcessService0 in webview. Hmmm. 

Similair complaints:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Podcasts-Partners-etc/Ads-interrupt-songs-and-or-freeze-playl...

[Vasil]

Hey again @10323,

Thank you for the additional info. We'll have a look into it.

Could you tell us more about the sandboxed process? What is its name in English and do the ads behave this way only when in the Sandbox?
(Make sure you're also not using any VPN services).
 

Keep in mind that adverts during music listening while on Spotify free shouldn't appear while you're listening to your songs, but only between them.
As for the playing on demand - with Spotify free it is only possible via the desktop app. The mobile one has Shuffle on by default 🙂

What I'm wondering in this situation is if this is getting caused by some third party service. You can check your third party apps here.
Make sure to remove anything you can't recognize. Any apps can be re-added at a later point.
 

And, aside from this, what I'd recommend is going for a complete clean reinstall of the app, this time following these exact extended steps here.

Many thanks. Keep us posted on how things go.