STOP Spotify from opening automatically in car already!

[Anotheryou]

• Plan

Premium

Country

California 

Device

Samsung S22

My Question or Issue

I've been trying to get Spotify to stop automatically opening in my car every time I start it for the better part of a year now. I've read and tried EVERY possibly fix and nothing has worked. At the moment most all of my settings related to Spotify whether in the app, in my phone settings, in my smart things settings, and in my Ford Sync settings are turned off. It still comes on when I start my car. No other app does this. This has been an issue from what I can tell since around 2016. It's super frustrating. I've been working on it AGAIN this morning for the better part of a couple hours now trying any new fix I can find online and still Spotify keeps opening up and playing in my car even when I fully close the app before starting the car. 

Samsung S22

Ford Sync.

1. Why is this only an issue with Spotify and why isn't it fixed after so many years? I'm at my wits end and am begging for a solution because deleting the app (which I don't want to do) is about the only option at this point.

[JBayudz]

If you already turned-off car thing on the app, try removing the nearby devices permission. Go to app manager on your phone settings, scroll down to the Spotify app, then disable nearby devices permission.

[DBJNK59]

I have the same problem, and came here to search one last time to see if Spotify provided a solution. I've tried EVERY possible setting without success over too long a long period of time.  It's so incredibly annoying.  Starting the car, ending a phone call, whatever - I should be able to start the app when *I* want it.  Connect to bluetooth SHOULD NOT equal autoplay.  Spotify can blame it on Android, or bluetooth, but I don't have this issue with other music players, so that's just BS.  I finally got so sick of this pissing me off that I gave up and uninstalled it from my phone.  @Spotify - if you EVER finally fix this, maybe I'll go back to using it as my music app on my phone, but for now - this is a deal-breaker.  I'm out.

[Wilbour]

This may have indeed solved my dilemma. I set up Spotify to stream across my home with Arylic Streamers for the people at home. I drive off in my car for an errand and the media stops playing in the house. The App constantly wants to connect to the Bluetooth streaming in the car. The last few times I did this with the Nearby Devices Permission off it stayed playing in the house the whole time I was gone.

[Anotheryou]

Nearby permissions is off. It's been off. I'm pretty I have every setting that could possibly be somehow, maybe, related to it I have turned off. It's not only it playing in my car. Spotify launches every time I start up my phone too. It's like Spotify has a hidden setting that makes it try to be open at all times and connect to whatever Bluetooth device is open. I've looked into and tried every option the internet has to offer. This is 100% a Spotify issue as this doesn't happen with any other app that uses Bluetooth and audio. It is so annoying because it's like Spotify has taken over my phone. Every time I turn on or restart my phone, Spotify is open, stick my ear buds in, Spotify opens and starts playing immediately, turn on car, Spotify starts playing immediately. Only Spotify does this. I get the feeling they want this and are choosing to not fix it. 

[Jamgramet]

I have the same problem with my plantronics bluetooth headset. I normally just use it with the computer but when I use it with my Samsung phone, same problem - it automatically starts playing what I was last listening to. Even if I pause, close Spotify, it will restart itself sometime later. I agree, no other app has this kind of behavior. It's pretty pathetic that this issue has been around for so long.

[vfxguru]

In your Android Auto settings, turn off Auto play Media. These settings can be found under the Connected devices settings in your phone. 

[Jorj2024]

Its driving me crazy. I tried all the solution read on various forums. I use communicate often via whatsapp and there are many vocal messages. I cannot hear anything, because Spotify is starting so loud in the car. I also need to watch remotely some surveillance cameras from time to time and once the videostream starts, the Spotify is playing loud covering any other soun, and this is extremely annoying. I disable it from operating in backgroud. This morning, while still playing after trying to kill the app in every possible way, both from the notification and then starting it only in trying to stop it again, it popped out a notification saying that it cannot play on the background if I am not allowing it to play on the background. This notification and permission request popped out while it was playing already in the backrgound without having that permssion. I am sorry, but I will give up to Spotify also, It becames a nightmare. 

[kipmc7]

I have this same problem. Spotify starts by itself every time I get in the car. It will start playing the last song I played without me doing anything. I can tell it is not Android Auto because Android Auto is greyed out on the car display.  It's "Bluetooth Audio".  This will happen and the phone  does not show that Spotify is running. It does NOT show on the phone as a  "recently Used App".  I have tried Everything even through Spotify Settings.

BTW who the **bleep** was the Moron who put Spotify Settings not visible from the home screen? The only way to get to Settings is Before you open the app, press and hold the icon and you will see a small "i"  in a circle. Touch that for Settings. 

In Settings I have tried turning off permission for; Music and Audio as well as Nearby Devices. Both are set to Don’t Allow. That did Not Work either!!!

The only way Spotify will fix this is if hundreds of people complain and give them a 1-star review!!!

 Do that in the Play Store and on Facebook

[GazArnold10]

I’m have the same problem on iPhone, fully close the app down and it still connects to my car every time I start the car up, I’ve tried everything I can think of / followed all advice I can find online and I just can’t stop it connecting automatically! So annoying, I’ve been fighting this for months now and I’m at the point where I’m just going to have to leave! Ridiculous that this can’t be user controlled ☹️

[smcquien]

I do not have a reliable solution. Adding my frustrated stream of conscious to the pile because I LOL'd at the OP describing how they get annoyed by this every once in a while and waste a couple of hours trying to troubleshoot to no avail. Same here bub.

There are two main roots to this issue: 1) spotify refuses to provide a way to clear the "now playing". there is always a song in now playing no matter what you do. i used to be able to trick spotify into clearing the now playing by telling it to play a corrupted local audio file. This would effectively clear the queue and the "now playing". then when you start your car and your phone auto connects to its bluetooth, spotify has nothing to start playing. 2) there is no setting to disable "start playing whatever spotify has on deck on bluetooth connect".

addressing either one of these points would solve the problem. its honestly absurd that there is no way to clear the now playing. you can swipe away all the songs in the queue except for the one that is currently selected for playing. then when that song finishes the queue repopulates with everything you just swiped away.

no - none of the suggested solutions online address this. everybody that has found their way to this forum has spent hours here and there over the course of years trying to get to the bottom of this. this problem has zero to do with current spotify in-app toggle-able features (like autoplay, keep spotify open (in car)) or device settings (like allow spotify to run in background, various bluetooth settings) or car infotainment settings. i'm sure there is some signal sent by the car to a recently connected bluetooth device that says "go ahead and start playing what you have on deck" but this is not something that can be changed by the driver. so again, the problem is that spotify always has something selected for now playing. (only way to clear this is to log-out/log-in, uninstall/reinstall, or getting lucky asking it to play a local audio file and it saying "can't play this right now" and boom voila your now playing empty).

it would be absolutely great to have this fixed. like others have said I'd rather just unsubscribe, delete the app, and move on from spotify than continue throwing money into the wind every month on a service that was reasonably priced a decade ago when we all signed up, and having to deal with an obviously toxic user experience that intentionally doesn't allow the user to do what he/she wants. we all know why theres no way to simply ~not have something currently selected for playing~. which even that doesnt make any sense when youre paying for a subscription that does not include ads. imagine if your ipod from 2004 just kept playing even after you pressed pause, turned it off, and smashed it to bits with a sledge hammer.

[adnmluong226]

• Plan

Premium

Country

California 

Device

Samsung S22

My Question or Issue

I've been trying to get Spotify to stop automatically opening in my car every time I start it for the better part of a year now. I've read and tried EVERY possibly fix and nothing has worked. At the moment most all of my settings related to Spotify whether in the app, in my phone settings, in my smart things settings, and in my Ford Sync settings are turned off. It still comes on when I start my car. No other app does this diy. This has been an issue from what I can tell since around 2016. It's super frustrating. I've been working on it AGAIN this morning for the better part of a couple hours now trying any new fix I can find online and still Spotify keeps opening up and playing in my car even when I fully close the app before starting the car. 

Samsung S22

Ford Sync.

1. Why is this only an issue with Spotify and why isn't it fixed after so many years? I'm at my wits end and am begging for a solution because deleting the app (which I don't want to do) is about the only option at this point.

---

Hi everyone,

Just chiming in here as someone who's been tracking this issue closely and understands the frustration. To clarify: there is currently no official way within the Spotify app to prevent it from auto-launching and auto-playing on Bluetooth connection. This issue has existed for several years and affects both Android and iOS users across multiple devices and vehicles, including Ford Sync systems, Samsung phones, and various Bluetooth accessories. What makes this issue particularly frustrating is, no other media app behaves this aggressively. YouTube Music, Apple Music, and others generally wait for a user to manually start playback. Spotify always has a "Now Playing" state, and there's no user-accessible way to truly clear it. All suggested fixes (disabling auto-play, removing background permissions, turning off “car mode,” etc.) only work for some people and not consistently. From a technical point of view, Spotify is likely listening for a Bluetooth connection event and interpreting that as a cue to resume playback if something was previously playing. But the fact that this happens even after force-closing the app or rebooting the phone means it's either running a background service outside the main app process or registering system-level intents that ignore user preferences. On iOS, this behavior is likely connected to the way the system manages default media players, but again, Spotify is the only app exploiting this behavior in this way.

[Anya_Hane]

time to end my subscription then. This issue has been genuinely deeply annoying to me for over a year, and I’ve tried almost everything to fix it. I thought it was just a little bug, but to hear it’s just working as intended? That makes me feel disrespected as a consumer. I’m not going to be paying for an app that disrespects my agency.