Smart shuffle does not create a new mix/shuffle order

[#1]

Whenever I turn smart shuffle on, it does not generate a new shuffle order. It queues the exact same songs in the exact same order every time. Unlike regular shuffle which creates a new mix everytime it is turned off and on, smart shuffle queues the same exact songs. This is a very recent issue. Happens on both liked songs and playlists.
Have tried eating cache, restating phone, force stopping app. App is up to date. Device: galaxy s23 ultra. Premium subscription

[marinusholkema]

Smart Shuffle is not working. It keeps playing the in the same order over and over again. Tried all kinds of trick to solve this, Clean reinstall, clear chache erc. no result

[dinomight]

I just started noticing this behavior in my Spotify playlists yesterday. I listened to a playlist with smart shuffle enabled from my Windows 11 PC the day before yesterday, and it plays in the same order if I go back to that playlist on PC or from my Android device. This same thing occurs with other playlists on both devices, and I was able to replicate the issue in a brand new playlist as well as my liked songs list (can only use smart shuffle for liked songs on the Android device as this does not seem to be available on PC yet).

Strangely, I just noticed that when I disabled smart shuffle from one playlist and re-enabled it on another, the queue seems to have refreshed; but, now the queue is stuck on the refreshed version whenever I toggle smart shuffle off and back on.

So far, I'm only experiencing this with smart shuffle; standard shuffle seems to reshuffle correctly each time.

My information for both devices is listed below.

Plan

Premium Family

Country

United States

Device

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G

Android Version

13
Spotify Version

8.8.96.364

Windows Version

Windows 11 23H2
Spotify Version

Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.26.1187.g36b715a1

[Susan_GP]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the info.

The issue is currently being investigated by our tech team. We'll let you know as soon as we have an update, but we can't confirm a timeframe. In the meantime, make sure you're always running the latest version of Spotify. 

If you're new to this thread and you're experiencing this behavior, make sure you leave the info requested by @Joan.

Cheers!

[lajdhflkjsg]

The smart shuffle s ystem is awful. This issue is happening on both my pc and my iphone, and on every playlist I have. When I turn smart shuffle on, it just gives me the exact same songs, in the exact same order, every single time, no variety at all. I've tried it on different devices, different playlist, nothing changes. Just bring back the enhance feature, it was so much better than this. Would love to find new music based on my playlists, bit hard when spotify can't even seem to shuffle songs properly...

[MatthewWalton1]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, PC

Operating System

Android 14, Windows 11 22H2

My Question or Issue

Hi there,

I have one playlist of nearly 500 songs I listen to almost exclusively. I have enjoyed using Smart Shuffle as its recommendations were usually good additions to my playlist. However, I now find that Smart Shuffle continuously uses the same songs in the same order. Regular shuffle does shuffle my entire playlist randomly, but swapping to Smart Shuffle reverts back to the same order each time.

This order persists on the Spotify web app, on my PC (Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.26.1187.g36b715a1, downloaded directly from the web app) and on my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (Version 8.8.96.364). I have uninstalled, reinstalled, cleared caches, unshuffled, reshuffled, re-smart shuffled and recreated playlists and nothing fixes the problem.

Recreating the playlist will give a different order at first, but then this also doesn't change on subsequent shufflings.

Please see the attached video, recorded on my PC, but exactly the same thing occurs on my phone.

If this is deliberate, its terrible. Please fix!

[Rawry]

It doesn't appear that the Spotify team has been really trying to help or do anything. It happens to all playlists, not a specific one. It occurred on my old Apple 12 Pro, my desktop PC and currently my Galaxy Flip5. On my playlist I made (~Anime Music to Rawr to~) when I engage 'Smart Shuffle' (because I do like the additions of suggested songs, it's been quite successful on the songs!), it always wants to start with Vaundy - Tokyo Flash. The YouTube link I'm putting down is a little example of it. https://youtube.com/shorts/P-iHLHLsg-c?si=SpnW4brs1XIVyJaB

[ryndym]

Yeah this makes smart shuffle unusable, not that it's a good feature in the first place. Enhance was miles better, but replacing good features with worse ones is what Spotify does the best.

[marcelocastillarubio]

Hello,

Smart shuffle is not working at all in my account. Everytime I turn it on, it always start the queue with the same song (the last one I added to the playlist), then comes one or 2 "new songs" and then another one of my playlist, but again the same one everytime...

This behavior is the same across all my devices.

Does anyone have the same problem?

[#10]

When i turn smart shuffel on it always make the same queue. how do i make it make a new qeue.

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for your replies and for all the info shared.

In this case, we'd like to gather some additional info, so we can forward this important info to the right team. We'll need the following:

• Make/model and OS of the affected device.
• Exact Spotify version you're running on your device.
• Does this happen on a specific playlist or does it happen no matter what playlist you activate Smart Shuffle in?
• Exact troubleshooting steps you've followed so far. 

Be aware we'll need all the details listed above, so we can pass them onto the right team. That way, they'll continue investigating this behavior further.

If perhaps you sent us this info before, make sure to send us update info regarding the Spotify version you're running on your devices. If you've tried additional troubleshooting steps, please let us know. 

We'll be on the lookout!

[5p0tison]

Is there an update on this? I'm still having this issue. I turn smart shuffle off and on repeatedly to try to get a new song order, but the songs are largely the same each time it "shuffles".

[marcelocastillarubio]

Hello,

This is the information youre asking for:

Google Pixel 6 Pro

Android 14 compilation UQ1A.240105.002

Spotify version 8.9.4.304

The behaviour occurs on every one of my playlists

Troubleshooting steps:

• Uninstall and reinstall Spotify
• Update spotify to latest available version
• Try spotify with my account on a different phone
• Empty cache and storage
• Download the playlist to make it offline

None of the above solved the problem.

[taram23]

Hello, 

I’ve had the same issue as everyone else with smart shuffle. 

device: iPhone 13 Pro with iOS 17.2.1

spotify: version 8.8.96

this happens on every playlist. if I shuffle it works properly but smart shuffle just has the same songs in the same order every time I smart shuffle (and on liked songs it’s always in order of most recently liked)

troubleshooting: uninstalled and reinstalled Spotify, updated spotify to latest available version, downloaded the playlist to make it offline

[EmpireNews]

For every single playlist in my library, using smart shuffle will load the exact queue every time. It does not matter which song I select first, or if I turn on smart shuffle before or after I start playing a new song, or any other parameter. 100% of the time, turning on smart shuffle will guarantee the exact same queue every time. I have cleared the cache, cleared the data, uninstalled and reinstalled, on every device I use spotify on, yet this issue still affects all of them. At first, I had thought one song was obnoxiously being thrown in the queue everytime until I realized yesterday that smart shuffle was giving me the same queue for months.

[EmpireNews]

This exact issue is also highlighted here: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Android/Smart-shuffle-does-not-create-a-new-mix-shuffle-order/td-p/...

That article was from 2023. It is now 2024 and this issue still persists on several accounts. I believe that this issue isn't associated with my devices nor my account. I believe this issue is entirely out of my control on my side, and there's little left I can do besides asking for help.

[#17]

For a few months now I have noticed an issue with the shuffle/smart shuffle feature due to which the same sequence of songs is being played and the sequence is only refreshed presumably every 24 hours.

Meaning that initially the shuffle works fine for the first listen of the day for, e.g. playlist A, but if I exit playlist A to listen to a playlist B for a while and then re-enter playlist A again, it doesn’t re-shuffle and starts the same sequence of songs that I had already listened to the first time from the beginning

As for someone that frequiently switches between playlists, this is quite annoying and I find myself skipping through songs till I get to something “fresh” to listen to

[marcelocastillarubio]

Hello,

Any updates on this topic? Seams that lots of people with different Spotify Versions and devices have the same problem...

[#19]

Whenever I select any of my playlists on shuffle mode, it always plays the same songs in the same order as the previous time they were played.

[daecrist]

I'm also having this issue. Smart Shuffle is playing things in the same order every time I click on it. Going to normal shuffle mixes things up, but Smart Shuffle always goes to the same song order. I just noticed this starting about a week ago.

Macbook Pro M1

Sonoma 14.3

Spotify for macOS (Apple Silicon)

1.2.29.605.g66a43ceb

[tayslay]

Subscribed to premium thinking it’ll make my listening experience better because of the “premium features” and ad free listening experience but instead it made it worse. It plays the song I’ve already heard over and over in every queue. The free version had Smart Shuffle in queue and it really is better than having to listen in songs I’ve already heard over and over. I don’t get why both tiers aren’t equal in basic features and this made me regret subscribing to premium.