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

[ryndym]

This issue hasn't gone anywhere, still the exact same shuffle order on both desktop and android at least. After update it changes the order but then it's the same till the next one. Useless feature.

[latenci]

Hi, have almost same problem but only on Desktop version.
If im using smart shuffle on phone everything is okay, I see sugested new tracks every 3 songs, but the same moment I turn to PC (even while listening) new tracks just disappear. Same happens if im turning on smart shuffle on pc and skip current song by using ctrl+right arrow or pressing skip, does not happen if i manually choose tracks from queue

[SirPsp]

This is still a problem. It can't be too difficult to fix.

Happens to me on Windows 11 and Android.

[Neodarkside]

I began noticing this issue a few weeks ago. I use smart shuffle as I want to hear possible new music, however for me its gravitating towards newer songs and ignoring older ones. So lets say I click to play the first song in my track, Song A. I have added 12 new songs in the past month. Song A ends, instead of shuffling to some track maybe in the middle of the playlist, it plays New Song 2. Go back to Song A, fast forward, New Song 5, Go back to Song A, Fast forward, New Song 3. Repeat over and over. While I like these new songs, I am hearing them CONSTANTLY, to the point of wanting to either remove them, or disable the Smart Shuffle feature. This needs to be fixed ASAP.

[Disappointed6]

HOW IS THIS SHUFFLE? It’s just the most stupid and useless decision Spotify ever made. Basically it creates a “most played playlist” and bores you to death with it, since you never get to hear the songs you added a long time ago.

[Herr_Bagi]

And again and again, it's the same songs. Spotify playlists are slowly becoming a hit radio where you play 10 songs throughout the day, for weeks on end. Awesome, thanks!

[Pietjebell880]

Yeah this is really annoying. More annoying is that nothing is going to be done to fix it. I think it might be time to switch to apple music.. 

hope that they actually LISTEN to their PAYING customer. 

[Kincaed]

This applies to both Desktop and Android: I've been using Smart Shuffle happily since release, and it's generally been pretty good at playing music within my taste. It pulled songs from a range of genres, artists, and popularity.
But in the last couple months, it's completely broken: It only plays very popular songs by very popular bands - as in, the sort of stuff I regularly hear on traditional radio - with only the most surface-level (broadly genre-based) relevance to my music. Is it because I added a single Queens of the Stone Age song to my Liked songs, so now every recommendation I get is radio-friendly Rock that charted? I have little reason to keep using Spotify if it's gonna stay this way.

[Kincaed]

I'm not sure moving my topic here makes the most sense; it's not the same problem, and doesn't only fit into the "Android" category.

[DrSpaldo]

This happens on my PC & iPhone. Nothing to do with just Android. How is it possible that this is still a bug?

[senrabnaneek]

This doesn't appear to be an android specific issue. My partner has this same issue, and it affects any device she listens on. Turning on and off smart shuffle doesn't change the order (although it looks like it tries to, you can see a different queue for a split second before it changes back to the same one) regular shuffle changes each time, but smart shuffle will always play in the same order.

Affects any playlist, and starting a playlist from a different song doesn't fix it either, it will play that first song, and then all the following songs will be in the same order.

It does it on pc, android, and the ps5.

I haven't experienced it personally, but I don't use smart shuffle, so it might affect me too, I just don't realise

[fix_smart_shuffle]

If I enable smart shuffle for a playlist, it should not repeat any of the songs in the playlist. I like a song, but I don’t need to hear it more than once in a listening session.

Or I should be able to remove a smart shuffle song from the queue.

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

iPhone

Operating System

iOS

My Question or Issue

[joshuawward]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

iPhone 12 Pro

Operating System

iOS 17.5.1

My Question or Issue

Let's talk about your shuffle algorithm. Whenever I shuffle a playlist, it plays the exact same order of songs as last time, or the last device. Even when I use enhanced shuffle. You never play new songs in enhanced shuffle. It is always the same songs every time. In the same order. You favor unpopular songs. I assume, to pay less in royalties. When I switch a device, you start my shuffle over in the exact same order. I just switched between 4 devices with the same playlist and they all started that playlist from the beginning when I first started it on the first device. I have devices all around my house and tell them to play in a new room when I leave a room. Most of the time, it will pick up where I left off, but lately, it starts the playlist and goes in the exact same order as the one I started in the previous room or my car. As a UX Professional and a Software Engineer myself, I know there is a way to fix this, and I'm sure you have talented developers who are able to accomplish this. You can do this better.

I've been a user since Spotify was invite only. Your user experience has gone downhill in so many ways. You're fixing things that aren't broken and already work well. The difficulty in being able to provide feedback is also troubling. You have 500 million users. I. understand that will bring a lot of unnecessary feedback, but you need to have a place for users to tell you what is good and bad with your app if you want to have the optimal user experience and be able to fix bugs when the arise. 

[haruhwatoo]

same on my pc! its windows. i'm not sure if ios or macos has this issue...

[haruhwatoo]

Waiting for this to be optimized even more! I have the same device, and having the same issue on both my Android and my Windows. Fingers crossed!

[tunbey]

I have the same problem as well. I did everthing suggested but no solution so far. If the problem persists I will cancel my Premiuum subscription. 

[245]

why the f is this still a problem? This can’t be that hard to fix

[riven_skaye]

Shuffle algorithms are notoriously hard, and Spotify has had to make adjustments more than once because people percieved it as bing off. It's not that strange that they haven't fixed it yet. Smart Shuffle will often recommend similar or even the same artists already in the playlist, and if those get slotted in at the wrong place, people will no doubt complain as well. That said, I'd much prefer a poorly shuffled set of recommendations being slotted in after the playlist itself gets the default shuffe treatment than what we have now. It seems to be leveraging the playlist's default sort order for this, and I'm getting tired of starting the day with the same st of songs tbh.

[SuperDiogenes]

The cynic in me is assuming that Smart Shuffle is like this because Spotify are becoming more and more blatant about what they want you to listen to vs what you actually want to listen to.

[JoKishler]

Been having this problem for months. Tried everything under the sun. Nothing is working.