Spotify pauses music and disconnects from device

[fritofritofrito]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Google Pixel 3, Google Pixel 3A

Operating System

Android 10

My Question or Issue

Spotify frequently pauses what is playing at random. When I hit play, it has disconnected from the device. I have reinstalled the app, cleared the cache, checked that battery optimization for Spotify is off, and even did a hard reset on the phone. This is when connected via Chromecast Audio or Google Nest Home Mini speaker.

The Spotify app is so buggy for Android I'm considering switching to a different music service.

[maaw]

Same here. It pauses randomly, disconnects and desynchronizes, remote volume control doesn't work 9/10 times. Terrible, terrible integration. Netflix and Youtube on Chromecast work PERFECTLY, so it's not that hard to do.

[dubtran]

same this has been happening for the last 3 days. It'll play a single song, then pause and disconnect. Unsure how to debug here, but seems like something on the chrome <> Spotify end?

[archanademonia]

Same here. Sometimes it can play several songs, sometimes it will stop after 1 song, sometimes mid-song. Sometimes after 30 seconds. It's very random. I have had this issue since day 1 of buying my Google Nest mini about 1 month ago.
Sometimes the music is playing on the Mini, but if I open the phone, Spotify is not listed as playing, and when I open the app, the music stops. It is so bizarre. There seems to be no consistency in the errors...

The device plays radio (tune-in) just fine without stopping. It almost seems like Spotify loses connection to the Google Nest mini, as sometimes it struggles to connect again (Google Home claims "it is playing" but it is not), while other times it re-connects just fine. 

• I tried to clear the cache of Spotify. Both in app and in Android.
• This did NOT resolve the issue.
  
  
• I tried re-linking Spotify to my Google Nest mini AND clearing Spotify cache.
• This did NOT resolve the issue. 
  
  
• Yesterday I upgraded my apps to latest versions (Spotify + Google Home).
• This did NOT resolve the issue.
  
  
• Yesterday I reset the Google Nest mini. At the same time I cleared the cache of Spotify app. I set up the two as normal. My Spotify played ALL DAY flawlessly after this.

Today, my mini is back to stopping Spotify again randomly.

Once after around 30-60 seconds into a song, then it refused to connect to Nest Mini, as the Mini said "still playing". Then I closed it through Google Home app, and tried again. It played nicely until I was trying to skip a song. Spotify was now not listed as active app.. but the music was playing. When I opened the app, the music stopped, and Spotify had listed a totally wrong song as the "latest played"..!

[yellowledvedder]

I believe I have the same issue. I start playing a playlist from my Pixel 4 to a Google Home Mini and about midway through the second song the music is paused and Spotify disconnects from the Home device. This has been happening very regularly for the past few weeks. I also have an Echo Dot in the same room that doesn't have this issue (although it has other issues that don't result in the music stopping completely). I keep trying the Home Mini, because I prefer it, but it's not usable right now. Prior to these last few weeks, I've had a couple years of very solid connection. (I've already tried checking the firmware, updating the app, rebooting and factory resetting the device, but the disconnecting behavior is still consistent)

[javad_fattahi]

It is really annoying. In this pandemic listening to music is the only hobby that remains for me, and I couldn't listen to a single song without interruption. I have done lots of things like rebooting, clearing catch,  setting up several times, etc., the problem remains. There is no clue how we could solve it. 

[Jeremy]

Hey there folks,

Thank you for reaching out to us in the Community. We just came across this thread.

In this case we suggest that you perform a clean reinstall to make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

We also recommend you try disabling any battery optimization software running on your phone. 

Let us know how everything goes so that we can keep on assist you if you need us to. We're always one reply away 🙂

Cheers!

[javad_fattahi]

Hi jeremy,

it's not working and i am still suffering. please find a practical solution

[Mihail]

Hey @javad_fattahi,

Thanks for getting back to us.

In order to better pinpoint the root cause of the issue we'd need some more info:

• Does this happen only when connected to another deice? Please include the make, model, OS version and Spotify version of the devices in the setup you've tried this on.
• Does the music stop/pause or the whole app crashes?
• Does this happen on another network, such as a mobile hotspot?

Keep us posted, we'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[archanademonia]

I continously did these things, and one day the problem just disappeared:
- Deleted cache in Spotify app
- Deleted cache in mobile settings (for Spotify app)
- Updated Spotify
- Updated Google Home
- Restarted the  mini. 

One day,  I have no idea when, I just realized the problem was gone.

However, I recently purchased a second mini, and this one has the same exact problem. When it plays alone, it will randomly stop the music. 
When they play together in speaker group, they will both randomly stop. 

I will try what I did before over and over and hopefully suddenly it will work once again...

[chrismalla]

Same problem for me. Seems to happen on Pixel phones a lot (I have Pixel 3). I tried with another non-pixel phone on the same network and same speaker speaker setup, and it plays fine without interruption. Disabling "battery optimization" for Spotify reduces the frequency of the dropouts, but it doesn't go away completely. Still investigating. Would appreciate if I could get help from Google too, but I have no idea how to get in touch with Android support.

[Novy]

Hey @chrismalla, 

Thanks for getting in touch with us. 

We'd recommend making sure that your phone and your speakers are up to date and that you're running the latest app version. 

If possible, you can also ask a friend or a family member to log into their personal account using your device to see if they can replicate this.

Let us know how it goes. We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[e5nduui-9a_l7]

Same problem here, when casting Spotify with my Android phone to Chromecast audio it randomly stops the song playing and desynchronizes Chromecast.

All the software is up to date and I don't have this problem with other audio apps such as Tidal, Qobuz or Soundcloud

[Novy]

Hi there @e5nduui-9a_l7, 

Thanks for reaching out about this. 

Would you mind letting us know if you've already tried a clean reinstall? Keep in mind that this can be helpful for clearing any corrupted files that might be causing issues. 

Also, are you able to replicate this using a different account? 

Keep us posted.

[javad_fattahi]

No, your suggestion haven't worked out yet

[Novy]

Hey @javad_fattahi, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Could you send over your device's make, model, exact OS version and the Spotify version you're currently running so we can take a better look? 

We'd also recommend asking a friend or a family member to log into their account using your device and let us know if they can replicate the issue. This will help us investigate further.

Keep us in the loop! We'll be right here.

[patcorn]

I am having the same problem with two phones

Pixel 3

Android 11 latest version

Cleared Spotify App Cache, Cleared Android app storage, uninstalled, reinstalled latest Spotify

same thing happens with iPhone X

Both phones are on same wifi network connected to Chromecast Audio with good signal strength. Chromecast Audio was also rebooted several times. Thank you

[chrismalla]

Thanks for your reply Novy. Everything is up to date. I've tried with a different account on the same phone. Same problem. I've also tried on a different network (same speaker though). Same problem. I've also tried disabling Google Assistant and rebooting the phone, as this was suggested as a solution on this Google forum. This reduced the frequency of the cut-outs, but didn’t solve it entirely. I had similar results when disabling "Battery Optimization" for the Spotify app. Reduced the frequency, but still occurs. What next steps du you suggest?

[Novy]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for this information. 

@patcorn, would you mind letting us know if the same thing happens when you log in with a different account? 

@chrismalla, just to confirm, is this happening when you're browsing the app or when it's running in the background? 

Keep us posted. 

[chrismalla]

Usually when it's running in the background. I have never experienced it happening while I browse the Spotify app (as I normally just select a playlist and let it play). However, I can recall it happening while using the phone (although other apps).