Spotify randomly stops while in offline mode

[user-removed]

Plan

Premium

Device

Samsung Galaxy A50

Operating System

Android 10

My Question or Issue

Spotify randomly stops playing music and podcasts. This only happens when the device does not have an internet connection. This happens regardless whether Spotify set to offline mode or not. Every other music app I have works fine offline so its definitely something wrong with Spotify. Here is what I tried so far:

1. Restart the device
2. Clear Spotify's cache
3. Deleting and redownloading music and podcasts
4. Uninstall and reinstall the app (along with redownloading 20GB of data yay)
5. Remove Spotify from the 'Optimize battery usage'

A lot of people have this problem and it really seems is some seriously misguided attempt to force the users to stay online rather than an actual bug. 

[user-removed]

Plan

Premium

Device

Samsung Galaxy A50

Operating System

Android 10

My Question or Issue

Spotify randomly stops playing music and podcasts. This only happens when the device does not have an internet connection. This happens regardless whether Spotify set to offline mode or not. Every other music app I have works fine offline so its definitely something wrong with Spotify. Here is what I tried so far:

1. Restart the device
2. Clear Spotify's cache
3. Deleting and redownloading music and podcasts
4. Uninstall and reinstall the app (along with redownloading 20GB of data yay)
5. Remove Spotify from the 'Optimize battery usage'

A lot of people have this problem and it really seems is some seriously misguided attempt to force the users to stay online rather than an actual bug. 

[user-removed]

Plan

Premium

Device

Samsung Galaxy A50

Operating System

Android 10

My Question or Issue

Spotify randomly stops playing music and podcasts. This only happens when the device does not have an internet connection. This happens regardless whether Spotify set to offline mode or not. Every other music app I have works fine offline so its definitely something wrong with Spotify. Here is what I tried so far:

1. Restart the device
2. Clear Spotify's cache
3. Deleting and redownloading music and podcasts
4. Uninstall and reinstall the app (along with redownloading 20GB of data yay)
5. Remove Spotify from the 'Optimize battery usage'

A lot of people have this problem and it really seems is some seriously misguided attempt to force the users to stay online rather than an actual bug. 

[user-removed]

Plan

Premium

Device

Samsung Galaxy A50

Operating System

Android 10

My Question or Issue

Spotify randomly stops playing music and podcasts. This only happens when the device does not have an internet connection. This happens regardless whether Spotify set to offline mode or not. Every other music app I have works fine offline so its definitely something wrong with Spotify. Here is what I tried so far:

1. Restart the device
2. Clear Spotify's cache
3. Deleting and redownloading music and podcasts
4. Uninstall and reinstall the app (along with redownloading 20GB of data yay)
5. Remove Spotify from the 'Optimize battery usage'

A lot of people have this problem and it really seems is some seriously misguided attempt to force the users to stay online rather than an actual bug. 

[Mustered]

I have a Google Pixel 2 with Android 10, running Spotify version 8.5.51.941 and I'm encountering the same problem. (Prior to this update, I had never encountered this issue!) It does not matter whether I am playing from the phone itself or using Bluetooth. It usually gives me about 5 minutes of playback time, then stops. I'm almost always in Offline mode due to having poor signal at work and no secure wifi available - the sole reason I purchased Premium. 

[Farkme]

Currently having the same problem on my Galaxy S8+ running Android 9.  
Downloaded playlist stops playing after 10 minutes while in Airplane mode

[Mustered]

Did some searching and found this recommendation in the fixed issues...

Go to:
Settings,
Apps,
Spotify,
Battery
Play in Background Check that 

(In mine, the battery option is about Battery Optimization.)

Giving it an optimistic whirl!

[Farkme]

Allow Background Activity is "checked", but that still hasn't fixed the problem.

Thanks for the idea though.

[joegreene]

I've had this problem crossing over 3 phones now. Interesting, playing albums is far more problematic than either of my two large playlists. Reinstalling gets rid of the problem for awhile, but it comes back. I'm beginning to think it's by design.

[Ver]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for reaching out to us 🙂

The troubleshooting steps you've tried are very good. We'd like to suggest a few more.

Can you give these steps a go and run a clean reinstall? This one is more thorough than the usual one.

If you're using an SD card, you can remove it, reinstall Spotify and then try running the app without the SD card.

If you have any battery optimization or power saving apps, we'd suggest you deactivate them for Spotify.

@joegreene Can you try with another account on the same device? Does the issue persist?

Keep us posted! If you have questions, you know where to find us.

[trumpeterdave]

just in case it helps people.  I see there have been no updates since 2020.  I am having the same problems in 2024 on Android 13.  I have found that if I go to settings -> local files and click "Show audio files from this device", it starts working, still offline and not working before.  It has not been consistent, but it seems like progress.  I will check it later in the car where I use Android auto and don't want it using data.