Spotify turns itself on in very different situations - Samsung Galaxy S20 / S21

[Luki27]

Plan

Premium

Country

Poland

Device

Samsung Galaxy S20/S21

Operating System

Android 10/11

My Question or Issue

For some time now, spotify has been turning on by itself on the Samusng galaxy s20 and later also in the s21 (I switched to s21 - I made a copy of the phone). It happens very accidentally when running various applications. The music starts playing immediately after it is turned on. It often happens spontaneously at night at 4.30 :(. I don't know what to do. Did anyone have a similar problem? Of course, I installed the application from scratch, deleted all settings, etc. Continue without changes.

[MafeG]

Hi @Luki27,

Welcome to the Community and thank you for reaching out!

It's very odd that this is happening across different devices, but we'll help you sort this out.

We suggest you start by securing your account against any potential intruder. Please head to this article and follow all the steps under "Still have access to your account?".

If the issue persists after this, could you confirm if this happens when the app has been completely closed and is not just minimized in the background? 

Keep us posted.

[Luki27]

I changed my password, disconnected from other devices and services and I will see what happens. But I guess that wasn't a problem.

Yes, I know it's strange, but despite the completely closed application, it can start by itself and turn on immediately playing music.
Interestingly, it happened today right after updating the phone - that is, when the phone turned on for the first time after updating the android system, spotify started itself when the update was finished and of course it immediately turned on the last played song ... It's very very strange: (.

[Alex]

Hey @Luki27,

Thanks for the reply.

Check that Spotify is not part of any schedule on your phone. You might want to check the Bixby app and Google Clock and make sure Spotify is not part of any routines/ schedules.

Those apps can start playing music at certain times of day as part of your routines.

Keep us posted on this.

[Luki27]

Thanks for trying to help but still nothing works.

I have Bixby completely turned off and the Google clock is not installed. I don't have any schedules turned on.

I did an interesting test.
I closed all applications and restarted my phone.
Once Spotify didn't turn on, but when I restarted my phone again, Spotify restarted by itself and started playing.
The interesting thing is that it was not visible in running applications!
It showed up only when I clicked on the icon and only then I could press pause.

Anyone understand something is going on? 😒

Be warned that I checked and in my opinion I do not have any spyware or viruses.

[MafeG]

Hi @Luki27,

Thank you for running all those tests!

We'd like to narrow this down as much as possible, so can you log in with another account, such as a friend's or a family member's to see if the issue persists? Alternatively, you can create a free account here, just make sure you're logged out of your own account before creating a new one.  

If the issue persists, please go to your phone's settings and toggle off any Battery Saving settings if you have them. 

Let us know how this goes.

[Soulsearcher]

I have the same problem with the Samsung Note 20 Ultra. At least setting an alarm in the clock app may start playing Spotify. Similarly, restarting the phone. Upgrading to Android 12 didn't help. Reinstalling Spotify didn't help. There are many other critics in the Play store who suffer from the same.

[petestmart]

Same problem on Samsung Galaxy s20

[CarlosE]

Hey folks,

Thank you for keeping us in the loop.

As you don’t have any additional app that can be causing the issue, it’s possible that your device saved some corrupted cache that may be affecting it. In this case, we’d recommend a clean reinstall as this is more thorough than a regular one and can be helpful to get rid of any cache that might affect the proper function of the app.

 
If the issue persists, please include in your next response if it happens with a different account logged in as suggested before or if it happens on a different device.

We'll be on the lookout for your next response.

[AlmasPatra]

What is wrong with this app development. I just started having this issue the past two weeks. It's an older tablet, I have no conflicting apps the damn thing just turns itself on and starts playing. It is so disappointing to look for solutions and find that the issue (like many of Spotify's drawbacks) have been problems for YEARS and the only advice you CS people give is; did you restart?, did you unlink, oh have you been hacked? It's obliviously a programming glitch when it is happening all over the world to different devices over years. So yeah thanks I'll just go back to my SanDisk mp3.

[Yordan]

Hi folks,

Thanks for your replies.

Could you try disabling apps that can launch other external apps, like Android Auto and Google's Voice Assistant to see if that does the trick?

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

[anzaah]

Same problem with S21. Done practically everyting to solve this. Spotify starts to play for example when I lauch my Banking app (Nordea). Or pull up home screen and search something. All this randomly. Made ticket to Samsung - no help. Driving me absolutely crazy.

[Ver]

Hey @anzaah,

Thanks for posting here.

Could you please share with us which troubleshooting steps you've tried so far? That way we'll able to avoid repeating steps.
 

If possible, you can also send us a video recording of the issue. Just make sure that there's no sensitive/private info visible. We'll look into this further.

Keep us posted.

[anzaah]

I just type a long explanation of this problem. When I clicked "post" I got an error something went wrong and my text (=time/work) was lost.

This is the third time this happened on this forum. I'll try to get to the original problem later....

[Jeremy]

Hi @anzaah,

Thank you for your reply in this thread. We're sorry to hear that.

We suggest that you clear your cache and cookies to see if the issue persists.

We'll keep an eye out for your reply in this thread.

Take care!

[anzaah]

Hi, here are some steps I've done trying to solve this (what I can remember):

- clear app cache
- check that there's no automated tasks
- uninstall / re-install app
- uninstall + sign out everywhere + re-install
- disable notifications
- removed spotify from media panel shortcuts
- tried to disable media panel
- NOT done: Phone factory reset (I don't want to)

Symptoms:
- Many times after system update and reboot spotify starts to play when phone powers up. Just after security code entry.
- 1-4 times a day: swipe up to search something -> music starts
- 0-4 times a day: swipe up to search something and lauch some other app -> music starts

It does't matter if the bluetooth is on or off. Same problems.

I think this has something to do with Samsung media panel and you should also put some pressure on them to solve this issue. It's sad if I have to choose Samsung OR spotify.

Br
Anzaah / Galaxy S21

[Jeremy]

Hi again @anzaah,

Thank you for getting back in touch with us. You've done an amazing job with the troubleshooting so far!

Can you confirm that you followed the steps that's provided in this article? There's some more steps to help thoroughly uninstall the app from your device, so if you haven't, we'd highly suggest it since the steps will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

If that doesn't do the trick, we suggest that you try the following in the order bellow:

• Open this reset link in a private/incognito window, and choose a strong password you haven't used before.
• Log in to your account page, scroll down, and select SIGN OUT EVERYWHERE.
• On your account page, go to Apps to review what’s connected to your account. It’s best to select REMOVE ACCESS on all of them to ensure your account’s security (you can reconnect them later). Also, go to the Spotify desktop app's settings to review any connected Facebook accounts under Social. If there is one, click DISCONNECT FROM FACEBOOK to remove it. If it’s your own Facebook, change your Facebook password before you reconnect it
• Log back into your account

Let us know how everything goes 🙂

Take care!

[Soulsearcher]

Today, again, setting Samsung’s alarm clock launched Spotify. However, the phenomenon could not be repeated. I was recently listening to Spotify on an iPad through Chromecast while at the same time using Google Lenses on a Note 20 Ultra. The phone stopped playing on Chromecast and started playing a different song on the phone, the same as when setting the alarm clock earlier. Could you just pass these problem descriptions to the programmers. We users no longer intend to delete accounts and programs from devices. Take care of this between Spotify and Samsung....and Google.

Spotify has worked well for years, but now something is messed up in programming.

[Eni]

 Hey there @Soulsearcher, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Just to make sure, you mentioned that you've already reinstalled the app, but would you mind going through the steps of a clean reinstall, as it's more thorough than a normal one?

On another note, have you already tried the steps @Jeremy sent previously?

We'll be on the lookout.

[Soulsearcher]

A clean reinstall did not help. After alarm clocks alarm I noticed that Spotify started to play by itself.