Videos do not play when connected to Bluetooth

[MartinNZ]

Plan

Premium

Country

 New Zeland

Device

Samsung Galaxy S8+

Operating System

Android Oreo

My Question or Issue

Playlist videos work fine when I have my headphones plugged into my device or I'm listening via the devices inbuilt speaker. However when I am connected to my car stereo via Bluetooth the videos do not display. Sound works fine but no video just a progress bar right at bottom of screen. Rest of screen is blank. If I disconnect from Bluetooth the video will play fine. 

[Alex]

Hi folks,

Thank you for your posts.

Video is automatically disabled if Spotify detects that you're connected to a car's onboard system. This is to prevent accidents, as it may cause distractions while driving.

The right folks at Spotify are aware of this issue and that there are user who request this to be made possible. Currently we don't have official information on when or if this functionality will be enabled.

If you're having this issue with BT headphones, you should try forgetting the device and re-connecting. 

Hope you find this info helpful.

[CC99C]

Same problem here for at least a year. I think I know what the issue is, but but the only work around involves spending some money. I have done a lot of trouble shooting over the year. I loose earbuds at least once a month. The video works with only SOME Bluetooth devices. It does not work with TOZO-T12 or Lasuney bluetooth 5.0 true wireless earbuds. It does work with "Wireless Earbuds, Kissral Bluetooth 5.0 Headphones with 4000mAh Charging case LED Battery Display 130 Hrs" It does not work in my 2013 Infiniti. 

So bluetooth 5.0 is not a determining factor in functionality. The problem appears to be Spotify's coding in relation to certain Bluetooth devices. There is a glitch in there somewhere that causes the video to not play on certain devices. The only commonality of devices I have tested appears to be that older headphones do not work on average although some new ones still do not work.

[Jockofthebushveld]

Workaround: I found that, on my phone, switching off the connection options for the Bluetooth device and then switching them on again solved this. It seems permanent after phone restart. 

[kayb27]

I can understand how Spotify thinks this is a responsible action to prevent accidents but it's actually an inconvenience. There are absolutely legitimate reasons to have video playing on a device while connected to a car. If I'm on my lunch break and decide to catch up on JRE I shouldn't have to come up with workarounds to do so. The person that is going to watch a video while driving is going to do it regardless of a company's policy towards Bluetooth connectivity as I'm sure you're aware of. Modern cars can now request that you are in park in order to set up your Bluetooth. This could be something Spotify can implement. I'm not a developer, I don't know but I do know that a blanket policy of turning video off is a bigger inconvenience than a solution. Humans are going to human after all.

[Ericsmithee]

I have experienced this same issue as well. It still persists in 2022. I tried Monster Airlink "True Wireless" bluetooth headphones and it caused this glitch where Spotify podcast video will not play when connected to the headphones. I think it has something to do with the headphones triggering Android Auto and maybe disabling the video as a safety feature? But this clearly is a glitch because I have was never in a vehicle driving when this problem occured. 

Oddly enough, switching back to my tethered Bose Soundspoty Bluetooth headphones this glitch goes away.

[redlinejoes]

I'm in my car right now.  I'm parked waiting for my kid to get out of music lessons.  I can't watch video on my device.  Your corporate response is because I might crash? I'm in park genius. Also my car has an agreement built into the system that releases them from liability.  It's 2022, how can I help you technically understand how to advance in this space?

[thibout17]

go to your phone bluetooth setting and edit the name of your stereo car to another name then your default stereo name ! solved! 🙂

[Blingblaow]

Send screenshot of your liability ? Do you mean grounding your parking
brake bypassing your head units manufacturer safety feature.other than that
just agreeing that your aware of it does not mean it will give you any
consent .show the screenshot so people can see what you actually talking
about ?

[Lane1567]

I, personally, found a fix for those using Bluetooth earbuds on an Android phone. I had a pair that worked fine and displayed video when playing video podcasts. Bought a new pair and video would not display when listening to a podcast. What I did to re-enable video playback for these earbuds was search "Android Auto" in phone settings. Clicking on it. In the next screen, scroll down to "System" and uncheck "Wireless Android Auto". You probably will get a notification that bluetooth was turned off by Android Auto. Go back into your Bluetooth settings and reconnect your earbuds. Test out your video podcast on spotify. It may work for you, as well. Hope I helped.

[redlinejoes]

This is the only solution necessary. It's literally this simple. Thank you for this. It's the response Spotify should have also provided. 

[redlinejoes]

It isn't clear what you are talking about regarding modifying your vehicle's safety features. That would be ill-advised. 

I also don't understand how you send screenshots of "liability." However, if you're curious, you could google the end-user agreements that vehicular manufacturers include in "infotainment" systems. Mine is specific to Lexus. They are all pretty much the same. 

A screenshot was never necessary because the people helping were already aware of the problem and provided a valid workaround. No further assistance is needed. 

[Kmiec123]

I tried above suggestions and it did not fix the issue. I went to the spotify app permissions and removed permission to share to nearby devises, and the earbuds work with the video still playing. 👍

[redlinejoes]

That's because your issue has nothing to do with car infotainment systems.
It's a separate issue.

[Beaustir45]

Wow, this worked. And I played around with the different names and it didn't have much sense to the naming conventions that would and wouldn't work. But this did work 👍

[JohnnyBass242067]

I've tried everything & I still can't get the podcast Videos to play on my phone with regular Bluetooth speakers I'm not in a car at all! I'll hit play on the podcast it'll play the video just fine until I go to connect the Bluetooth speakers then the video shuts off as soon as it connects & if I start the app with the speakers already hooked up then it won't play the video at all when I hit play please tell me there is a way around this because I'm not in a car at all and I've always watched my podcasts this way and its always worked just fine until about a month or two ago please help me out?

[JohnnyBass242067]

So I can't watch the JRE on my phone through regular Bluetooth speakers in my bedroom anymore?(I'm not in a car!) this is how I've listened to the JRE since 2010 & it used to work every time up till about 2 months ago, what happened? please help me If I should be able to do this I've tried restarting the phone & app, reinstalling the app again, & I've reset my Bluetooth settings on both devices & the app please help me I'm getting behind on the JRE episodes

[HoosierDad]

It's pretty funny that they still refuse to do anything about this. Changing the name of the device worked for me. Hope this helps

[redlinejoes]

All you said is that you restarted the phone and reinstalled the app and reset your Bluetooth settings.

You never said if you actually tried the known workaround available in this thread.

You don't mention if you tried to rename your Bluetooth speakers. 

This issue described in this thread is not resolved by resetting settings or reinstalling the app. You must rename the car infotainment system name in the Bluetooth settings. Full stop. 

This thread is related to car infotainment systems, but there is a chance your BT device is being flagged too. Try to explain in detail what you have actually done to troubleshoot. 

The Spotify app is pretty buggy in general. Over the last couple months July - August 2022, it has been riddled with issues and inability to play videos. You get what you pay for, and I'm not paying much, so I don't expect much so much from the company. It is not news that Rogan made a big mistake moving to such a buggy platform. He should have created his platform. This is laughable, and he's a comedian. He claims to be stupid, and this is evidence of that. If he were smart with tech or had someone smart with tech near him, he would have been informed how easy it is to create a streaming platform. The hardest part is building the audience. He already has the audience, they will go wherever he goes. That is why Spotify paid 100 million for his soul. They essentially were paying 100 million for his audience, they could care less about Rogan, honestly. If Rogan were even able to leave, they could still say they have invested 100 million worth of subscribers into the platform. 

[redlinejoes]

This is an understatement. It's cringy at this point. Spotify has 100 million to blow on Rogies, but can't manage to produce a decent video streaming platform. 

[Sp0tifySuxBallz]

This is re tarded!!   Spotify is garbage.   Now when I connect to my Bluetooth headphones, the video doesn't play.   Spotify doesn't care about it's customers!!!