spotify start playing automatically

[Madmaus]

Hi,

My phone starts playing spotify at random times in the middle of the night (between 4:00 and 6:00). It may happened after an update of my phone.

Plan

Premium

Country

Netherlands

Device

Samsung Galaxy S9

Operating System

Android 10

My Question or Issue

Hi,

My phone starts playing spotify at random times in the middle of the night (between 4:00 and 6:00). It may happened after an update of my phone.

It this an know issue? How to get rid of it besides deinstall?

[Ver]

Hey @4w9-xa_0smbi6,

Thanks for proving us with this info and trying the steps mentioned so far.

We understand that it must be frustrating when an app behaves in unexpected ways. We'll make sure to pass this report on to the dev team.

As we're so far unable to recreate this on our end, we can't commit to a specific timeline for a fix but we'd recommend that you keep your app up-to-date so you don't miss the latest improvements and fixes.

The Community is here for you if there's anything else!

[jdorfer]

Team,

same issue here - Samsung Smartphone - Spotify starts randomly AND Spotify always starts playing after a reboot.

kind regards
Jakob

[Novy]

Hey @jdorfer,

Thanks for posting on the Community.

Could you send us the exact model, OS version and Spotify version of your Samsung device? Additionally, tell us if the issue started after a recent update. 

Lastly, we suggest that you reinstall the app on your phone (if your have a Premium subscription, you'll need to download your tunes again). Once this process is completed, restart your device and tell us how it works.

Keep us posted. 

[jdorfer]

Hi,

Samsung S22 Ultra (Note10+ same problem)
Android 12
severeal reinstallations already done (inkl. cache deletion and so on)
most current version of spotify installed some minutes ago 8.7.20.1261

[OscarDC]

Hey @jdorfer,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

We appreciate the troubleshooting you've done so far, but to be sure that we're on the same page - did you use these steps for a clean reinstall? They are more thorough than a regular one. That way you can make sure the cache is not causing this issue.

Also, since some Samsung devices are changing the built-in media player, sometimes Spotify plays instead of a regular audio player. Make sure you don't have an alarm or a morning routine set in those specific hours.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted. 

[jdorfer]

Team,

I have done this steps already before, but once again, rebooted the phone and installed
Spotify again.
Startet Spotify to play a song.
Rebooted the phone and IMMEDIATELY after unlocking my phone spotify started to play the
last song.

NO Routines, NO alarms, just reboot with unlocking my smartphone!

[OscarDC]

Hey @jdorfer,

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the clarification.

To keep investigating what's happening, it would be great if you can have someone log in with their account on your device - such as a friend or a family member to see if the issue persists. This will help us understand if it's account related or not.

If the issue persists, could you record a short video where we can take a see the issue happening? You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it). This will give us a better look at the issue to help you further.

We'll be waiting for your response. 

[4w9-xa_0smbi6]

Doesn't sounds very logical to me that an app staring to play by itself on a device could be account related. I have the problem several times a day and it very annoying. The common thing seems to be it is all Samsung devices at this moment. But I think Spotify has to look at their own side first since I do not have any problems with other media player apps. It is only Spotify that starts playing at certain actions on the device.

I am getting the feeling that this forum is just trying to keep the complainers busy till they give up.

[jdorfer]

yes REALLY annoying same behavior on my phone - just wanted to open an app in the app drawer, and spotify starts playing a song - of course this makes meetings more meaningful 😉 but I don't think this is the reason why Spotify "is around" 🙂

[Vasil]

Hello dear people,

There is something we'd like to test out and we require your assistance.
Please follow the steps below and let us know how it goes.
Open the phone’s ‘Settings’ menu:

1. Tap on the ‘Apps’ setting to open it.
2. Scroll to find ‘Spotify’ and tap on it.
3. Then find the ‘Battery’ setting and click on 'Launch'.
4. Disable ‘Allow Background Activity‘.
5. Restart your phone to see if the issue is still present.
6. Turn the setting on again and restart one more time.

We'll be on the lookout for your response.
Many thanks.

Cheers!

[4w9-xa_0smbi6]

While the phone was starting up after reboot Spotify started playing immediately. But after that it does not start playing while searching from the app drawer.

I changed the battery option back and rebooted. Again Spotify start playing while starting up. And after that it also does not start playing while searching from the app drawer.

So at phone startup it seems consistent. The play while searching the app drawer seems to be after a certain condition has occurred. I will let you know when it comes back.

It has been away after re-installation before but after a while it started again.

I have a Galaxy Fold 3

[jdorfer]

HI Team,

some tests during the easter weekend:

- used account from a friend (no family account) on my phone - same behavior -> not account related!

- changed the battery settings (looks a littlebit different in German Android 12) - Screenshot attached, no difference!

- made a short video while rebooting my phone - should be available via this link: https://1drv.ms/f/s!Agasyk4bQkWCeWm757UFHWWTtc8 

kind regards
Jakob

[4w9-xa_0smbi6]

At this side I had around 6 unwanted restart the last few days. Once after unlocking. The rest was when searching in the app drawer and when setting the alarm. 

[Yordan]

Hi folks!

This can be triggered by other 3rd party apps that may try to initialize music playback - one example is the fitness app Polar Flow, which has special notification access, allowing it to launch Spotify automatically.

Could you please search your phone's settings for Notification access and disable the notification permissions for Polar Flow or any other app you might assume would want audio playback control to see if that does the trick?

Let us know how it goes. Cheers!

[jdorfer]

HI Team,

after 2 days of testing this fixed the problem for me! Indeed I have Polar Flow on my phone - have you already informed Polar or is this issue Spotify related?

kind regards
Jakob

[4w9-xa_0smbi6]

I am also using Polar Flow and did not have the problem since I disabled the permission.

It looks like this is the source at least for some of us. For me the questions remains why the Spotify app starts playing when it is being queried by Polar Flow. None of my other media player apps do this.

I see the same behaviour when my phone connects to the bluetooth in my car. As soon as it connects it Spotify starts playing. When I have used another mediaplayer app previously it does not start playing automatically. It appears on my car radio but remains paused as it should be.

Looks to me that the Spotify app has something that makes it starts playing when it gets activated. I think that is the main problem. If that is intentional I would like to see it would be optional for the user through a setting.

[4w9-xa_0smbi6]

After some testing I found that other media players also start playing automatically when connecting to my car when loaded. So that seems to be something from the car audio and not Spotify related.

I did not experience a single automatic play anymore after disabling the Polar setting.

[Kiril]

Hey @4w9-xa_0smbi6,

Thanks for letting us know that everything is working fine now.

Remember to always keep your apps updated, so you don't miss any fixes or new features. Don't hesitate to give us a shout if you have more questions.

Have a good day and stay safe!

[Sugandil]

Same issue with a Pixel 4a, Android 12, and Spotify 8.7.26.901.

Spotify starts playing randomly during the night.

I have Polar Flow, but I don't want to switch it off...

Thanks&Regards.

[4w9-xa_0smbi6]

The Polar Flow developers are aware of the issue and working on a solution. For now the only way to solve it is to turn of the music access permissions of Polar Flow.