Issue with my Spotify application with BMW

[piotr75]

Since two weeks ago, my Spotify application on the Media content at my BMW stopped to work properly. I am connected, I do see all the content., my playlists etc, however, once I choose any song to play there is no sound and radio continue to play for example. On the screen I see that the song seems to be played but no sound. I have tried to log in again and it did not help at all. I am able to play everything directly from my iPhone for example hence I suppose the issue is with Spotify itself. Any idea? 

Plan

Premium

Country

Switzerland

Device

(iPhone 8

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

My Question or Issue

[Kiril]

Hey @piotr75,

Thanks for reaching out on the Community!

Could we ask you few more things, so we can give you a better advise on how to troubleshot this situation with your car. Could you share with us the current Spotify version of the app which is on your preferred device (also what make, model and operating system is your device)? Is the device you're trying to stream from, connected to the internet as well? Also, how do you usually connect the device to your BMW media system? There are several different ways to do that, and you can also take a look at them here. You might want to test a different connection method to see if this will make a difference. Have you also tried to connect another Spotify account to the vehicle, does it behave the same way?

Also it might be worthwhile to force a refresh between the apps and your account as well. This is done when you log in and log out twice in a row from your account on your mobile, a bit odd but it could resolve potential cache-related issues.

Hope this helps. We'll be keeping an eye out for your reply, thanks! 

[piotr75]

Thank you for your answer. The version of the software on my mobile device
is: 8.6.66.1248. I use Spotify directly on the BMW Media system by logging
directly there. As I understand, it works independently from my device so I
can use it regardless if I have a device or not. I have done a double
refresh before but it did not work...

[MafeG]

Hi there @piotr75,

Thank you for your reply and sharing that info.

Since you're using a standalone app on your audio system, can you try to reinstall it? 

If it doesn't allow you to do so, please connect your phone using Bluetooth or an USB cable and let us know if that makes a difference.

Keep us posted.

[stub101]

I am experiencing exactly the same problem in my 2020 BMW X40 M40i with idrive7 and iPhone 8 (ios14) and iPhone 13 (ios15). 

I also use the native Spotify app which shows all my account and allows playlist/song selection but just doesn’t play. 

Strangely my phone shows the correct song playing on Spotify and that it’s playing via the car, but it isn’t. 

I tried to use Bluetooth streaming as a backup but this seems very flaky too because the system seems to get confused whether it should be playing via the app or via Bluetooth streaming. 

[MafeG]

Hi @stub101,

Thank you for posting on this thread!

Please let us know if you've performed any troubleshooting steps so far. If you haven't, in my previous post you can find some to try. 

Let us know how it goes. 

[stub101]

I have tried logging out and back in of the Spotify account in the car but the problem still exists. 

There is also no way of reinstalling the app because it is a native part of the cars media system. 

[Alex]

Hey @stub101,

Thanks for the reply.

Can you let us know if this started occuring after a firmware upgrade on the car. Also, are you aware of other BMW drivers who are experiencing this issue as of recently, as we aren't aware of other reports besides the ones in this thread.

There might not be much we can do from our end, as the car onboard app is developed by the car manufacturer using Spotify API, rather than the main Spotify developer team. Nevertheless, we'll do our best to try and get to the bottom of this.

Keep us posted on this.

[stub101]

The car hasn't had any updates or a firmware upgrade recently so I dont believe can be related. 

[Kiril]

Hi @stub101,

Thanks for your response.

Checking for firmware updates is always a good practice, so if there are any pending, we advise you to run those for your car's media system. If the native app could not be reinstalled/updated, then you can use some of the alternative ways to listen Spotify in your car. 

Meanwhile, you can also check some additional troubleshooting steps about not being able to play Spotify in your car here.  

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on.

[stub101]

The car was in at BMW for routine service last week and they checked for all hardware and Idrive updates but there were none pending. 
I appreciate there’s the Bluetooth streaming option but that is very basic and has to be controlled via the device which is illegal when in the car - not an ideal solution at all and why the native Spotify integration is so good - or it was when it was working. 

[Pipkins1]

Exactly the same as above thread. Worked perfectly before , now I see spotify on native app in car , but it reverts all the time to the phone,  it won't play anything from car spotify.  Phone shows conn3cted to bmw, but just overnight stopped working on a 71 plat with all the latest updates. Really annoying 😒 

[CarlosE]

Hey @Pipkins1,

Thanks for your reply in this thread 🙂

Can you let us know the exact make/model and OS of your device along with the Spotify version you use?

On another note, could you share with us the troubleshooting you’ve already done? You could start with a clean reinstall to see if this makes a difference. You can see the steps to do it here.

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Until then!

[angel_lbn9]

Desde hace una semana, no se inicia automáticamente la app Spotify (integrada en BMW Connected Drive). He probado a desvincular el dispositivo bluetooth, he actualizado la aplicación Spotify en mi móvil y parece ser que el error radica ahí. Deja de integrarse con el vehículo. 

Antes podía visualizar las distintas playlists desde el coche y ahora no.

[Jeremy]

Hi there @angel_lbn9,

Thank you for your reply in this thread. We hope that you don't mind us replying in English. Let's take a closer look into this.

Can you start with making sure there's no old cache files causing this by following the steps that's provided in this article? 

If that doesn't do the trick, can you let us know if you get the same behavior if you're connecting a different device to the car?

We'll be on the lookout for your reply 🙂

Take care!