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Desktop (Mac) search not working

Desktop (Mac) search not working

 

Plan - Premium

Country - UK 

Device - Macbook Pro (early 2016)

Operating System - latest OSX

 

My Question or Issue

 

This has been a problem for me for months now...

Whenever I type something into the search bar on the desktop spotify app, there is absolutely no response - just a blank page.

 

I have restarted spotify, restarted my laptop, deleted every spotify related file on my computer then reinstalled spotify, updated my laptop and updated spotify multiple times over the months I have had this problem... and still the search does not work.

 

My internet connection is fine - I can see artist pages by clicking on their name within my playlist, and I can also search for songs within my playlist, however the search bar at the top does not work at all.

 

I've had this problem for too long now and it's starting to annoy me a lot. Please help!

 

 

Reply
13 Replies

Hi there!

I know it sounds simple, but it's often overlooked. Could you try restarting your device? Sorry if this may sound a bit repetitive but if that doesn't help, try a quick clean reinstall of the app by following these steps.

 

Have you tried to sign in with another Spotify account or creating another user account and installing Spotify there to see if that helps?

If you're still having trouble, could you let me know the exact version of Spotify and the exact version of the operating system you're running?

I'll see what I can suggest next!

Ok, so it works when I sign in on another account, but it doesn't work on my account.

 

Is there any reason this would be happening?

Hey @user-removed,

 

Apologies for the late reply 🙂

 

Could you try this on another device with similar specs if this occurs when he signs with this account?

 

Please make sure you have all latest updates installed. Latest macOS version is macOS Mojave 10.14 and for Spotify it is 1.0.90.268.ga8a0ceb4.

 

Thanks 🙂

My spotify and OSX are on the latest version.

 

Search works on my iPhone but not on my mac.

 

I really don't understand why this is happening.

I've also been getting this issue, running Spotify for macOS (Intel)
1.1.79.763.gc2965cdf, on macos monterey 12.1. 

I have tried doing a clean reinstall several times, restarting and logging out then back in

Hey @lazyzombie,

 

Thanks for posting here.

 

Could you try logging in to another account on the same device to see if that changes anything?
 

If that doesn't make a difference, you can send us a video recording of the issue. We'll look into this further.

 

Keep us posted.

Ver Moderator
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Hello, 

I made a new account on spotify and are still unable to search in either the new account or old account, from the desktop app.

I'm able to search on spotify in the web app
 In addition, the first time I logged out of spotify to make a new account, it crashed my computer and I had to force a shut down with the power button.

i've attached a recording

Hey @lazyzombie,

 

Thanks for the reply and for going through this troubleshooting with us.

 

Since Search doesn't work on another account as well it's very likely that the issue is related to your Desktop app or your network set up.

 

In this case we'd recommend that check your host files for Spotify entries and remove any you find. Even though it was written for another topic, this page has instructions on how to do this. 

 

If that doesn't work, try connecting to a different network connection, like a WiFi hotspot from your phone. This way we can check if the issue is network related.

 

Keep us posted on how you get on with this.

 

 

 

AlexModerator
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hello, 

Changing to another wifi network worked! But only after restarting the spotify app. After restarting the spotify app on the new wifi network, search would also continue to work if I changed back to the original wifi network. However if I restart the spotify app while connected to the original wifi network, search won't work.

Any ideas why this could be? 

I don't have any lines in my hosts file with `spotify` in them.

Hi @lazyzombie,

 

Awesome that you got the search working by changing the network!

 

It appears that there's some miscommunication between your original network and Spotify. You could try connecting to it and closing the Spotify app, then deleting the prefs file from Spotify's directory by following these steps:

  1. Open Finder on your Mac and click Go > Library (if you don't have hidden folders enabled, press the option key first and it should appear).
  2. Go to Application Support > Spotify.
  3. There you'll find a file called prefs. Simply delete the file.
  4. Restart the Spotify app while connected to your original network.

Let us know if search results show up.

 

Cheers!

YordanModerator
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Hello, 

Unfortunately this didn't work for me


Hey again @lazyzombie,

 

Thanks for keeping us posted!

 

This seems to be a network issue and unfortunately, our troubleshooting waters are running a bit dry in such environments.
It'd be best to check this with your network administrator and let us know if anything else we can help out with!
 

Note: Keep in mind that this could also be caused by a firewall or an anti-virus restriction.


For more information on this topic, take a look over here.
Let us know how it goes 🙂

Cheers!

ElenaModerator
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Check Your Spotlight Preferences. It is also important that you confirm your Spotlight Search preferences. Click on the Apple Menu at the top and choose System Preferences > Spotlight. Make sure that you are not excluding apps related to your search in your preferences here.

 

Regards,
Jim

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