High Spotify CPU Usage (Mac)

[Fizzzel]

Hello,
I am still facing troubles with 100% CPU Usage of the Mac Desktop app.
The last issue from 07/2020 was marked by Spotify as "now fixed for everyone".
I made a complete reinstall with the newest update (also cleared cache and all other spotify related files from system), and the problem is still there.
Having 100% CPU after couple minutes and then when I want to close the app it won't close and is not responding.
Please fix this issue as it makes the app unusable!

Spotify Version: 1.1.48.625.g1c87c7f7

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

MacBook Pro Retina 15" 2012

Operating System

MacOS Mojave

[Ivan]

Hey @Fizzzel,

Thanks for posting - we’re here to help!        
 

In case you still experience this after the clean reinstall the next step we suggest is checking the hosts file on your MacBook for entries that need to be removed and cleaning them up. Follow the steps described here on how you can do that. 

If this persists, make sure you try what another user suggested in this post for fixing the issue. It seems this helped others so it's worth it giving it a try. 

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.  

[Fizzzel]

Thanks for the suggestions! The first thing with the host file didnt help, there was no entry. The second solution you suggested shows something supsicious: I clicked on the "i" information button for the spotify process in the activity monitor, and looked for the local files and ports tab. Spotify was scanning and indexing random music files from my computer! But I always had local files turned off in the spotify settings, even after the clean reinstall. This may cause the high cpu, since I have tons of gigabytes of music on my harddrive?! I could try running spotify the night in the background as it may finishes "indexing" or whatever it is doing, but it seems a little bit stupid, that spotify is scanning local files even when the setting is turned off...

[CarlosE]

Hey @Fizzzel,

Thanks for keeping in touch and for the info provided.

Could you try to turn the Local Files on and send us a screenshot of what it looks like in the settings? Then turn it back off, reinstall the app again and let us know if there's a difference.

We'll be looking out for your reply.

[Fizzzel]

Ok, so this is weird: When I enable Local Files in the settings, and then disable all the local files sources, the problem is gone! When I disable local files back again, but with all the sources disabled, it stays good!
So I guess Spotify is indexing files in the background, no matter if local files are disabled or not, only the sources setting matters.

 

[CarlosE]

Hey there @Fizzzel,

Thanks for trying and keeping us posted.

You're right - as long as the sources are disabled, the app shouldn't search for files on your device, so if you're not importing Local Files to Spotify, we recommend leaving the sources disabled to avoid extra CPU usage.

We're glad to know that everything is running smoothly now.

If you have any questions or need a hand with anything else, give us a shout.

Cheers!