Pausing spotify mutes audio on entire computer when using bluetooth earphones

[benbr_]

Plan

Premium

Country

 UK

Device

Macbook Pro 2017 (13")

Operating System

MacOS 10.13.5 (17F77)

Spotify Version

1.0.86.337.ga8d5cef9

When I pause a song on Spotify whilst using bluetooth earphones, audio is muted for every other application on the computer. For example if try to play a youtube video I can't hear anything. The mac volume level indicator is not muted though.

1. Start with spotify closed and play a youtube video - you can hear the audio fine.

2. Start spotify - can still hear youtube audio

3. Start playing a song on Spotify then pause it. Now all audio will be muted (also tried playing something in Audacity).

4. Play the song again on spotify - only whilst the song is playing can other computer audio be heard. 

If I switch the the mac speakers then the problem stops. Only occurs with bluetooth earphones (my ones are Sennheiser CX 6.00BT).

Another way to stop problem is to quit spotify (Spotify -> Quit Spotify), though often I also have to reconnect my bluetooth earphones before audio starts working again.

I've tried reinstally spotify and deleting cache which doesn't help.

Similar to https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Windows/Pausing-Spotify-Playback-quot-Mutes-quot-ALL-Audio-... but on mac

Here is some hardware and bluetooth info: https://gist.github.com/BenBanerjeeRichards/45063974d89a9b1d3d1bb64ea6f910b8#file-spotify-info-txt for my computer

[j0nes]

Have the same issue. Re-installed Spotify with no luck.

[Alex]

Hey @j0nes,

Can you confirm to us that you've reinstalled the app, following the steps in this guide? This is a bit different than a normal remove-reinstall, as it includes clearing all app data.

We'd also recommend that you make sure your Audio drivers are up to date and that the speaker you're using is selected as default audio device.

Let us know how you get on.

[Morzaram]

4 Years later and still no fix...

[cakism]

Having this problem too, just like the OP. Really super annoying...

[socram84]

This issue is still unsolved. It doesn't appear to happen with the built-in speakers, but only with Bluetooth speakers connected.

[MihailY]

Hey @socram84,

Thanks for reaching out.

Can you please confirm you've tried the troubleshooting steps suggested in the thread? Also, please share your device's OS version and Spotify version and let us know if this happens with other Bluetooth devices.

Keep us posted.

[norsewulf]

2024 and this is still a problem. Crazy...

[5plf_-9ge2jjf]

This is still a problem in 2025, the windows version has a fix here: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Windows/Pausing-Spotify-Playback-quot-Mutes-quot-ALL-Audio-...

Mac still doesn't have a solution that I've found beyond what another user mentioned - let spotify keep playing and change the volume to 0%