Music keeps pausing when Spotify is open on two devices

[kalsowerus]

Plan

Premium

Country

Switzerland

Device

Xiaomi Pocophone F1 & Lenovo Thinkpad T14

Operating System

Android 10 & Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I do not know exactly what is causing my problem. It seems when I have my wireless earbuds (Jabra 65t) connected via bluetooth to both my phone and laptop, and have Spotify open on both, my music pauses automatically after about 1 second everytime I press 'play'. As soon as I exit Spotify on my laptop or disconnect my earbuds from one of the devices, it works fine. Also note that Spotify on my laptop recognizes that I am listening on my phone.

So exiting Spotify is the workaround, but it would love this to work so I can control my music from both devices.

[Mihail]

Hey there @kalsowerus,

Thanks posting here in the Community! We'll gladly shed some light on the situation.

This is expected behavior. Since your earbuds are connected to both devices the app is tricked into believing that playback is running on two devices at the same time with one account, which is not possible.

You should however be able to connect your volume with both devices via Connect, even though the earbuds are connected only to one of them. If that doesn't work properly, we recommend that you restart both devices. We know that it's a simple step and often overlooked, but surprisingly effective. If that doesn't do the trick it's a good idea to perform a clean reinstall. This way any corrupted files get removed.

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

[mihailrasin]

Hi Mihail,

I have a similar issue which is so annoying I'm considering quitting on Spotify for some time now. 
I use Spotify on my laptop and my iPhone, and streaming via a bluetooth speaker. As the previous user explained, I am able to run it smoothly only after I log out of all devices through the website, and then log in ONLY on one device. Which is really inconvenient for me. I've tried it all - restarted, reinstalled, updated firmwares - nothing seems to be working. I've talked to the bluetooth speaker's manufacturer support (Marshall) as well. The issue lies with Spotify alone.

I want to make it crystal clear: I am NOT paired to both devices at the same time. In fact, when I try to play Spotify on my phone, my laptop is in Sleep mode with Bluetooth switched off. Still, if I'm logged into Spotify there, it doesn't work on other devices.

I will really appreciate if you guys can provide some context as to: are you working on resolving this issue, as it continues for way over a year now, and you keep asking us to reset, reinstall and other non-working ways of side-stepping the real issue, which lies with the Spotify platform and needs to be resolved once and for all. Alternatively, if such efforts are not being deployed and we should not expect a real result, I'd appreciate an honest answer, so that I re-evaluate my options and seek a working service elsewere.

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Mihail Rasin

[Kiril]

Hi there @mihailrasin,

Thank you for reaching out on the Community!

We understand you're experiencing a similar issue as the one described earlier. Good job on your troubleshooting efforts 'till now. Could we ask you a bit more details around your specific setup, so we can give you a better advice eventually 🙂

For example, as you mention you have a laptop, is it a MacBook by any chance? It's known that they have a very "light" sleep mode and tend to maintain some connections open. And in any case, does the same behavior occur again, when the laptop is completely turned off? It would be great if you also share the complete specs (including OS versions) of all devices and Spotify app-clients you're currently using in your setup.

Regarding your other question about context information: We are constantly doing our best to optimize Spotify and improve its compatibility for a multitude of device combinations. However there's no 'one-solution-fits-all' type of opportunity at this moment and because currently there's a simultaneous playback restriction to 1 device, there can be some devices that erroneously trigger the restriction and thus causing the issues you're describing.

Hope this helps clarify things. Keep us posted, we'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[mihailrasin]

Hey Kiril,

Thanks for your swift and informative reply. I appreciate the effort you guys are putting in, and, conversely, I am doing all I can to keep using Spotify:)

My current setup consists of a MacBook 13 Pro 2020, with the latest macOS Monterey 12.1. I’am also using an iPhone 11 Pro with the latest OS version. I have also tried an Android tablet and other iPhone, to make sure its not about the devices. I am having issues streaming to wireless headphones (Jabra and EarPods), and most often, on a Marshall Stanmore 2 bluetooth speaker (annoyed the guys at Marshall support on that issue as well 🙂 ).

I just want to specify that the issue persist when I switch off the bluetooth connection on the laptop before I put it to sleep. Unless I log off Spotify on the laptop, it still meddles with the connection somehow.

I’d be happy to troubleshoot some scenarios for you if you can think of any I haven’t tried. 

Thanks in advance!

Kind regards,

Mihail

[MafeG]

Hi @mihailrasin,

Thank you for keeping in touch.

The steps you've tried sound extensive enough and at this point it's most likely there won't be anything we can suggest to remedy things. It might be worth trying to connect to some different network combinations, but if it happens straight through Bluetooth headphones as well, it most likely won't do the trick.

It sounds like the app is erroneously detecting that you're playing simultaneously from two separate devices, rather than being connected to each other. Something, somewhere along the device chain sounds like it's messing up the trigger points of that restriction. 

If you're able to connect to a different network and test this, please let us know.

We'll be on the lookout. 

[LosD]

Wow, that is pretty stupid. Just stop trying to detect what is playing in Bluetooth headphones, and there would be no issue. You shouldn't being spying on what is going on in external devices you have no right to in the first place, just send the sound output to the system.

This seems like another case of security, not for the end user, but for the provider, screwing with the end users. Sometimes it seems like you really want people to go back to piracy.

[noambugot1]

I'm also experiencing this issue - I don't WANT to disconnect my headphone from either device, as I like to seamlessly transfer between them (for example, watching a video on my laptop and moving to a call on my phone). I don't need spotify to be playing on both, so I am not quite comprehending why you would prevent this from happening? This is extremely disruptive and does NOT happen in competitors such as Tidal.

[wdgvwvbasdff]

Here I am again on the toilet, in silence instead of listening to the album I wanted, because Spotify seems uniquely incapable of realising when I play something from my phone, I want to listen on my phone. Maddening. I'm going to try tidal

[tofandel]

I have the same issue, to be clear it goes: play > pause > play > pause on a feedback loop every second (and now that's very very annoying)

> This is expected behavior. Since your earbuds are connected to both devices the app is tricked into believing that playback is running on two devices at the same time with one account, which is not possible.

I'm sorry but this makes no sense, spotify on my computer is showing correctly that playback is running from my phone, my headphones are connected to both the phone and laptop but only one is playing at the same time. So somehow the laptop is trying to stop the playback from the phone somehow even though it knows the phone is currently playing. This is really a bug and should be addressed, why do I have to go on the device I am not listening on and turn off the bluetooth there?

[New user]

I've reinstalled the application on all of my devices. It pauses on my laptop and my phone if they are both open at the same time but only one is playing. I cannot control another computer with my phone as it seems to thinks one of them is playing when it isn't.

I push play it pauses, I push play it pauses.

I'm at my wits end with all the issues I've dealt with using Spotify over the past couple of years.

I will be moving to Tidal in the next week or two if this isn't resolved. It has been on going for over two months now.

I think it thinks the other device is still playing, kind of sad one of the 20 updates I've gotten in the past month hasn't fixed it.

Thanks.

[AmberSmokesWeed]

I'm having the same issue, also with no Bluetooth devices connected. I already have Tidal, but also Spotify because of some integration stuff. If this isn't solved soon honestly I'm just gonna cancel Spotify and only use Tidal. I should be able to have Spotify open on multiple devices, otherwise it makes my entire smart home environment useless when it comes to Spotify.

[AwakenNow]

I thought I was alone, apparently I'm not. This has been bugging me for a while. The scenario is simple and common, I use spotify on my laptop and when I leave the desk, I want to use Spotify on my phone. And this is forbidden? We're not asking you to allow us to play music on multiple devices, just one at a time. You have detected music is playing on the iPhone from the laptop app. Why the pausing??????? I'm really considering quitting Spotify! 4 years after reporting this and still not recognized as a bug?

[mfyz]

Same here. Also find this unacceptable. Also this is not about bluetooth/external speakers (even if it was, the behavior should be like this as LosD's reply).

In some cases, I leave my personal computer at home. Come to work, trying to start listening stuff, it keeps pausing it insistingly. Having to call my wife and instruct her to open my comp, kill Shopfiy app, in order to listen on my work computer.

Dumbest f-ing UX.

How on earth Shopify app can't detect where I (as human) clicked play button, and simply continue enforcing playback in that device. This breaks the biggest UX rule (don't change user's triggered actions).

It's like I'm hopping on an elevator, pushing a button and start my ride, and it's insisting to stop, or change directions, oh because someone else called the elevator. You wouldn't ever use that elevator after that right?