Now Playing view doesn't work without direct Internet access behind a proxy

[Maksfield]

Plan

Premium

Country

Ukraine, Estonia, Sweden

Device

Laptops with MS Windows. Vendor independent. 

Operating System

(Windows 10, Windows 11)

My Question or Issue

I noticed that the Now Playing view doesn't show the current song/active device when a Windows device is behind a web proxy (corporate environment) and doesn't have direct Internet access. I tried both HTTP and Auto proxy settings in the desktop app.

Further investigation confirmed that the App tries to initiate connections directly to *-dealer-ssl.spotify.com domains (primarily to gew1-dealer-ssl.spotify.com) on 443/TCP. I've created an explicit blocking rule in an MS Defender firewall to block such connections and confirm that the Now Playing view doesn't work even with full Internet access. Turning the blocking rule off makes it work immediately.

How can we make these connections go via the proxy also?

[Joan]

Hi @Maksfield,

Thanks for reaching out. VPNs and Proxy servers of any kind can cause a multitude of connectivity issues for Spotify, which is why we heavily advise against it. We understand that bypassing proxies is often not permissible due to security concerns and local restrictions, so the best option would be to discuss this with network administration to hopefully add Spotify as an exception to the proxy.

Hope this clears things up.

[Maksfield]

Hi! Many Spotify-related domains have already been added to the bypass on the corporate proxy servers. The issue is that some parts of Spotify's desktop app do not use a proxy. Only the "Now Playing" functionality doesn't use a proxy and goes directly via the Firewall with the Block action, which is expected for big enterprises. It's difficult to allow Spotify on the Firewall because of dynamic addresses.

So, it would be great if the "Now Playing" functionality also uses proxy settings. 

[Ivelina · Accepted solution]

Hey again @Maksfield,

Thanks for the response!

We understand it would make a difference for you if some changes were made when it comes to the functionality of the app when using proxy. As we always strive to improve, we'll make sure to pass this info to the relevant team here. 

Feedback is very important to us as it helps us get better and offer better functions in the future. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

If there's anything else we can do for you, you know where to find us. Cheers 🙂