Spotify sync/connection problem

[AVii0NiiK]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

ASUS G16 Gaming Laptop

Operating System

Windows 11 Home V 24H2

My Question or Issue

I use spotify on my Android phone, desktop PC at home and a laptop. Whenever I'm not at home I'm using a mobile 5G router for internet on my laptop, either per cable or WLAN. The connection is always at multiple 100Mbit/s. Mostly after updates the spotify desktop app starts with a blackscreen for 5 to 30 minutes before eventually showing the normal UI, from there it tries to load my profile and the playlists. Resulting in my profile picture missing, only showing my profile code, not the actual name, showing the playlist icons, but when I try to view the playlist content it's loading for varying amounts of time until saying "Couldn't find that playlist". On top of that I can search for music on spotify but not play anything at all, unless after maybe an hour I was able to start a playlist and spotify keeps the last played song of the playlist in line. I can play local music if the UI is loaded at least. 
This problem doesn't occur after EVERY update but if it happens it's always after an update. 
When at home using whatever connection to my router it instantly syncs and is online fully functional. 

[OscarDC]

Hey @AVii0NiiK,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and welcome. 

If the issue is happening on just 1 of your devices after a Spotify update, it's possible that it could be related to the cache stored on your laptop. So first, and in case you haven't tried before we'd recommend performing a clean reinstall of the app by following the steps mentioned in this article. This step is frequently ignored, yet it can assist in eliminating any cache that may be causing issues.

If the issue persists, we'd recommend lowering the Audio quality when you're not on your home network to see if it makes any difference.

Lastly, would you mind checking if the Web Player has the same behavior or if it works properly?

We'll be waiting for your response. 

[AVii0NiiK]

I did multiple clean reinstalls with variations. Nothing changed.

Lowering the audio quality of neither stream or download made any
difference (my mobile bandwidth is actually higher, at home it's capped
at 100 Mbit/s)

The web player has the same behavior. Only if I connect my router at
home with my laptop and start the web player it fully syncs and stays
synced for as long the laptop is running even if I connect back to my
mobile connection. When doing the same with the spotify desktop app it
goes back to the behavior I first described. Even when starting and
working properly on my home connection, as soon as I connect it to my
mobile connection it can't find the playlists anymore when I switch
between them.

I also haven't mentioned that when trying to go to my account via
clicking my profile icon in the desktop app, clicking on account it
doesn't open the spotify website to my account, simply nothing happens.
Clicking on support opens the support website  as normal.

[OscarDC]

Hey @AVii0NiiK,

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the info shared.

We tried to replicate the issue using different hotspots and Wi-Fi networks, but it seems to be working fine on our end even on the app or the Web Player. So it's possible that the issue could be related to network restrictions/permissions of your laptop.

Taking this into account, we'd recommend allowing the app through Windows Defender Firewall. Just search for "Windows Defender Firewall" in the start menu > Click allow an app or feature on the left panel > Change Settings > Spotify and make sure that "Private" and "Public" are checked.

We'd also recommend changing the Proxy settings of your app before connecting to a different network. To do so. click your profile picture > Settings > Scroll down to find "Proxy Settings" > Change the setting to "No proxy" > Restart the app.

If the issue persists, it's possible that the other network you're trying to use may have some restrictions that affect the proper behavior not only of the app but the Web Player too. If you're using a corporate/school network, keep in mind that it usually has some restrictions added to limit the connection. If that's the case, it's most likely related to that specific network.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

[AVii0NiiK]

I tried all the suggestions but the problem persists. The network I'm using is from my 5G mobile router which runs on a second SIM card from my mobile contract used for my smartphone. I know that NAT is set to "strict" as default by providers but the problem doesn't always occur after every update, sometimes the app just kept running properly.

[MihailY]

Hey @AVii0NiiK,

Thanks for the additional info.

As a next step, can you make sure that your time zone is configured correctly and your Windows time is synced? 

Although it's unlikely for this to be the cause, it's also worth checking your Windows hosts file using this guide.

Let us know how it goes.