System tray icon keeps disappering on Windows and Linux?

[fate_w3aver]

Had this issue for a long time now. Windows 11 for a couple of years and Linux for a few weeks. It seems to have gone insane lately and I need to re-enable it almost every time I open the app. Is there a fix? Why is this not fixed????

[Koyubi]

Hey there!

You’re not imagining it, this has been an ongoing issue on both Windows and Linux.

A couple things to check that sometimes help, even though they don’t fully fix it:

• In Spotify Settings, make sure Close button should minimize the Spotify window is enabled. If it’s off, the tray icon tends to disappear when the window closes.

• Also confirm Show Spotify icon in the notification area is enabled every time you update. Updates often reset this.

• On Windows 11, check Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Other system tray icons and force Spotify to “On.” Windows likes to hide it again after restarts.

• On Linux, tray behavior depends on the desktop environment. GNOME in particular can drop tray icons unless you’re using an extension like AppIndicator/KStatusNotifier.

The frustrating part is this isn’t really OS-specific. Spotify uses its own Electron tray handling, and it’s been flaky for years. Updates tend to break it again even if you fix it once.

No real permanent fix yet, unfortunately. Best chance of improvement is reporting it with your OS + desktop environment so it stays visible to Spotify devs. You’re definitely not the only one dealing with this.

Let me know if this helps!

[Detrital]

Plan

Premium

Country

America

Device

DELL

Operating System

Windows 11 25H2

My Question or Issue

Sometimes the Spotify tray menu disappears after the Spotify window is closed, even though the "Minimize Spotify window when closing button" switch is on and the background process is visible.

This phenomenon seems to occur when using the Connect feature (I'm playing music on my iPhone and controlling it on a Windows device).