The Spotify application is not responding

[OscarArranz]

Plan

Premium

Country

Spain

Device

Personal Computer

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

Hi! I've been getting this message after I close Spotify (it usually bugs and I can't search for any music nor see my music inside Liked Songs or playlists). Whenever I close Spotify there's a really high chance (lately almost 100% of the times I close it) that it doesn't close fully, if I try to open it again it says "The Spotify application isn't responding".

I usually fix it opening Task Manager and closing the spotify.exe manually.

This has been happening for a while (3+ months), I have not only reinstalled Spotify but completely reinstalled Windows 10 (for other reasons) and it still happens. I would say there's some bug when closing the Electron app that makes it not fully close on Windows.

I've got a laptop with Mac OS Big Sur and it runs flawlessly there (also no bugs regarding the songs).

Is anyone looking into this issue? It's starting to get a bit annoying as it's been months since it began to happen.

Have a good day!

Oscar.

[OscarArranz]

Hey folks,

We understand your frustration when the app fails to load, however the reasons for this happening could be much different for each and every one of you. We'd be most helpful if we're able to address and troubleshoot such generally formulated requests independently on a case by case basis. 

Ultimately, what we can suggest here is to check the Ongoing issues board for relevant threads that might already address your issue, and before positing your own request also to do some basic troubleshooting yourselves like performing a clean reinstall of the app for example, to see if this makes a change for you.

As this thread here has become too general and has grown a bit old, going forward, we'd like to close it off and refer you to post any further feedback alongside all your details  in a fresh new post in one of the relevant help boards.

We hope this clears things up. Take care!

[OscarArranz]

Hey folks!

We're moving this topic's up to date discussion over here 🙂
Please refrain from spamming, so that we can keep things clear and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Thanks!

[Elena]

Hey there @olguitao!

Thank you for providing this information.

What we can suggest next is trying to start the app by right-clicking the icon on your screen > Properties > Compatibility. There you can find the option to run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 10. 

Right now there should be a newer version of the app available, could you try opening the Microsoft Store to see if you're able to update your app, or if you get the option in the app itself under Settings.

If that doesn't solve it we'll need to know the exact steps you have tested so far - we understand that you've tried reinstalling and testing the versions from the website and the Store. To be on the safe side, we'll need to know the details of everything else you have done, so that we don't miss anything.

We'll be on the lookout for your update.

Cheers!

[kqtan]

Greetings,

I would like to send out the same consent on Spotify is not responding after it freezes out.

All these happen after I updated it, probably the latest version.

Version: 1.180.699.0

And I've tried to uninstall it and reinstall it from the Microsoft store.

I would like to seek a solution on this matter.

Thank you!

Situation as attached.

[Ver]

Hey @kqtan,

Thanks for posting here.

Are there any changes when you try running a clean reinstall? This one is more thorough than the usual one.

It's also a good idea to try downloading the app from our website to see if that makes a difference.

If that doesn't change anything, you can turn off the Hardware Acceleration in the app settings. Does that help?

Let us know how it goes.

[kqtan]

Hey there,

Thank you for your prompt reply. 

I have tried to off the "hardware acceleration" selection and so far it's fine.

Regards

[OscarDC]

Hey @kqtan,
 

Thank you for keeping us in the loop.
 

We're glad to know that everything is working good by now. If anything else comes up, don't hesitate to ask.
 

Cheers. 

[aebra]

Same issue here both on Windows 10 and Windows 11. It's really poor customer service to keep suggesting to customers to reinstall the software. With so many people having the same problem what will it take to have Spotify look into actually fixing the bug?

I've been having this happen for months now and finally got annoyed enough to write something here. My guess is that there are many more affected people who haven't been bothered enough to post here yet.

I'll go ahead and try turning off hardware acceleration for now to see if that fixes it.

[Novy]

Hi @aebra,

Thanks for posting on the Community.

Could you tell us if you installed the app from our website or from the Microsoft Store? Additionally, let us know if turning off the option "hardware acceleration" has helped.

Lastly, can you tell if the issue started after a system (OS) update, Spotify update or any new software installed used for mixing music (e.g. DJ apps, sound mixers).

We'll stay tuned. 

[Sanctus2099]

I have the same problem. Spotify starts being unresponsive, close it from the tray, try to open it up again, aaaand "The Spotify application is not responding". I have the regular download and I WILL NOT use the microsoft store version ever. I'd rather cancel my subscription and just use youtube which I kind of do half of the time anyway. It also makes no sense for it to be a store version issue and if it actually is, maybe hire some other developers. This has been happening for a least a year now and it's ridiculous that you can't fix it.

Oh well, back to task manager, find and kill all processes and restart it.

[Sanctus2099]

Also check this out.. wonderful engineering.

[Sanctus2099]

This is how your fun and responsive application looks. If I close it, I'll get the "Application is not responding" message box.

[Novy]

Hi @Sanctus2099,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community. 

Could you send us the make/model, OS version and Spotify version installed? Also, let us know if the issue started after an update of if it's been like this from the very beginning. 

Lastly, tell us if the issue persists even when logging in with a different account (if possible). 

We'll be waiting here for your reply. 

[Sanctus2099]

Not sure what make/model means when talking about a PC. It's a pretty beefy one, 32gb ram, some i7 intel processor, ssd for the OS and programs and a 1080gtx videocard.

I experience this in Windows 10, kept updated to the latest version but since it's been happening for at least a year it's not really the most relevant thing.

It's really hard to tell if this started happening after an update since it was so so long ago.

I do not have another account so I can't test that.

Note that disabling the hardware acceleration did not help.

Also it just happened again.. it's pretty consistently happening about once or twice a day.

[Kiril]

Hey there @Sanctus2099,

Thanks for your swift response.

Could you also share with us the current version of Spotify that you're having on your PC at the moment? Also did you download the app form the official Spotify site or from the Windows App Store? You can try to switch between the two versions and see if this will make any difference for the performance of the app alongside your Windows 10. It's also worthwhile to perform a so called clean reinstall of the app, as this is more thorough than the normal one and ensures that no cached data will cause interference with the new installation of your app. 

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

[Sanctus2099]

Are you for real? What part of "I have the regular download and I WILL NOT use the microsoft store version ever. I'd rather cancel my subscription and just use youtube which I kind of do half of the time anyway." do you not comprehend?

My version is 

Spotify for Windows
1.1.81.604.gccacfc8c

I'm also not going to do a clean install. Your instructions say "Shut down your device, wait a couple of minutes and switch it on again." This is absolutely ridiculous. It just sounds like you have 0 idea about how a computer works and you're pulling the tech support <third world country> "Have you tried turning it off and on again?". If I end up uninstalling Spotify I guarantee I'll never install it again.

[Kiril]

Hey again @Sanctus2099,

Thanks for your reply and info.

We can see how this situation might be frustrating and we respect the fact that you have a strong preference about which version of the app to use. It's understandable and that is exactly why we have several versions available as download options. So no bad feelings here, as it was just a friendly suggestion for you to try out. Meanwhile, we believe there should be a newer version of the app available on our website, so another reinstall/update might be actually worthwhile. 

As for the clean reinstall, we really think it's an important but usually overlooked process. We get that some of the steps described there might sound irrelevant, but the overall effect is that it helps to thoroughly clear previously cached info on your PC, thus ensuring it'll not interfere with the the latest instance of the app. 

Hope this clears things up. If you have any questions or need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[DiegoPiana]

Unbelieveble. It has been MONTHS and literally all you can say is "Clean reinstall it", "Try from MS Store" "ARE YOU SURE YOU'VE DONE THE TWO STEPS ABOVE?"
**bleep** Really?? Man, how many times do we need to say WEHAVE DONE ALL YOU SAID AND IT'S NOT WORKING??
Jesus, we're PAYING for this service, come on!

[OlgaVolkova]

having the same problem. AGAIN

Althou i do not see any spotify in Task Manager, so i can't end the task. But it's not responding. I re-installed the app. tried to install it and receive error 18 and error 3 therafter during instalation - the app cannot be installed because the app is still open somehow somewhere on my companuter. After it's been re-installed.

With all due respect, support's advice to do something through app lacks any ration - the app is not responding, i.e. it's not possible to open it.

[aebra]

Turning off hardware acceleration has not changed the problem. It still occurs. It seems to happen around times when Spotify wants to update itself.

No, the issue did not start after an OS update and I haven't installed any other software for mixing music.

Do you think, perhaps, you know, that it could be a bug in Spotify that needs to get some attention?

[DiegoPiana]

That's it. I'm going to cancel my subscription. The same thing is happening again and again and you just have no idea how to make it work propperly. I really don't need this annoyance to my life. Good bye spotify! Thank you for NOTHING. Hope you had good dinners with my money all these years!

[tofandel]

Same issue on Win 10 with the microsoft app, after leaving my laptop for a while with spotify on, I'll come back and it's frozen, then I close it and I'm unable to start it again, it says it's not responding (even though process manager shows no running spotify task)

So I have to go in the Program list, find spotify and click "Repair" for it to work again..

This is really a big issue as it happens every day