The same song continues to play when switching devices (not related to "connect to a device")

[nwadham]

Plan

Premium

Country

Spain

Device

Laptop / Android phone

Operating System

Windows 10 / Android Nougat / Spotify latest versions.

My Question or Issue

Hello,

Since yesterday, my "setup" is not working. Let me explain.

I listen to different playlists every day. Some I play on my laptop during work, others I play on my phone when exercising. Since updating Spotify on my laptop yesterday, the song I was listening to before closing the desktop version is the one that appears on my phone when I open Spotify, instead of the one I was previously listening to (on the phone).

The same happens the other way around (I play a song on the phone and then stop Spotify -> Open Spotify desktop, which displays the last song I just played on the phone).

The issue is not related to the "connect to a device" feature in Spotify because I use Greenify on the phone to maintain Spotify asleep (app stopped) when I am not using it, precisely to prevent the issue I am now experiencing.

Has anything changed on the platform? It seems as if Spotify now uploads the last song listened to and this info is downloaded when you open it whatever platform you use next?

Thanks in advance,

[DanifC]

Hi @nwadham,

Yes, this is the Spotify Connect feature working as intended; if your devices are online, Spotify will communicate across the devices and allow you to pick up where you left off when switching devices.

If you listen mostly to music that is downloaded to your devices already, you could bring Spotify offline (playback > offline on mobile, "offline mode" on desktop). This way, Spotify will not be able to communicate between devices, which will make the Connect feature unfunctional. The caveat to this is that you also won't be able to have access to the other features that you need internet to access, such as streaming songs that are not downloaded, or searching for anything that is not already in your library. 

Another workaround might be to create a separate account, one for desktop and one for mobile. However, this will obviously cost double the price if you want to use Premium on both accounts. 

[nwadham]

Thank you but your explanation does not apply to my problem. As I clearly exposed, the issue is not related to the "connect to a device" feature in Spotify because I use Greenify on the phone to maintain Spotify asleep (app stopped) when I am not using it, precisely to prevent the issue I am now experiencing. So, none of my devices are connected at the same time.

My solution has been to pay Spotify more money to have separate accounts.

Regards,

[DanifC]

Hi again @nwadham,

As far as I understand, Greenify hibernates background apps, so when you're actively using them, it won't do much. In this case, Connect will still happen when you start actively using Spotify. 

Sorry that we couldn't find an easier solution for you, but I hope the separate accounts solution works out. If the option to opt out of Connect is something that you would like to see in the future, I would suggest submitting and idea over at the Idea Exchange.

Happy listening, 

Dani

[nwadham]

I use Greenify to prevent Spotify from running on the phone while I listen to music on the computer. So "connect to a device" is NOT the problem, though you insist in mentioning it as the cause.

Other users are having the same problem as me: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Accounts/How-do-I-keep-what-is-playing-on-different-devices-separat...