Spotify App forgets what it was doing

[user-removed]

I'm running the Spotify Android App on an HTC One X with Jellybean (4.1.1). When I go back to it after a brief period of inactivity (e.g. pause the music, go into the grocery store, do my shopping, go back to my car and open Spotify again), I find the app has forgotten what it was doing. I get the "now playing" screen, but it just displays the generic grey disc in a grey square. Below that is the message "Loading..." in bold type, and below that is another message "Loading..." in plain type. The time scale above the play/pause button shows 0:00 on the left side and 0:01 on the right side. If I press Play, the Play button changes to a Pause button as if music is playing, but no sound comes out and nothing else happens.

Whatever the app is "Loading" never loads. If I press the Play Queue button in the upper right-hand corner, I just get a blank, black screen as if the queue is empty.

The only way to get back to where I left off when I paused Spotify is to go back to the Playlist screen, scroll down to the last song I heard (if I can remember which song that was), and tap it to start it playing again from the beginning. This is annoying and inconvenient, and it certainly doesn't seem like Spotify is working the way it's intended to.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? Is it a known issue with a known solution? Thanks!

[user-removed]

I should probably add: This happens when playing music that's been downloaded to my phone so I can listen to it without using up my data plan.

[Scott00]

This is a known issue, it's always been this way on both the Android and iOS versions. They, for some inexplicable reason, refuse to add this most basic functionality.

[user-removed]

Well, that's disappointing. Maybe I'll cancel at the end of the trial period.

[Scott00]

I cancelled my subscription over this single problem. Every once in a while I check back to see if it's been addressed because otherwise I would love spotify. Unfortunately it's been a long time and still not fixed.

[licenced]

I live in hope of this one being fixed - its also my biggest issue with the app.

[user-removed]

I'd hate to speak too soon and jinx it...but it looks like this problem may actually have been fixed in a recent update. The Android app now seems to remember which playlist you last listened to and which song in that playlist you last listened to -- and it appears to even remember where you were in that song (down to a few seconds' accuracy, anyway).

Could it be a fluke? Maybe, but over the past few days the app has seemed to remember where it left off even after many hours of idle time. (Even after turning the phone off and back on, if the quick experiment I just ran is any indication.)

So. Good news on that front, apparently.

Next request: A landscape mode!

[MCKLMT]

Sometimes the resumed song is not the last. Very annoying.

[gvoima]

Wordherder: Yeah, the newest version remembers the position you left it, but it still doesn't stay in the background. I usually only listen music through bluetooth in my car and every time I have to open spotify and press play for it to continue. It doesn't react to play/pause from my headunit. That is, when I've left it idling for a while. Android default music player always continues when I press play, even after several days.
Spotify on iOS actually works, it also continues without having to open the app.
This is the single reason I cancelled my subscription some time ago and came back with this update, only to be disappointed again.

[user-removed]

MCKLMT: I haven't run into that issue yet. Guess I'll have to watch for it.

gvoima: I use an Bluetooth FM transmitter in my car, and it has buttons for music control, so I suppose it would be nice if Spotify would start back up with just a press of the Play button. To be honest, I didn't know that was possible with any music app, so I didn't miss it in Spotify until now. 🙂

Last night after making my last post, I did notice that the Spotify widget for Android doesn't work properly. Even though the app now "remembers" what it was doing after a long idle period, the widget quickly forgets; it just goes blank and non-functional. I guess it somehow loses its link to the app.

[Scott00]

Well, they seem to have fixed the app but have forgotten the widget and apparently other means of remotely controlling the app. Why does this not surprise me.