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[Android] Galaxy Watch's Spotify App Causes Control Glitches in the Android Phone App

Plan

Premium

 

Devices

Galaxy Watch (SM-R810) & Galaxy Note 10+

Operating System

Tizen 4.0.0.7 & Android 10/OneUI 2.5

 

My Question or Issue

Having the Spotify App installed on my Galaxy watch and using it as a remote to play tracks from my phone causes a couple of strange glitches in the phone app.  

 

The "now playing" track on the phone will be stuck on the first song played in that session (or whichever track was playing when the glitch decides to happen).   This also causes issues when trying to jump to a specific time in the track, because the time slider also does not display correctly.

 

The play/pause button, while still functioning correctly, will only display the "play" graphic, regardless of if the track is playing or not.

 

Spotify's persistent notification will also remain stuck on the same track, and the skip buttons do not always continue to work after this glitch happens.

 

Lastly, this glitch, after being triggered, causes the phone to not see Spotify as the currently playing media service, so apps such as YouTube will layer their audio on top of the currently playing Spotify track.  Normally, the phone would understand that Spotify is playing and pause it, but that does not occur when the glitch is present.

 

Note: this glitch did not happen with my Gear S3 which was used with the same phone, nor did it happen with any previous Galaxy phones (S7 Edge, Note 7, Note 8).  It started happening immediately after upgrading to the Galaxy Watch from the Gear S3.  OS updates on both the watch and phone have not changed this issue.  The Spotify app has gone through multiple updates and the issue has not been resolved, nor changed in nature.

 

Force closing the app or restarting the phone will temporarily fix this, and it will normally reappear after a few tracks have played.  Might be related to changing the playlist from the watch, but haven't been able to isolate a specific action that causes it.

 

Uninstalling the app removes this glitch completely. I did not experience it at all after removing it.  Tried re-adding it a month later, and it's back.  Definitely related to the watch app.

 

Really hoping for a fix, as the experience for me is not the same without the ability to control tracks from the watch.  Might have to move to a different platform if this can't be figured out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone,

 

This issue has been active for some time now and we’ve decided it’s best to mark it as Not Right Now.

 

We acknowledge that at the moment the Spotify experience for some of you using this watch model is not ideal and understand the frustration this must cause. We’ve passed your feedback on to Samsung and have been working with them on this, but we cannot provide a timeline or a guaranteed outcome.

 

If there are any developments, we’ll make sure to post them here.

Comments
polpogs

Yes. The bug happens when my phone is connected to an external BT speaker.

Phone continues playing music when disconnected from an external speaker. I have to reopen the app and hit play and pause to stop the phone from playing. Spotify is stuck on the last bugged track until force stopped.

Bug is removed when the phone is disconnected from the external speaker. Instead, connect the watch to the BT speaker and use Standalone option in watch 3.

I think the direction should be from phone to watch to external speaker to avoid the bug.

Changing tracks from any device is seamless.

FYI, I didnt follow the recommended steps.

 

Device: SM-G975F/DS on One UI 2.5 Android 10

Watch: SM-R840 One UI 2.0 Tizen 5.5.0.1

Spotify: 8.5.89.901

Spotify: 2.5.39

CarlosE

Hey again @polpogs,

 

Thanks for sharing that info and for keeping in touch.

 

In that case, we strongly recommend running a clean reinstall of the app, as it can be helpful to get rid of any cached files that might be causing trouble. You just need to follow these steps.

 

If the issue persists, could you try to connect your phone to your watch, play Spotify, and then connect your Bluetooth speaker and let us know if the issue starts?

 

It's also worth trying while using another connection, like mobile data or a different WiFi network.

 

Let us know how it plays out.

Smugcriminal

I've had the same issue since getting my new Galaxy Watch (original 46mm) in November using it with the Samsung Note 9. It happens when disconnecting from Bluetooth devices such as getting out of the car or putting away ear buds. The music begins playing out of my phone (instead of stopping) and the app freezes not allowing me to stop it. I force close the phone app to stop the music, but when I reopen it is still frozen on the same song screen. The only way to over come this is to force close on both watch and phone together. I've tried the reinstall steps and they don't work. This is a larger issue that your developers need to fix as it completely ruins functionality of Spotify for premium paying users. I bought my watch new 2 months ago with this issue with spotify apps, my friend just got a galaxy watch for Christmas and is having the same issue. Many people posting online about the same thing. Please stop suggesting we do reinstall to solve the problem as I haven't seen it working for anyone. Please get this problem resolved on your end with an update of some sort. I'm a Premium Spotify user and have now paid 2 months for a premium service that only works properly without freezing  on my cell phone speaker. 

lliT

I have the same problem with a brand-new watch 3. In my case i can only fix this frocen app by reinstalling the app on the phone and the watch. I did this like 5 times now and this issue still continue. And if you have a look at the wearable appstore on the Spotify app ratings you will see that almost every user have this issue with the app, the watch and an external sound device. The best solution i found works only with external devices who can handle 2 bluetooth devices. So i can connect the watch and my phone to the speaker and use the watch in remote. But the issue happened there too but not every time i try like with only the phone connectet to the speaker and the watch connectet to the phone. 

 

I am sure if you tryed this out by your self you will see this happened real quick. So please update this. For me it make only sence to controle my music with the watch when a external devce is connected. 

 

Samsung watch 3 / Galaxy Note 10+

CrypticCod3r

Same!

 

My phone doesn't even display a notification when it's playing music anymore. The current playing track is always broken. Sometimes even I can't stop the music from playing - it plays even after I close the Spotify app. Even after uninstalling the Spotify app on my watch the watch continues to screw up my phone music. I think this is an issue fundamental to how the watch controls music/phone notifications. Very disappointed.

Jeremy

Hey there @Smugcriminal and @CrypticCod3r,

 

Thank you for your replies in this thread.

 

Can you confirm if you followed the troubleshooting steps that's been provided in this thread?

We'll keep an eye out for your replies.


Cheers!

f-6b8u_bq5124

Just got my wife a galaxy watch, installed Spotify on it and we got exactly the same issue.

Zawis
Happens to me too. 

It's not an app problem (at least not fully). I downgraded down to 8.5.78.198 as I read on a forum (dating back to 2018 so this problem existed for 2 years now but back then it was more of the bad bluetooth connection despite full connection rather than that PLUS control problems like now) that it helps with the connectivity issue and it actually did (now I can actually connect to the app with success compared to the newest update where connecting was almost impossible in general or maybe it's a coincidence) other than the control issues. It's not AS bad as the newest update but still is a problem. Other problems are exactly the same with one difference: I don't have to be connected to a bluetooth device when it happens (like headphones or speaker).

What I have noticed is that it happens when you clear the app from recent apps. That's when the bug happens. Just look at spotify reviews on the watch app store. It's awful (only 2 stars) and I'm not surprised. Force stopping and reinstalling helps until you once again clear recent apps.

I own the note 8 along with the galaxy watch (42mm) but the same thing happens on the (46mm). The watch app version is 2.4.12 (the 11th of September 2020 update no other update is available for me on the galaxy store). I have NEVER had issues with the phone app until I connected my watch (a month ago) so it has to be something with the watch or the watch plug in or a connectivity issue between the two.

The watch was factory reset a month ago, I have reinstalled apps, my phone restarts automatically on weekends and is running latest software (that is compatible with the note 8). Plus as stated above I never had an issue with the spotify app until I got it on the watch.
Stigyo

I have the same problem but it's not directly linked to any galaxy watches or gear. I have an s20 and the glitch with the pause button and progress bar being stuck happens anyway it's not caused by galaxy watches it just happens of Samsung devices I think.

Ver
Status changed to: Need more info
Hey folks,

Thanks for reporting this to us.

We're going to need a bit more info so this can be investigated.

Could you provide us with the following info:
  • Device + OS version
  • Exact Spotify version
  • Tizen version and app version on the watch
  • Is the behavior always the same?
  • Can you recreate it with ease, or is it random?
  • Troubleshooting steps you've tried so far
  • Does the issue occur when connecting to another device via Bluetooth
Once we have that, we will pass it on to the relevant team, who will look further into it.

Thanks!