[Android] Now playing bar not updating

[Ver]

Hey everyone,

We're receiving reports from users that Now playing bar is not updating. 

If you’re experiencing this issue, make sure to add your +VOTE and follow the instructions in the Status Update below.

We'll be keeping everyone up to speed here, so make sure to subscribe to this thread!

[mschmidtbauer]

I was just logging on to make a similar post. The Spotify app has been going downhill for the past week or two and it's unusable as is. If it doesn't get resolved soon I have no choice but to move platforms since I can't use it.

Biggest issue: 'Now Playing' gets stuck on podcast or music and play/pause button is not responsive. If I'm playing on Google Home I can still use the Home app and it shows the correct location/title/status/etc. So, I know it has to be app-related since other apps can correctly show the music data. I have not installed any new apps in the period it has acted up.

Other issues:
- 'Spotify is trying to play...' notification nearly all the time
- For the last few days, upon disconnecting from bluetooth, music starts playing out of the speaker automatically and you have to force close the app, reopen, then press play twice (once to start 'playing' the next to 'pause' even though the app never updates the icon).
- Music/Podcasts can randomly pause. This hasn't happened in about a week but last week it would randonly pause ever 5-20 mins.
- If you use the homescreen widget and hit play, it just greys out

I have tried doing a cache clean, and re-install. Power cycling the phone works for a while but it comes back quickly.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra with Android 11
Spotify 8.6.30.889

[Tommyboy461]

Have the same issues. This needs to be fixed!

Sorry for stealing your points mschmidtbauer.
- 'Spotify is trying to play...' notification nearly all the time
- For the last few days, upon disconnecting from bluetooth, music starts playing out of the speaker automatically and you have to force close the app, reopen, then press play twice (once to start 'playing' the next to 'pause' even though the app never updates the icon).
- Music/Podcasts can randomly pause. This hasn't happened in about a week but last week it would randonly pause ever 5-20 mins.

[Wooks79]

As above, having the same issues making use of this app a miserable experience. Last UI update has made Spotify a terrible experience all round.

[tuikku]

Same issue here, Spotify really doesn't work at all. Now playing has been stuck for 3 days now and the music/podcast stops every 5-10 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ with Android 11

Spotify 8.6.30.889

[ChrisL8]

Samsung Note 20 Ultra 5G here.

This is my life now. The Spotify app never seems to know if it is playing music or not, nor what song it is playing, despite it literally playing from the phone itself.

It is particularly frustrating when the Spotify app says Song X is not playing when Song A is playing, because I have to press play once to get the pause button, then pause to pause.

Other times, music is playing, but I have no way to stop it, because the app says nothing is playing. I have to press play. If I'm lucky, it claims to start playing the displayed song (it doesn't) and then I can press pause again, and that works. If I'm lucky.

When I press play on the widget on my home screen, who knows what song with play. It is just completely random it seems.

It is like there are two apps on my phone:

1. Plays music.

2. Displays information about music.

These two have some vague random connection with each other, but it is incomprehensible. 

The only thing that fixes it is to go into Settings->Apps and do a Force Close on Spotify.

However, I have to do this several times a day.

I did the whole, delete data, uninstall, shut off phone, start phone, install Spotify again, log in and out like ten times, but the problem comes right back.

Please contact me if you want to like do a video chat where I show this to you, as it is very repeatable.

I enjoy showing off to my friends how broken Spotify is. They get a good laugh. This isn't great advertising for you all.

[Bes3]

@Ver, Not sure if the steps have been laid out to  reproduce issue:

Open spotify

Play any song/podcast (Song A in this example)

Go back to home screen (spotify still playing)

Close Spotify from home screen (Swipe up from the bottom, hold, then let go. Swipe up on the app.)

Reopen Spotify

Choose any song or playlist (Song A is frozen as the now playing image in app and widgets)

Restarting the android is a temporary fix.

[kattraxx]

Same problem here. Using Android 10 on Samsung Galaxy Note9. 

[PaychobillyPops]

Device:  Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5g 

OS: Android 11

Plan: Family

Recently updated OS and Spotify and for the last week or so (issue roughly beginning 25 May, 2021) the playback bar doesn't update after listening to a podcast or music after listening for 30 to 60 minutes. The issue takes varying amounts of time to arise. Also, the playback has been pausing randomly and doesn't show up in the music player in the lock screen. The only way I have found to resolve this problem is to do a full power down of the device and power the device back on, just a restart of the device has not resolved the issue. I've had Spotify for years and have never had an issue like this before and it keeps occurring. I've tried Uninstalling/Reinstalling, clearing the cache in app, and clearing the cache through the device OS system.

[tallistroan]

just FYI: Also with the latest Spotify update 8.6.32.925 from the Play Store the issue is not resolved for me. Of course I tried clean install, multiple logout and phone restart.

[EE76]

Same problem as described in most earlier posts:

- Now playing screen freezes and thus

  - stops showing what actually gets played

  - the play/pause button can incorrectly show whether it's playing or not, thus sometimes requiring you to press the button twice ('start playing' something even though it doesn't so it because a pause button which then pauses what is actually played)

- Playback is regularly randomly paused

- Playback doesn't show up in Android lock screen anymore

Of course I did the whole clean install, multiple logins/logouts etc. process but problem arises the moment I start using Spotify again, even directly after a clean reinstall. I have no other apps that play up like this.

My setup

- Device: Moto g(7) plus

- Android version 10 (1 Feb 2021 security patch level, 1 May 2021 Google Play system update)

- Spotify version 8.6.30.889 (installed from Play store today, twice)

- Spotify subscription type: Family

These interface/playback problems started to play up a week or 2 ago and make the Spotify app pretty much unusable. Resolving this should be a real priority given the large number of people experiencing these issues. I'm happy to assist with testing if that helps.