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Kenwood Bluetooth Spotify App not connecting to Phone

Greetings Spotifyers,

I use a new Kenwood Headunit which besides Android Auto also has the ability to use the Build In Spotify App to use via Bluetooth.

 

My Phone is the Samsung Note 8 and everything is Up to Date, also the Headunit.

 

The Phone connects via Bluetooth to the Headunit and provides me using the Headunit to take Calls and using Bluetooth Media to Stream the Audio on my Phone.

 

But when I want to use the Spotify App on the Headunit, the Spotify App shows "no connection". When I watch the Option Sliders/Switch for Bluetooth Connections (Calls, Media, etc) on my Phone, I cant turn on the Media Option. But when going back on the Headunit to Bluetooth Media, the Media Option on my Phone goes on. Switching back to the Spotify App on the Headunit, and its Off again.

 

I tried everything from clearing the Cache for Spotify on my Phone to restarting everything. I also disconnected the Phone a few times and also deleted my Phone on the Headunit and the Headunit on my Phone. I also gave it a few times, to maybe load things. I also conected it via Cable and started Spotify on my Phone to maybe load things.

 

Nothing helps.

 

This Problem is only when trying to use the Spotify App on the Headunit via Bluetooth. Android Auto and Spotify works great.

 

Hopefully someone can help me out.

 

Greetings from Germany.

Hey folks,

We've noticed a few people are still having this issue. We've now flagged this with the right team, who are goin to look into it.

 

We're not able to provide an exact timeline for a fix at the moment, but we'd recommend keeping your Spotify app up-to-date to ensure you're on the latest version.

 

Thanks!

Comments
feint

@Egp1  My headunit is wireless, and the whole point of the Spotify feature is it's better than just standard bluetooth music. 😔

Egp1
Had the same problem before that was why i connected first thru wire to ensure that the kenwood unit would play spotify. Next time i used spotify thru bluetooth and had no problem anymore.
152bobby

I have been having this issue ever since I purchased my Kenwood DMX701DABS about ten months ago, I have been searching the internet for a solution ever since.

Stumbled across this Forum thread and it does not look like there is a solution, even now !!

I have changed the permissions in the Spotify app to allow all permissions and I have ordered a genuine Google cable for my car to see if this will help, as my current cable is not a genuine google one (my phone is a Google Pixel 4).

It arrives in a few days and hopefully this will solve my issue.

I'll report back in a few days.

152bobby

I've just noticed that a reply, presumably from the Spotify Team was made a very long time ago (I've copied and pasted it below).

When someone catches up with this, could they supply a more up to date progress report, as this surely should be fixed by now ?

  • LAST REPLY I CAN FUND IS....

We've noticed a few people are still having this issue. We've now flagged this with the right team, who are goin to look into it.

 

We're not able to provide an exact timeline for a fix at the moment, but we'd recommend keeping your Spotify app up-to-date to ensure you're on the latest version.

 

Thanks

152bobby

Ok, I'm using genuine Google cables between my Pixel 4 and the head unit and clicking on the Spotify icon on the head unit just displays the Disconnected message.

So this to me is clearly a Spotify issue for them to own and fix.

If I came across this forum thread during my pre purchase research, I would not have bought a Kenwood head unit and I'll never buy another one, it'll be Pioneer or Alpine .

djbrotherson

Hey everyone, I finally got mine working on my Kenwood DNX996XR

 

I have an Android Huawei P20 Pro on Emui 9.10

 

I deleted Spotify and rolled back to 8.4.78.530

I disabled full screen mode, disabled battery optimization and enabled all permissions

 

After it still wasn't working, I disabled and reenabled Bluetooth multiple times and it connected

 

Disable auto updates in Google play

Pandora working too

 

@djbrothersonon Twitter said it  🇨🇦✌🏾👊🏾

 

EDIT

 

I bought the new Huawei P30 Pro and all I did differently this time was download the same Spotify version and disabled and re-enabled Bluetooth. I enabled full screen for my app and it works. I've made sure to disable auto updates in the Playstore. Hopefully this works for most people ✌🏾

 

🇨🇦✌🏾👊🏾

eXnil88

I have the same problem with a Kenwood DMX8019S. Same as most other people here, it's the main reason I bought the unit. It worked fine on Bluetooth for about 4 months, then one day I could only use Spotify through Android Auto via USB cable. Which is fine if I am using maps on the head unit however, the other 80% of the time, it is really inconvenient. I have this issue with my old Samsung Galaxy S7 and my new ASUS ROG Phone 3. All of my friends phones have the same issue. Please fix this!

trunks604

I have a Dnx893s and of course same problem started 2 years ago ... I emailed tech support at kenwood and Kept getting " we are currently working on it "   Its been 2 years since and i just emailed them again to see what is going on.

I dont think that spotify has even done anything about it for the last 2 years.  Has anyone figured out a solution besides plugging the damn cable in ???

 

trunks604
Ok so I found a way to make it work.
There's 2 ways to do this.  Install and older version and it works but you will lose all the new features of the updated spotify app.  Other way is to install app cloner and clone the old version 8.4.78.530, inside the cloning app change the spotify name to something like Kenwood spotify and change the color of the icon if you wish to i did to make it easier.  Complete the cloning of the old spotify and install.  It will install a working version that works with kenwood decks.  Now go back and install the updated version of spotify.  After it installs you will now have 2 versions and they will work with each other.  Play the music with the old version first then play on the new version and it will play from the old version to the updated version.  Under the speaker play location selection of spotify you will now notice it plays through the phone example my phone is lg v30.  It will show that it's playing on lgv30 for selection . After this the native spotify in the kenwood decks will work, but in order to make this work make sure to have the old version renamed on the phone at all times.  ENJOY guys took me 2 years to finally do something about it was tired of playing it through BT.   Let me know what you think or if you need more help with this 
djbrotherson

I made a cloned Spotify APK (version 8.4.78.530) to resolve the Kenwood Exceleon Spotify Android connection issue.

 

It's the older Spotify version with a blue mirrored icon named "Spotify Kenwood".

 

I can confirm it's working. I just went outside in the cold and tried it on my Kenwood Exceleon DNX996XR

 

You can install the Google Play version as well and it should work in tandem with it.

 

I have both versions installed myself on my Huawei P30 Pro on Android 10. The APK is available on my Google drive

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11jAyjrtz_XoW3UK5OF_odOMdxJU-7wb0/view?usp=drivesdk

 

If you don't want to use my APK, you can download the non Google Play version of App Cloner (blue icon) and then download Spotify 8.4.78.530 and create it yourself as mentioned in previous posts.

 

Cheers

 

@djbrothersonon twitter

 

 

EDIT 2022

 

SINCE THE MONTH OF JANUARY, there has been a huge spike in requests for this APK and I just wanted to reassure the reader that this still works!

Cheers!

 

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