Songs aren't streaming on Apple Watch

[Novy]

Hey folks, 

We're getting reports from Apple Watch users that songs aren't streaming. 

Stay tuned to the Status Update for more info.

[LeMechantManu]

Hi,


I am using Spotify on my Apple Watch SE 2021 Édition, and an IPhone 13. All devices are using the latest firmware and software updates. Spotify version is also the latest. I have deinstalled and reinstalled the Spotify app many times … and each time took the hassle of downloading again content into the Apple Watch… but still… the application crashes after a few seconds of play… I have thought it was my Bluetooth earplugs or the Bluetooth of my Apple Watch that was faulty but the music is steaming perfectly when using the Apple Music app… so it really seems to be the Spotify app that is not working correctly in the Apple Watch… and this has been ongoing issue since September I think…

I am so dissappointed as I love Spotify and most of all, I love to listen to my music with Spotify…but when I go running it is a big issue to have to stop running, lose time trying to fix this app issue… and finally log back to my smartphone to listen to Spotify or even switch to SoundCloud that I Like too… but I prefer to have music on Spotify on my watch while using Strava too as it helps me having running info in my my headset when running.

I sincerely hope you will fix this issue in the coming days…

I could make a video but you wouldn’t see anything as the Watch won’t show you how it crashes and this can mainly be lived or heard …

I thank you for keeping me informed and if you really need a video… I will try to make one… but not sure it would help…

At least I feel listened and cared and I thank you… also… I am somehow « happy » not to be the only one having this issue.

Have a good day.

Regards


Emmanuel

[nicoo004]

Hi all,

Taking time to log here and post about my frustration (and maybe help in the investigation) because since a few weeks (a month or two maybe), I am not able to stream music from my AppleWatch.

A few info, but it looks quite similar to what ricardoandrade wrote: 

- AppleWatch A2473 (6 or 7?) Version 9.1 (20S75).

- iphone 13 on iOS 16.1

- Don't know where to find Spotify App version

- Bose QC earbuds paired with Bluetooth

Symptoms : 

- One playlist is downloaded for offline playback.

- When pressing on "Downloads" on the Spotify app, it goes back and prevent me from starting the playback.

To be noted :

- The Spotify app itself allows me to drive other playlist (via my Iphone then). I feel the issue occurs only on offline download playback.

Already tried without solving the issue :

- Remove/download the playlist again

- Desync/Resync earphones

To be tried today :

- Upgrading the AppleWatch 9.2

Cheers,

Nico

[ARKMprime]

Id like to delete this comment because I commented below this was a duplicate. Is that possible?

[ARKMprime]

In response to the request for more info not sure I noted it last time but I start up spotify link to bluetooth play and then a short time after it stops. Even downloaded lists are doing it. I click the watch icon to reconnect it then it plays again then it stops shortly after and the app screen that normally shows the song goes blank when I reconnect with the apple watch icon it goes back to the song I was playing but then stops all over again. Its a cycle that never ends. 😞

Its been 3 months now with this issue so I got a trial on apple music yesterday. Sure hope Spotify can fix this before my trial ends and Im switched to apple music for good. I dont want to go but its too frustrating to stay at this point. 😞

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for all the info you've sent so far. 

Could you let us know if it works after failing the first time or if it stops working intermittently?

We'll be on the lookout.

[#7]

Downloading playlists to the Apple watch has stopped working since updating to watchOS 9.2. I can neither play the playlist that I previously downloaded to the watch nor add new ones to it.

When starting a download to the watch via the phone, the app on the watch immediately starts the download, but aborts it after a little while. I can't prompt the download from the watch directly neither, the button for downloading a playlist simply does nothing.

My phone and the app are on the latest software versions (iOS 16.2 & Spotify App 8.7.92.521). Hardware-wise we're talking iPhone 14 pro & Apple watch series 8 (non-cellular).

[nicoo004]

Since WatchOS 9.2, I was able to download - and play on my Bose QC Earbuds - a playlist on the Watch. 

I was about to empower the previous comment because download seemed to be stuck on a song download for 5 minutes, then I pressed 'back' on the Watch download to list playlists and could finally see the number of songs increase and 5 minutes later, the download was complete.

AppleWatch 7  WatchOS 9.2

iPhone 13 iOS 16.1

[davidasch]

1/5/2023 Update:

Everything had been working great for each of my morning runs ... until this morning when Spotify disconnected after playing 10 seconds into the first song in a playlist.

I restarted Spotify several times and re-selected a playlist. Didn't work - Spotify kept disconnecting.

Then I decided to turn off Bluetooth on my watch, and reconnect. That did the trick and I was able to have a solid connection for my entire run.

12/29/2022 Update:

I have 19 100-song playlists. When I download all of them to my Apple Watch and listen to one of them, Spotify cuts out after 20 seconds - just like the original offline problem Spotify fixed. 

This makes me believe that Spotify cannot recognize these playlists as offline and treats them as if they are streaming.

This is what I did that appears to fix the problem (for now):

1. Uninstalled Spotify from my watch, which removes the playlists as well
2. Reinstalled Spotify
3. Downloaded 9 of my 19 100-song playlists

It seems that downloading too much causes Spotify to barf. I know this isn't a technical assessment, but it seems that whenever I get greedy and try to download too much music, it breaks Spotify. 

-----------------------------------

I've posted a few times and have struggled with this issue for a long time. First, my info:

• Apple Watch v. 7
• Model A2473
• WatchOS 9.2
• Phone: iPhone 8
• Earbuds: Airpods Pro v. 1

I've been successfully playing downloaded 100-song playlists for several weeks. Occasionally, a song stops - it happens mostly when I'm close to the wireless connection, but not sure about this. The app seldom stops when I'm out running.

The big issue I've faced several times is when I try to load additional playlists. I had 8 100-song playlists downloaded to the watch and everything was great. On a lark, I downloaded an additional 10 100-song playlists to the watch yesterday. Everything seemed fine - there's plenty of space on the watch drive, but I can't play any of them today. 

It's as if even though the playlists appear to be successfully downloaded to the phone, Spotify is treating them as if they aren't present on the phone and cuts out after 20 seconds. 

I've had this issue many times - of playlists somehow being "invalidated" or not recognized by the Spotify watch app. 

The fix I'll try is to wipe Spotify from the phone and start fresh. There's definitely a bug here, but it's hard to reliably reproduce.

[ricardoandrade]

Hi, folks!

I made a lot of tests about this problem. I tried to delete all the playlists downloaded on Apple Watch, reinstall the app e re-download it all again. After this, the problem has continued. Then a tried to setup some configs: disable the background app refresh, disable auto-lauch audio apps and change the return to clock time to "after 1 hour". None of this worked and the problem has continued.

So, I remembered that I read such news somewhere about WatchOS 9/iOS16 would bring  compatibility with news audio codecs near to "lossless" to be used with Airpods. I don't know if it's true or not. But I had an ideia to downgrade the  Downloaded content to "normal" audio quality in the settings on the iPhone and then download the playlist to the AppleWatch with this audio quality (normal).

For my surprise, I've been using the Spotify with downloaded music in the Apple Watch  for 4 days in a row without any problem.

I took a look in Apple Music configs and saw High Quality (not lossless) is AAC 256kbps. For me, Apple Music in 256kbps is better than Spotify in 320kbps (Very High quality).

In this article, the Spotify's help tell us:

" Transcode the file into different delivery formats for our audio quality options:

    - Ogg/Vorbis (96, 160, 320 kbps)

    - AAC (128, 256 kbps)
               (...)
   We also encrypt the audio files before they’re delivered to the platform."

Source: Audio file formats for Spotify 

I don't know if ogg/vobis formats is getting some trouble in WatchOS 9 or is being downloaded in other format (AAC 128kbps, 256kbps). Because this page Audio quality  tells us the Spotify uses AAC format only.

Or can be some type of decryption crashing "We also encrypt the audio files before they’re delivered to the platform."

I hope help the developers to find a solution for this problem.

[Aerfally]

Same problem on Apple watch 7. When I go for a run, the Spotify app keeps skipping songs already downloaded to the Watch. 

Spotify's implementation on the Apple Watch is abysmal. Embarrassing.