[Android Auto] After a while, the volume drops to a whisper, or just turns off

[Flamecrest]

Hey guys,

I don't know if this is the correct place to ask for help about this, but I've been having some issues with Spotify in my new Kia Rio. It comes with Android Auto, and I'm loving Spotify's integration. So just to paint a picture: I have Spotify Premium, I've downloaded several playlists on my Lenovo P2, which I then hook up to my brand new Kia Rio with a USB to micro-USB cable that came with the Lenovo.

Anyway, over the past weeks, I've noticed the volume suddenly dropping. It either drops to a whisper, or it goes completely quiet. In order to restore the volume, I have to switch from Waze or Google Maps to Spotify, pause the song, then play again, and it's at normal volume. I thought this was a temporary muting to allow notifications to sound more clearly, but I noticed the sound didn't go back up at all. It's completely random, too. I drive half an hour from home to work every day, and some days I get it only once or twice, and other days I get it every other minute (not that regular, but you get the idea).

Is this a known bug, or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

-Sean

[fury683]

I am experiencing same/similar behavior recently as well. I have a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu with Android Auto. I am using a Google Pixel XL running Android 7.1.2 (July security patch NHG47O), Android Auto version 2.5.728604-release and Spotify 8.4.11.1283.

While driving the music will randomly go away. I typically keep my screen on Maps, but when I switch back to the Music/Spotify screen it looks like the music is playing (it has a pause icon, not a play icon), but there is no sound. Tapping Pause and then Play, or skipping to the next song restores audio. Adjusting the volume on the car or pressing the volume rocker on my phone does nothing.

Hope this gets fixed soon!

[fury683]

This problem got much worse on my drive home tonight with the music stopping every 2-3 minutes. I ended up just using the radio.

I did try installing the latest apk from APK mirror Spotify Music 8.4.14.376 beta. It seemed better, but did eventually mute after about 20-25 minutes. Navigation volume still worked so the audio was working overall. Additionally, the beta doesn't seem to work with Android Auto. I was able to launch and press play on my phone but could not see/control Spotify from the Android Auto screen in my car.

I plan to try rolling back to a previous version from before 1283 to see if that helps at all.

[fury683]

Well I reverted to a previous version of Spotify (8.4.9.271) and it played fine my entire way to work today (about 50 minutes). However, I still can't see/control it from Android Auto. I uninstalled both apps today and reinstalled both, but still cannot see Spotify in the list of music apps.

Is there some sort of server side switch that only allows the most recent Play Store version of Spotify to show up in Android Auto?

EDIT: looks like it only shows up for the current version. Once I updated to the 1283 version it shows up in Android Auto again.. I will see if uninstalling/reinstalling things helped when I drive home tonight. Otherwise I'll just roll with the old version and no controls so I can actually LISTEN to my music...

Edit 2: Well it looks like that's all it took was uninstalling and reinstalling both Spotify AND Android Auto, as it's working fine now. Hope this helps others with similar issues.

[Flamecrest]

I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling both apps, and I'll report back

[Flamecrest]

Reporting back after a few days. I re-installed both Android Auto and Spotify, and I still have the issue. 

@fury Do you play playlists you downloaded to your phone? That's the only difference I can think of.

[fury683]

I do not use downloaded playlists. I stream on 4G. I haven't had any issues since I had both apps completely uninstalled and reinstalled.