Apple watch spotify simply unstable

[Ashybertt]

Spotify on Apple Watch keeps being extremely unstable! It almost always gets stuck and no matter what you do: close the app, restart watch, re-install app on the watch, unpair and repair the watch - the issue keeps coming back after some time.

perhaps it has something to do with the spotify team not being able to keep up with watch ios updates, but keeping reinstalling the app us nit a great user experience 

[stnrtn]

New discovery, seems like it works more often than not (with podcasts at least) if you do one silly, stupid workaround that is completely absurd but kind-of works: NEVER USE PLAYLISTS! ... just download the media you want and use the downloaded tab on the watch to filter it, seems to play fine most of the time. If you put things in a playlist, then try to play; it will break playback pretty quickly.

Also TURN OFF or quit Spotify all your devices that your watch might be able to stream to, TV, receiver, phone, ipad, (iPhones and iPads must be turned off, as Spotify will self start) etc ... leave it only the watch as an option ... 

[Bigvern9999]

Same issues here.  Wish i'd never curated all of my music on Spotify now.  Almost impossible to go for a run using Spotify on Apple ultra watch.  App crashes after a few minutes, the time on the song is counting down but no sound.  Can't go forward or backward as buttons are unresponsive.  I can't understand how a company can actively make their app worse over time.  

[Lukeyyyyyy]

Came here for a solution and instead it’s just paying members screaming to the abyss. Up your game Spotify (and not your prices). For the first time in 10 years, I’m moving to Apple Music… 

[thebruniruni]

Same issues as everyone who’s listed before. Has there been any attempt to address them? 

[Venu-tool]

Spotify, please test your builds more thoroughly on Apple Watch—especially when it’s not connected to an iPhone. It’s hard to miss how frequently the app freezes, stops playing music, or becomes completely unresponsive to input. It’s unacceptable that such core functionality remains broken, years after these issues were first reported. No software company should continue releasing such a buggy experience without addressing it.

[cyrilbregnard]

same problem ! Everything is uptodate iOS 18.5 iPhone 16 pro and watch ultra 2! It is a pain to run with Spotify as it gets unresponsive most of the time , killing restarting the app does not help … it only catches up once you’re getting closer to the phone …WHICH WE DONT HAVE WHILE RUNNING SPOTIFY TEAM ! I am sick and tired of it …

[kjell333]

I have the exact same issues, unresponsive buttons, lagging when moving around, songs that NEVER loads, been on for days, and in the apps for hours at the time, completely useless, newest version, watch os 26.0.2 (newest, and had the same issues before ios 26), Apple watch 10, i bought apple watch 11, same **bleep**ing issues, i have about 50gb free so its not the space thats the issue, and also had to use HOURS to devide my 2300 songs into playlists with 100 songs in each, and all for nothing, also the few songs i did get has **bleep**ing useless pour quality sound, even though its on "high" everywhere i can find it.

[hs1985]

I'm encountering the same issue, but only when using my airpod Pro 2.  Song will play for a few seconds then keep counting down, but no sound. running latest version of OS on watch and phone. latest version of spotify

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Sincere apologies for the radio silence here.

We'd like to report the issues you're describing to our tech team, but in order for us to successfully do that, we'll need the following info (whichever you haven't provided already):

• The models, OS versions and Spotify versions of your devices.
• A detailed description of your Apple Watch issue with either steps to reproduce it or a short video of how things look on your end. The more details you provide, the easier it would be for the team to investigate.
• The troubleshooting steps you've tried so far.

We look forward to your replies.

[Jake115]

I’m having the exact same issue. I have an Apple Watch Ultra 3 with an active cellular plan. IOS 26.0.2.

I’ve been a Spotify user for roughly 14 years, currently with version 9.0.88.1402.

Essentially, my Spotify watch app crashes whenever I do a workout on my watch. This never used to happen and only more recently and ONLY when I do a workout.

if I stream a playlist through my watch and then start a workout (over watch cellular, I don’t take my phone with me) the song will play for roughly a minute or two and then completely freeze. If I press play, the song restarts and will freeze at the exact same spot. If I skip to next song, it will play part of the new song but then freeze again halfway through or earlier. Same remedy as before, if I press play it restarts to the same point or I press next and it’s the same cycle all over again.

no matter whether I force quit the Spotify app on my watch and reopen it, the same thing happens. I faced the same issue again today. Began streaming Spotify on the watch listening through my AirPods Pro, started a run and again, freeze. However, I had also downloaded a playlist to the watch in case the freeze happened, so switched to that. It then played flawlessly without any issues.

so, it appears to be a streaming issue when the watch is also running a workout. Downloaded playlist was no issue, but streaming was the problem.

ive had cellular plans on previous Apple Watches and this was never an issue. Only a recent one.

hope this helps. Please fix it 🙏

[MihailY]

Hey @hs1985,

Thanks for your detailed report!

Would it be possible to log in with a different Spotify account from a friend or a relative and check if the same thing happens so we can narrow down the possible root cause of the issue? You can also create a free account for testing purposes and close it later with these steps.

Feel free to also try the steps mentioned in this troubleshooting guide and let us know if they make any difference.

Keep us posted.

[bgtees]

Exact same problems for the past 2 years with my AW Ultra 2. Spotify app is unusable 95% of the time when trying to run with only AW. Pocketcast has no problem playing podcasts, even streaming. Apple Music works just fine. But Spotify? Absolute dumpster fire almost every time.

[Andy73SA]

It’s truely shocking to see how long this problem has been going on. I have the exact same issues having done the exact same troubleshooting. The AW Ultra 3 hates the Spotify app- sometimes I spend more time trying to get it working than I do on the workout. 

My Garmin Venu 2&3 never had this level of problems- not perfect but a quick reboot sorted 99% of issues. 

I’ve started migrating my playlists to Apple Music, which is not my preferred service but Spotify that does not work where I use it the most is useless to me.