[Bug] [Developer] Spotify can't connect to Chromecast Audio

[discy]

Plan: Premium

Country: Netherlands

Device: Samsung Galaxy S20

Operating System: Android 11

Spotify Version: 8.6.46.886 (latest)

Chromecast Version: 1.42.172094 (latest)

Question or Issue

Spotify app on Android won't always connect to Chromecast Audio.
It does show up, but gets stuck on "connecting". (screenshot attached)

Connect to Chromecast Audio DOES work:

• Via Google Home App on phone.
  This is not acceptable - as my visitors don't have the Google Home App installed.
• Via Spotify Desktop app.
  This is not acceptable - as I don't always have my desktop at hand.

I would expect the Spotify Android application to connect to Chromecast Audio and not get stuck on "connecting".

[Jeremy]

Hi there @discy,

Thank you for your post here in the Community. We're happy to help.

In this case we recommend that you perform a clean reinstall of the app. This will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

If that doesn't do the trick and you have an SD card we suggest that you uninstall the app > turn off your phone > take out your SD card > turn on the phone again (without the SD card) > reinstall the app since the card can be corrupted.

Let us know how it goes.

Take care 🙂 

[discy]

Thanks Jeremy,

• Factory reset the chromecast audio
• Did a reinstall of the Spotify App
• I do not have an SD card.

After reinstall I was able to switch 5 times, then the issue returned.
Tried multiple times afterwards - without success.
Force-closed the Spotify App.
Then it worked again for a couple of times.

Then it stopped working.

1. Screenshots attached.

2. Screencapture video below that shows it will not connect at does work after force closing the app

[MafeG]

Hey @discy,

Thank you for getting back with this information. 

Could you create an internet hotspot with your phone, connect your devices to it and test the Connect feature again? 

Also, it's worth resetting your modem in case there's a network issue.

Keep us posted!

[discy]

Thanks. That did not solve this issue.

Did you see the vid I added later in the edit?

It works after force closing spotify. Not touching anything else.
Seems the app gets confused for some reason and needs a reset.

[webhaus]

I'm having the same issues, my Chromecast device just says "connecting", and will never complete the connection.  I have restarted my router, pc's, phones, cleared cache, etc....  Other apps/programs will connect to my Chromecast just fine, but Spotify will not, from 4 different devices.  I have tried with two LG G7's, a Samsung S6 tablet, and a windows 10 PC.. All have the same issue where it just says connecting, but never actually connects.  I have 6 different Chromecast devices in my house, and all of them do the same thing when trying to connect with Spotify.  I've been a Spotify family premium member for a long time, and expect this to work for the whole household.  It's useless if nobody can connect to the Chromecast speaker groups.

[MattSuda]

Hey @webhaus 

Sorry to hear about this.

I think there is a current issue at Spotify.

On my end the Web Player and TV apps aren't working at the moment and might be also affecting Connect.

Hopefully it will be resolved soon.

[MafeG]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the replies.

We're aware of the intermittent connection and playback issues with Chromecast devices. The developer team working on this is continuously trying to optimize net code and API integrations to make these disruptions occur as little as possible. 

We've passed your feedback and info on to the team working on this. For now, it would be best if you keep your devices up to date, so you don't miss any updates.

Lastly, we also recommend you folks reach out to Google, so they can look at what's happening from their end too.

Don't hesitate to reach out again if you have questions.

[discy]

Thanks for getting back MafeG.

It would be great if you could keep us up to date with anything the development team might need from us.

Although I understand we might benefit from getting Google involved. I'm not sure if it makes sense to expect the community to take care of this. As these posts can get buried fairly quickly.

Instead. Don't you guys have an escalation-point or contact person at Google that you can use to get them involved? 

Again, we would all be happy to provide the feedback you need to get this sorted.

Looking forward to an update.

[Jeremy]

Hi there @discy,

Thank you for your reply.

Our moderator team doesn't have a direct point of contact, and we're also dependent on the reports that are shared with us.

From what we understand it's an issue that is known to both parties and it's quite intermittent, dependent on general netcode, bandwidth and others, so no direct silver bullet can be created.

What we do have visibility of is when there's an increased number of connection failures and errors, which was the case recently, but should be better now.

We don't have the capacity to always post updates on intermittent issues and we understand that this isn't optimal from a user perspective, but for the time being what we can say for sure is that both engineering parties are aware of these issues and are regularly pushing optimizations.

That being said, we do expect there always to be a margin of error, as separate infrastructures are involved.

We hope that this information was helpful.

Let us know if we can help you with anything else.

Take care!

[discy]

Thanks Jeremy, I meant "you" as in the Spotify company as a whole.

Not you as in the forum-moderators.

I'd assume we, and you, don't have to understand the issue. Being it bandwidth, netcode, or what not.

It seems easy to replicate - actually I sent a video on how to do it.

Being a developer myself, I'd be attaching a debugger and trying to replicate the issue instead of saying that it's related to something outside of my control. Even if it seems to be, it can always be replicated in a virtual or lab-environment and proper exception handling and retry mechanisms should be put in place.

I assume your development team is wise enough to not just "push optimizations" but also "take time to properly dive into issues". It's not like the Chromecast Audio or it's implementations aren't WIDELY used by your userbase and device manufacturers.

I hope this issue will be forwarded to someone who is capable and motivated to solve it.

[discy]

Please vote here: Spotify + Chromecast Audio Connection Keeps Dropping

[solarsd]

Can we have an update on this issue, what, 24 months down the line? Was it ever "solved" as it originally occurred?

I too am experiencing this issue in July 2023 and have been back in 2021. It's both funny and concerning to see it written up to the exact details which are also the same, e.g. forcing the app to stop.

The discussion on the topic in this thread is very good! Kudos for everyone for keeping it informed and professional. It's rarely this helpful on the Spotify forums I have to say... It's only sad that it ended - like most threads do here - with nothing. 🙂