New podcast episodes on PS5 will not play

[whalleyrulz]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

Playstation 5

My Question or Issue

The latest episodes of several podcasts will not play any more, ever since the latest PS5 update. I'm experiencing this with My Brother, My Brother, and Me, as well as a few other podcasts.

When I select them (and only the latest two episodes, nothing that came out before the latest PS5 OS update) the app attempts to play for about 5 seconds, and then automatically skips to an entirely different podcast. I have noticed that if the podcast it tries to skip to ALSO does not work (for example, during testing earlier it skipped to a podcast named Wonderful) then the app will not try to redirect me again - however, it does not play any audio. I can play older episodes that came out before the latest PS5 update just fine. I do not know how many podcasts this issue affects, as I don't listen to many, but I have noticed it on MBMBAM, Wonderful, and Quick Question with Soren Bowie and Daniel O'Brien.

This only occurs on PS5 - I can play these just fine on my phone, or on the desktop app.

I have tried playing by searching for the podcast in the app, by adding episodes to my "Your Episodes" list, and by casting to the device, both from my Android phone and from my partner's phone which is logged in on an entirely different account. No matter how I try to play them, the same thing happens.

While testing, I tried uninstalling the Spotify app and reinstalling it, I tried clearing my console's cache and rebuilding storage, I even - at the recommendation of someone in customer service - tried connecting my PS5 to my phone in hotspot mode in order to use an entirely different internet connection, but the same issue occurred no matter what.

The customer service agent recommended I create a thread here, as they believed that the app may just need a catch-up update. If this is not the case, I would love to know how this could even happen - I'm a software developer by day and I am wracking my brain trying to work out how "some podcasts don't work on one specific device even after uninstalling and clearing cache" could occur.

[goggys]

This happens to me on digital, so it has nothing to do with that. 

[Kai43]

Had this issue on and off for a while. It seems for me to be podcasts of specific length, anything around an hour and half further does not work. I was wondering if this could have been a storage issue but I have a good amount of gigabytes free and still nothing. Podcasts around an hour will work fine.

This should have been fixed a month ago when this was first flagged, since there are multiple forums talking about this issue I'm confused on how nothing has been done about it yet, hopefully an update of some sort releases soon.

[NightBlade119816]

Yep i try to listen to a certain podcast episode i already listened to and certain ones work while others will play for a few seconds with no audio until it skips to one it can play i guess. So damn annoying 

[Liamk15]

Same thing happening to me, sometimes just plays the first few seconds of audio then skips to the next podcast 😑

[Liamk15]

Up until recently I've used my PS5 to stream podcasts while playing games.

Now when I click play on an episode it skips to another random podcast in my library. It's impossible to get certain podcasts to play, I've tried streaming them to the playstation from my phone and Also reinstalling the app with no luck! 

Is there any setting on the playstation that might be causing?

I don't use Spotify for music so unsure wether this is extended to that.

[seancuenyy]

Over a month later and no concrete update…..mind boggling how hard it is to even get an acknowledgment of this issue. Literally the only reason I prefer this streaming service over others. I’m no expert but usually bugs of this matter are raised to priority and solved in a timely matter (or at least or supplemented with updates from the development team). Perfectly fine with switching services and finding alternative ways to stream podcasts.

[KonKBS]

Got the same problem 

[MireyaEsparza]

Yeah this is currently happening to me on my digital ps5 I never had an issue before. I hope Spotify sees everyone and fixes this )-: It’s the most recent version as of writing and I uninstalled and reinstalled turned my system off and on and even tried from my phone to stream to my ps5. No luck SOS

[KIDxKARLOS]

I have had the same issues as described in the posts in this thread. This app does not function properly on PS5. I pay for this, please fix this, it has been an ongoing issue for a while. Songs used to at least work fine for me on my PS5, but as of today they have the same issues that the pods have. 

[Fixyourappplz]

Same issue for me. With the price hikes for all my other streaming services I feel like this is a last nail in the coffin. If a service I pay for is unavailable you're just stealing my money. I'll see you all later, I'm going sailing ☠️

[Yusuka]

Same issues as others for me. Podcasts will try to play for a few seconds, sometimes starting one 50+ episodes from the one I have selected. Nothing auto-plays after episode is over. Podcasts play fine on phone and music works on PS5. 

I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the pre-roll ads I started to get on podcast episodes despite being a premium member. Maybe the podcasts I listen to just enabled that or Spotify did, but last year I listened to them on PS5 for hundreds of hours with no issues or ads.

[Scodiac1]

I’ve had the same issue, and it’s a shame because it was one of my favourite PS5 features. I noticed it started happening when a few of favourite podcasts switched their host. I’m not sure what the sites are called that host their podcasts, so I’d need to research that. That may have something to do with it though.

[archosauria]

I've been having this same issue for months too (with My Brother My Brother and Me as well), when will you fix this, Spotify?

[KonKBS]

same issue for me

[whalleyrulz]

It's been two entire months since I reported this, and despite people regularly coming out to say they also have the issue. we've got radio silence. I would LOVE for any acknowledgement of this ticket within Spotify being even looked at.

[Liamk15]

Same, i don't even use the app anymore as it's in that much of a state 

[Traumasthenia]

This has been driving me mad and knowing that it's been a known issue for so long is wild. I just want to listen to my favourite brothers also

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this. 

If you're still experiencing this, could you send us the OS and the exact Spotify version of your PS5? We'll pass this info on to the right team to keep investigating. 

We'll be waiting for your replies.

[Scodiac1]

Hello,

Spotify Version - 1.008.000

PS5 System Software - 23.02-08.40.00.05-00.00.00.0.1

Thank you for your time.

[SenorMangoSalsa]

Same as above.