Playback Restricted Devices Greyed Out

[Wesmond1]

I cannot connect my Spotify to echo devices anymore. All devices greyed out and read 'Playback Restricted'. Have tried deleting and reinstalling Spotify and Alexa apps, clearing cache, resetting wifi, unplugging and re-powering echos. All to no avail. Work-arounds very welcome

[Anipalooza]

...and also I have obv followed the troubleshooting steps. None of them worked. 

[Mercy86]

I have the same issue and after spending hours with someone from the Spotify support team, I was left worst than I started as now I cannot play any music from Spotify web through any of my amazon devices.

[John_W]

Try this:

1. On your phone, add the Alexa devices via Bluetooth (not within Spotify). Make sure it works by testing a few songs, etc.

2. Confirm the devices are also listed in your Alexa app and working properly there as well. 

3. Now go to Spotify app and try to play from there.

[Anipalooza]

Yeah. No. 🙄 

[Whoawie]

Had this issue when playing through a Ps4 and it was because the app was out of date. Make sure firmware and software are up to date on smart speakers. 

[rubymae1202]

im having the exact same problem, it goes away when i delete spotify and re-downloaded it, but the next time i go to play my music it says playback restricted😕 defo a spotify problem and not an alexa problem 

does anyone know how to help pls🙏

[Fc6]

Sonos speakers got “restricted “ just this week. Deleted Spotify and reinstalled in iPhone. Fixed. 

[Awfy]

I'm having this issue on both macOS and iOS for a variety of different 3rd party speakers such as Sonos and PS5. This definitely seems like an issue on Spotify's end and going through the process of uninstalling doesn't resolve the issue but actually makes things worse since you now need to download your whole library again.

[ASPASKULLY]

Same problem here.  All my devices work, except 4th Gen echo dot.

[Gottstem]

Hi,

For those who also have multiple Amazon Echo and Echo Show devices throughout their home, this is what I have discovered.

• I am able to play music and some podcasts directly via Amazon capabilities, such as "Play Spotify Everywhere", or "Play Spotify in Living Room" - this is across single or multiple Amazon devices based on my groupings. The icon appears as a green segmented circle containing a speaker, with the device or grouping listed as I prefer it ("OFFICE ECHO DOT "JOE"), when playing on the Spotify app.
• I am unable to play specific podcasts the same way (such as BBC Global News Podcast) as others have mentioned, and these groupings appears greyed out as "Playback restricted".
• Available solution: If an Amazon Echo or Echo Show device is paired to my iPhone via bluetooth, it is able to play audio for BBC Global News Podcast. The icon appears as a green bluetooth icon, with the device naming listed (in a more technical format such as "ECHO-DOT-1GT"), when playing on the Spotify app. Limitations:
  • Only can play through one device at a time (currently investigating how bluetooth might be able to connect to multiple devices)
  • On Echo Show, only shows bluetooth with "YYYYY's iPhone", and does not show the cover art as with other podcasts or music. 
• Desired solution: Have BBC Global News Podcast be able to play just like other music and podcasts.

Spotify: Please confirm if this a rights issue associated with these podcasts, or a technical issue. This way we can stop trying to determine which it is. If it rights, oh well. If it is technical, please push out any updates or inform of any corrective actions.

[Dirtydozen12]

Hey everyone I was having the same issue, all my devices were restricted. Rather infuriating I might add. But the solution is to go into the Alexa app and disable the skill then enable it and link the account again. I works immediately. Hope this helps.

[nixjwatts]

I also have the exact same issue “playback restricted” on my two echo dots. Spotify please resolve this issue. I have the latest app software updates on both Alexa and Spotify and still no change. 

[FSeco]

Hi guys, 

I'm having the same issue. Never had any problem before.

I have 1 very first echo (the big one) 1 echo dot 3 and 2 echo dot 4.

Every time I want to play my Spotify on any of the "dot" speakers, its always say "playback restricted" if on iPhone and on iMac, it says "unavailable to listen on".

Then magically starts to work... after a few reboots, reinstalls, and god knows what else... to next time, the same happens again... getting a bit tired of this..

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for your replies.

@nixjwatts, just to confirm, did you already try what @Wesmond1 kindly mentioned? Some users have reported this helped.

On another note, can you give us more details about the generation of your Echo dot? Can you let us know the exact make/model and OS of your device along with the Spotify version you have currently running?

Keep us in the loop!

[Levi103103]

I’m having this issue but it won’t let me play through my ps4. I’ve been playing music through my ps for about two weeks now and all of a sudden I can’t. I’d really like to listen to music while I play games

[Dian]

Hey @Levi103103,

Thanks for posting in the Community.

Could you give us more details on what you're experiencing on your end? Are you using the PS4 Spotify app to control the playback directly or Connect? What's the app version?

It'd be best to also prepare a short screen recording of your experience with the app and the PS4.

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[Gooner85]

I found the answer by taking one of my echo’s out of the group “Kids Room”. Solved. 

[Echopotty]

When Alexa gave me so many problems getting the group thing to work out, I was thrilled when I saw how easy it was from Spotify to get all 5 echo dots, defined as group in Alexa, to play together. Then I added a new echo dot, Gen 5, rename some of the other ones based on location, and now I get the Playback Restricted issue on 2 of the echoes that I renamed. Alexa has it all right, so by now it should’ve refreshed the list in Spotify. I’ve  followed all steps advised above and still getting it! Frustrating! 

[Echopotty]

You mean removing from the Alexa group ? I will try that and then reentering it with the two that are giving me problem. Maybe that’s the solution. Stand by. 

[ThrownClear]

My trouble also began when I added a new echo dot gen 5. The advice above that worked for me was both unplugging / replugging the dots, then starting the music on the phone, then asking one specific dot to play spotify -it would then successfully hijack the music from the phone. After doing this with every single device it all started to work again (although some things are still randomly greyed out in spotify app - but the 'Alexa, play music everywhere' now works).