Playback gets paused if Bluetooth headset is connected with multiple devices simultaneously

[Xenia]

Hi everyone,

We're seeing reports that the Spotify app keeps pausing audio whenever there are multiple devices connected to the same Bluetooth headset and the app is open on at least one of the connected devices. Special thanks to @growlybeard who provided a very detailed description and video showing the issue!

To keep you all in the loop we've merged a few threads together and have passed on the collected info to our tech folks, who are still looking into the issue. 

We'll be keeping everyone up to speed here, so make sure to subscribe to this thread! 

[Xenia]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for bearing with us while we were looking into this. 

Our teams are still investigating the issue as it seems to be related to the Bluetooth configurations set by the manufacturers of the devices and the way these interact with apps and OS.

For now we're not able to provide an exact timeline for a fix, but we'd recommend always keeping your Spotify app up-to-date to ensure you're on the latest version.

Cheers!  

[MastaKillahDMG]

Bump! BUMP! GET THIS FIXED

[bragef]

This is ridiculous. It's been years with this really annoying bug now. At least give us an update whether you are looking into it at all.

[Dinant]

Still nog solution for this problem? Experiencing the same problem with my macbook pro and iPhone 13 using the Jabra Elite 7 Pro.

[MastaKillahDMG]

BUMP! BUMP! BUMP! HELLO SPOTIFY FIX THIS ISSUE! 

[bragef]

Google "reddit multipoint spotify" and you'll find dozens of threads complaining about this issue.

[broilogabriel]

Hard to understand why bother creating a "community forum" if all that is done is interact with the community with the same speech every single time.

4 years of repeated messages stating this problem but I believe product managers quite likely think that "it only affects a handful of user that try to use this setup so why bother", just don't create communities if that is the case.

[nbeers]

@Spotify please fix this issue!

Why do I need to shutdown Spotify on one device if I want to play mustic on the other while my bluetooth headset is connected to both? This is the nr. 1 frustration for a couple of years now!

[GreenFrogSB]

Two years later and it is still the same, not able to play on the phone while my headset is connected to the PC and the phone in the same time. Took the premium to try Spotify in full swing but I will be cancelling it for sure. Have no such issues while playing YouTube, or talking on WhatsApp on the phone while being connected to BT on my PC also. Something is broken with the Spotify App even on Android 13 using Google Pixel phone.    

[GreenFrogSB]

An update, today - a day later it works. Spotify is playing on my phone outputting sound to the Bluetooth headset while I am connected to both PC and the phone. When I get a sound from the PC (zoom call or something) Spotify pause the music and start it again when sound from the PC is ended. This is now working as it should, have no idea what changed, I only hope it wont change back.      

[FuriousDuck]

Happens to me with the new Amazon earbuds. As well with my couple of years old Sennheiser Momentum 3

[FixTheBluetooth]

Fix this issue, ridiculous. Only when Spotify is open. It's been years

[missmymy]

I have my Sony xm4 earphones connected to my phone and laptop and this has been an issue for a long time. I don't get Spotify's point of having a wonderful feature of connecting to multiple devices simultaneously if I can't do it when I have earphones on.

[sergiy_fakas]

I suffer from this issue badly. Please fix it. It kills one of the main Spotify advantages when I can listen music from my phone using Macbook app for the control.

[allroundlistener]

Sony XM5 with firmware 2.0.2.
Never had this issue until the update.

[jukibom]

Just today bought my first set of wireless ear buds. What a dreadful user experience, this is 100% a spotify problem;

* It only occurs when spotify is open on two devices and always stops music playback entirely
* Closing spotify on one device "fixes" it
* It does not occur with the spotify webapp - there's something weird the app is doing to arbitrarily pause playback.

The whole point of multipoint connectivity is seamless transitioning from one device to another, this is a really bad user experience and as more devices which support it are on the market this issue will only get more pronounced.

[Romann_AV]

I had the same issue and reported these symptoms vi a support ticket a few years back now, with a fobbed off response from spotify support. 

The solution would be to suspend the autostop feature on these conditions:

- two spotify instances are active on two devices

- both devices have connection to the same bluetooth device

  - BLE doesn't do MAC masking or hiding, so the BLE mac seems like a reliable candidate. but barring that, the audio device name should be visible to the app on every platform, as the same API is used by Spotify to report the presence of external speakers to play to.

The multi device comms exchange path already in place for playback control would need an added exchange packet for each device to relay the current active BLE audio device to eachother. multipoint related BLE events that would. trigger a stop could then be caught and filtered out, continuing playback. audiostream clashes are then on the headset to resolve.

If the problem is actually with the headset stopping playback, then the same criteria could be used to auto continue after the event.

Make it a hardware issue, not a software issue it currently is.

[jzsgbr]

It's still a problem on Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon. Users report from time to time, but nothing has happened. Seriously? Why?

[maetthew]

Four+ years later and still this issue exists? Just bought my first pair of bluetooth headphones, invested $400 in a pair of Sony WH-1000XM5 and they're basically useless for my use case that is listening to Spotify while working while simultaneously being able to answer calls on my phone.

Have been with Spotify since the early invitations were sent out 2008 but will be looking for other services now. Ridiculous.

[Sindrom]

Who gives a farck about already paying users complaining about Spotify issues on the internal support forum. The only other people who see it are people who already have the issue and start looking for solutions and they end up here at some point. Case in point, me. No sir, this is not the place for solutions. The 1000 IQ move is going with this issue on e𝕏 Twitter and tagging Spotify there. Name and shame is the name of the game. Also tag the multipoint headphones' manufacturer for greater audience, Sony in my case. 

Headphones pause the beat,
𝕏, let's make our voices meet,
Spotify, fix the feat.

On 𝕏, we unite,
Multipoint, Spotify's plight,
Join us, share the light.

Let's goooooooo!!!

[Slaekke]

Whats the status here ? Still no fix? I have this problem now