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!  

[A_Muller]

Wow. I sat with Bose support for hours yesterday as I started experiencing this exact issue with a brand new, fully updated, BOSE QC Ultra headset. This issue never happened to me before with my Sennheiser TW 3 or my Steelseries Wireless Pro. Both are connected to both my PC and my phone simultaneously and both always worked fine, and now with this headset this exact issue occurs. It was just sheer "luck" that I discovered this, I initially thought that the issue resided in just being connected to two devices at once, but nope, the issue is spotify and as others have said, i auto-pauses all other media in the phone as well.

FIX. YOUR. PRODUCT. Spotify.

It's 2023, one would think you understood bluetooth by now............

[arucious]

I own a pair of B&W PX8 with Multipoint Bluetooth. My issue is specific to Windows+Desktop Spotify app and iOS+Youtube(or something else) as the two devices connected simultaneously. 

If I have a video playing on my phone, and click play on spotify, Windows is able to take over the px8 connection with ease. The reverse does not play as nice, Windows Spotify keeps trying to hijack the connection back if I try to play the youtube video on my phone. This happens regardless of whether I pause Spotify first or not. If spotify is closed out fully, then it switches over to the phone with ease.

Taking over Windows+Youtube was a little janky. Similar to Spotify, Windows tried to hold on to the connection for a second, but let go of it eventually. It did not pause the Youtube video on Windows, but that's not that big of a deal. For the reverse, Windows was able to take control of iOS Youtube playing with ease, pausing the video for you and continuing the Windows videos.

iOS Youtube is able to take control from Spotify Web Player on Windows running Edge without any issue. So I think this issue is specific to Spotify's desktop application (which is odd, pretty sure that's just the web player running as an app through Electron, but I could be mistaken). 

You can see the Spotify desktop app pausing and playing over and over as it tries to take the connection back. 

[HJF1963]

I was experiencing this issue with Jabra Evolve 65 headsets. It was no better after disconnecting my phone from the headset. There is a setting on the headset under Device Settings for "Auto Resume Audio by Motion Detection". It was set to "On" and since I have shut it off I have not experienced the unwanted pauses. 

[Saad-S]

I am experiencing this problem with playback using Fiio’s nee BTR15. When I switch devices and switch Spotify with it, the playback on the other device gets paused and doesn’t play at all. Tried logging out on both devices and then logging back in once and it worked flawlessly for a little bit but then went back to the same and the logout-login trick did not work again.

[lslslsl]

Hi I bought the WH-1000XM5 last month and faced this issue. One day it went away but it returned again so I tinkered around and found this solution:

I use a Samsung phone and Microsoft Surface with Windows 11 and all apps are updated to latest versions.

1. Desktop and mobile must be on the same wifi network (my mobile defaults to 5G so that is the first culprit)
2. Select Sony device as desktop playback device (this also sometimes changes due to work calls)
3. Restart both desktop and mobile app

I prefer to play via my mobile app (I don't know if it's just me but I find the sound quality slightly better) but have the ability to switch songs from desktop. This usually fixes the 3 second pause for me if my mobile switches network or if my desktop playback device defaults to system device or my webcam due to Zoom calls.

Hope this helps someone out there but I don't think I can help with any follow up questions lol.

[wckdbndt]

Hey Spotify, any fixes yet? How's the investigation going? It'll be almost 3 years now! It's really frustrating having to deal with this issue. 

[LoveisOne]

I fixed the issue using the tune app by setting MacBook to phone calls only and leaving phone on caudio, calls and notifications. I don't have spotify on my macbook so didn't try the reverse setting. But at oeast so far seems to solve the issue. Phone is playing spotify and macbook is still paired for calls. 

[Sindrom]

I don't know who fixed it, but for me it is fixed now. I am up to date with all the relevant apps:
Spotify for Windows (64 bit) -> 1.2.48.405.gf2c48e6f

Spotify for Android -> 8.9.82.620
Sony's Sound Connect for Android -> 11.0.1
and I also updated the firmware for my headphones, WF-1000XM5, to the latest version, 4.0.2

I even forgot about the issue since I encountered it and was forced to stay connected to a single device but with the headphone's firmware upgrade some settings got reset and I found myself with both the windows pc and the android phone connected simultaneous with no issues during Spotify play. Both devices appear in Spotify as available and switching between them from Spotify works without any issue.

[tiagov007]

Still experiencing this in 2024 with the latest pixel 9 pro and bose qc ultra.

[kirk781]

I am surprised that nearly 4 years later, this is still an issue [Youtube Music for example, doesn't have any problem with multipoint connectivity, so it's not necessarily an issue from Bluetooth standpoint].

I had an issue when my Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 were connected to both my Wear OS device and Android. When I tried fumbling with controls on Wear OS app, Spotify would pause playback as soon as watch was locked. I thought it could be an issue with Wear OS app and gave it Notification permission and removed "Pause activity if unused" thing but to no end.

Apparently, the only solution was to unpair my bluetooth earbuds and it worked like a charm. It's ironic that 4 years in, such a basic thing hasn't been figured out.

[m5g99behemoth]

This just happened to me out of the blue...
Had my Mac and phone connected to a pair of Px8 for months, and today the pausing issue suddenly started, as soon as the headphones were connected to both devices.
Issue is strictly limited to Spotify. Would be really interesting to understand, why this has been an issue for several years but nothing is done against it.

[jacodw]

It's 2025 and still the same error with new Bose QC ultra, OnePlus watch3 and oneplus 12R