Podcasts in Spotify on Android won't play anymore

[davidredstone]

Plan - Premium 

Country - Australia 

Device - OnePlus 5T

Operating System - Android 10

My Question or Issue

I used to be able to play podcasts on Spotify on my Android phone but lately it either plays an ad over and over again or part of the content over and over again. i.e. 

 I can't play any podcast from start to finish.

The other day I fully reset and reinstalled everything on my phone, so it has nothing to do with the app, cache, and downloads on my particular phone.

I suspect it has something to do with the ad system. While it's annoying that there are ads in podcasts when I'm a paying subscriber, I think whatever system you've got in place has made podcasts unplayable.

At this point I think Spotify should spin podcasts off into a separate price tier and those are us who are sick of it being broken, will simply not pay extra for podcast functionality, but will enjoy our music for a few dollars less per month.

[AcidDJ]

Plan

Premium

Country

Turkey

Device

Oneplus 9Pro

Operating System

Android

My Question or Issue

Cannot play certain Podcasts (Only English Listening Time podcasts) on my device app. 

However, I can play this podcasts on my Windows computer app.  

When pressing play button nothing happens. No errors, just staying freeze. 

Issues happened before and after updating. 

I have tried to uninstall/install spotify, delete cash, logg out/in several times.

This podcast is working on my friend's android device (Google pixel 6, Turkey).

[Lyubka]

Hey @AcidDJ,

Thank you for reaching out here in the Community.

In this case, we'll need to gather as much info as possible here. Are you able to listen to this specific podcast when logged in on the Spotify Web player on your mobile device? 

It's also a good idea to check with a different network connection to see if it makes any difference. In case you don't have another one available, you can use a mobile data hotspot to test it.

On another note, you've mentioned that you've already reinstalled the app, however, we usually recommend doing that with the steps in this article. This'll make sure you have the latest version of the app and that any corrupted files from previous installations files are removed.

We'll be on the lookout for your update. 

[davidredstone]

Interestingly, the particular podcast that wouldn't stream today, will play if it's downloaded first. That would at least be a workaround if it works across the board.

So it seems streaming podcasts is borked.

[Vasil]

Hey @davidredstone,

Thanks for reaching out!

Is this an issue only with that one particular podcast? Could you send us a link to it so that we can check the behaviour on our end? 🙂
Much appreciated 🙌🏼

[davidredstone]

This happens with any podcast on Spotify on my Android phone, whether on 4G
or Wi-Fi. It wasn't like that before, but lately if I stream a podcast it
just won't play from start to finish, and just repeats a short part of the
podcast or an advertisement.

It does work as expected, however, if I download a podcast before playing
it.

Still hate the fact that there are ads in podcasts, when I'm paying for
Spotify premium.

[Eni]

Hey @davidredstone, 

Thanks for your reply. 

Could you let us know if this happens across devices or only on your phone? 

If it happens only on your phone, you mentioned that you've already reinstalled the app, but would you mind going through the steps of a clean reinstall, as it's more thorough than a normal one?

If this doesn't do the trick, could you ask a friend or a relative to log in to their account on your phone and check if they can replicate this behavior? 

We'll be on the lookout for your reply. 

[davidredstone]

Looks like my email reply never made it here 😞

Anyway as noted in my very first message, I already fully reset my phone.

The podcast streaming problem happens on my phone, and also happens on my Spotify connect speaker at home - which eliminates the phone as the problem.

[Vasil]

Hey @davidredstone,

Thank you for the provided details 🙌🏼

Could you check and let us know if the same behaviour would be observed when using a different account on the same devices?
Many thanks in advance!

[davidredstone]

I don't have a different Spotify account. That's something for Spotify support to test for themselves.

[Susan_GP]

Hi @davidredstone,

Thanks for your reply.

We request that you try it with a different account as it'll help us rule out if this is account-related. We haven't been able to replicate the issue from our side and from here we don't have access to your account info.

So in order to know if this is only happening with your account, we kindly request that you try to use a different account on your device and check if you have the same issue. We understand if you don't have another account, so you could ask a relative or friend to log in with their account on your device and check. Alternatively, you can create a free account with a different email, Facebook or Google, and then delete it inmediately after checking.

We'll be here!

[andreasremdt]

I am experiencing the same issue on my mobile phone with video podcasts only. Audio-only podcasts and music work just fine, however, whenever I try to stream something like Joe Rogan, it never starts loading. It works flawlessly on Spotify Web and the MacOS app though.

I already tried a clean reinstall using https://community.spotify.com/t5/FAQs/How-can-I-perform-a-clean-reinstall-of-the-app/ta-p/4746485 without success.

Downloading the episode as audio-only first and then playing it also works.

The issue started to appear after a recent update, I am currently on version 8.8.80.599, on Android 12.

Let me know if I can provide any additional information to facilitate troubleshooting.

[Eni]

Hey there @andreasremdt, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this here in the Community. 

Could you let us know if this only happens with the podcast you mentioned or with other ones as well? 

On another note, could you ask a friend or a relative to log in to their account on your phone to see if they can replicate this behavior with their account? This way we can determine if the issue is account-related. 

Lastly, would you mind checking if the OS of your phone has any pending updates?

Keep us posted.

[andreasremdt]

Hey @Eni,

The issue appears on other podcasts that have video, too. The ones without video seem to work fine.

I just checked my phone and there are no pending updates. I am surely not on the latest Android version, however, that's all I get for now.

Regarding the account, I just created a new free account for testing purposes, and it's the same issue, so it doesn't seem to be account-related.

Let me know if you need further information or details.

Cheers

[Eni]

Hey @andreasremdt, 

Thanks for getting back in touch. 

Based on what you mentioned, it sounds like the issue is device-related. 

In this case, can you make sure that Spotify has all necessary permissions enabled on your phone?
 

1. Open your Settings menu.
2. Scroll to the bottom to find Spotify and open the app settings.
3. Enable everything you see.

Additionally, could you let us know if this started happening after a specific event such as an update? 

Lastly, sending us the exact make/model, operating system and Spotify version of your phone would come in handy.

We'll be on the lookout.

[andreasremdt]

Hey @Eni,

I gave all permissions there are to the app, however, this didn't fix the issue.

If I recall correctly, the issue started to appear a week ago or so, after an update of the Spotify app itself. I am currently on version 8.8.80.599.

I have a Fairphone 3 running on /e/OS 1.15-s-20230913330639-stable, which translates to Android 12 (security update from August 2023) under the hood.

Cheers!

[MihailY]

Hey @andreasremdt,

Have you tested this with a different connection by a different provider? 

Also, are you using an SD card? If yes, try taking it out and clean reinstalling the app.

Keep us posted.

[andreasremdt]

Hey @MihailY

Yes, I have tested it with both my mobile network and my Wifi, it doesn't make any difference.

My smartphone doesn't have any SD card or other external memory connected, however, I already tried a clean reinstall of the app.

Cheers

[AlejaR]

Hey @andreasremdt,

Thanks for your reply and for the info shared. 

In this case, just to confirm, do you use a VPN? If yes, try switching it off to check if you notice any difference in this behavior.

On another note, it'd be great if you could double-check if you can replicate this behavior on a different mobile device. You can ask for the mobile device from a relative or a friend to open your account there and check. Just to confirm, can you replicate this behavior by opening the web player on the affected device?

Lastly, just to check, are you streaming through a speaker or Bluetooth device?

Keep us in the loop!

[andreasremdt]

Hey @AlejaR,

I don't use a VPN, and I am not streaming through any speaker or Bluetooth device. It's all on my phone.

I tried to reproduce the issue on the mobile web version of the affected device; audio is playing fine, but there's no video, it's just showing the thumbnail. I am not sure if the mobile web app supports video at all, on my desktop it works fine though.

I also tested on a different mobile device (Samsung Galaxy) and it worked fine, so it seems to be device-related. By the way, since the last Spotify update my user experience has been messed up in general, there are also other issues such as:

- Playback keeps stop playing after a couple of minutes, especially (but not exclusively) when connected to a Bluetooth device

- The preview tile on Android (for example when the phone is locked and some music is being played) keeps showing outdated information, such as a podcast from a couple of days ago even though I am playing something entirely different. Is also keeps re-appearing even after closing Spotify and after stopping all playback. After swiping the tile away it keeps coming back a few seconds later.

So seems like something in general is bugged with this release, before that it was working fine.

Cheers,

Andreas