Spotify info not displaying on car stereo for MONTHS.

[Dreamwritten]

 Hello, 

I'm a Spotify Premium member and I was very excited to get a bluetooth Kenwood stereo system installed in my car over the summer, so that I could control Spotify and listen to my music easily (I used to have to fiddle with my phone while driving, which was obviously dangerous). It worked great for the most part - on occasion, I would have trouble getting Spotify to connect, but I always managed after an occasional reset.

However, a few months ago (maybe around Thanksgiving?) information stopped displaying on the Spotify setting of my radio. The music plays, but no song title/artist/etc. info appears, and I cannot use my steering wheel buttons to control the music anymore. It works well on the bluetooth setting, so I don't think it's the radio or my phone, and I'm hoping to get this fixed because the bluetooth radio setting doesn't have the same functionality. 

I've searched high and low for a solution and none have worked for me - fiddling with the stereo settings, cleaing cache and data, fiddling with Spotify settings/app permission/phone settings, uninstalling and reinstalling the app entirely, etc. 

Here's some info:

- I have a Samsung S7 running Android 8, Samsung Experience version 9. 

- I have the most up-to-date version of Spotify that seems to be available to me (Version 8.4.91.861)

- I have all permissions turned to "on" under my Spotify app settings. 

- I have "Car view" turned on.

- I have "Device Broadcast Status" turned on. 

Someone please help - at my wit's end!

[CarlosE]

Hey @Kelbog,

Thanks for keeping in touch and for the extra info.

It indeed seems to be related to your phone as it works fine with your account on other devices.

Could you let us know exactly how you're connecting your phone to your car's stereo? We'd also like to know if a different type of connection, like a USB cable, makes any difference.

Keep us in the loop. We'll be looking out for your reply.

[Kelbog]

When connecting to my car stereo, I am doing via Bluetooth. As soon as I get in the car, it connects. Nothing I usually need to do. I did try with usb and the same with no spotify on radio display.  Thank you

[Novy]

Hey @Kelbog, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Would you mind sending over a screenshot or a screen recording where we can see exactly what happens? 

We'll take a better look and see what we can suggest.

Keep us posted.

[Arek86]

My mazda 3 2019 also doesn't display song/artist info when I connect it with my oneplus 7 pro/Spotify via bluetooth. It was working like a week ago and now it doesn't. I've tried clearing the cache and storage, rebooting the phone, logging out of and reinstalling Spotify. Nothing works so far. My phone has all the latest updates and the latest version of Spotify.

[Ver]

Hey @Arek86,

Thanks for getting in touch with us 🙂

The troubleshooting steps that you've tried so far are very good. We'd like to add a few more.

Could you try with another account on the same device? That way we can check if it's an account-related issue.

It's also a good idea to try with a different type of connection, like a cable, to see if the issue persists.

You can also send us a screenshot of what you're seeing. We'll investigate this further.

Keep us in the loop! If you have questions, you know where to find us.

[Arek86]

I've logged into another account and It still wasn't working. Now I logged back to my account and it works. Thanks 😊

[WARRENCOAKLEY]

It seems this is not an isolated issue as its both operating systems on phones and different vehicles worldwide.

It was working on my Google Pixel 5 and now it isn't. To me it's 1 of 2 things.

It's either there has been updated to both phone platforms that breaks this feature, or Spotify need to investigate their app to see what the bug is.

I've tried different accounts, Bluetooth and USB and still resulting in the same.

I also think it's a bug with the MMI on cars as I have had it working on a Nissan Leaf displaying song title and controls.

[WARRENCOAKLEY]

It seems this is not an isolated issue as its both operating systems on phones and different vehicles worldwide.

It was working on my Google Pixel 5 and now it isn't. To me it's 1 of 2 things.

It's either there has been updated to both phone platforms that breaks this feature, or Spotify need to investigate their app to see what the bug is.

I've tried different accounts, Bluetooth and USB and still resulting in the same. Plugging in USB for some is not a solution as some cars may only have Bluetooth and no USB

I also think it's a bug with the MMI on cars as I have had it working on a Nissan Leaf displaying song title and controls but it still doesn't answer the question of that it was working on my device and now it isn't

[Arek86]

It looks like I wrote that last reply to soon. The problem appeared again after I made the bluetooth connection for the second time today, and now I've noticed that It was not the logout/login that (temporarly) solved the issue but disconnecting and reconnecting the bluetooth between the car and the phone while the car was on and spotify was open.

So now when I enter the vehicle the song info is not displayed after the bluetooth connection is made. I have to disconnect and reconnect the bluetooth - then the song is displayed. The problem remains.

[CarlosE]

Hi again @Arek86,

Thanks for keeping us posted.

Did you try using a different type of connection, like a cable, to see if this behavior persists?

Also, could you try using a different mobile device to check if there's any difference? This would help us determine if the issue is rather device-related.

Lastly, make sure that there aren't any firmware updates available for your car's stereo.

We'll be looking out for your reply.

[Arek86]

Cable connection via android auto works fine.
Connecting a different phone (iphone 6s) also works.
The car's firmware is up-to-date.

[CarlosE]

Hi @Arek86,

Thanks for getting back in touch.

For what you've mentioned it looks like there's an issue with how the Spotify metadata is transmitted via Bluetooth from your phone, as it works properly via cable and using a different device.

We recommend unpairing and pairing your device to your car's stereo again and make sure Spotify doesn't have any restrictions.

If this doesn't do the trick, we recommend to keep using cable via Android Auto.

If you have any questions or need a hand with anything else, give us a shout.

Cheers.

[WARRENCOAKLEY]

I have tried everything, another user account, uninstalling the app reinstalling it etc and its still the same issue. It was working on my handset which is a Pixel 5, but then suddenly it has stopped. Nothing to do with my cars firmware as if it was working and then an update from Spotify has occurred this must of caused the issue.

My car has the latest firmware update but that shouldn't matter as it was working on that update and nothing has changed, only updates from your app.

I'm on Android 11, to me this is a bug within the app from possibly an firmware update from Android or Apple. Its not an isolated incident as many are having this issue worldwide it seems. There is something broken within the app from an update from Spotify that needs to be fixed.

I have tried all the work arounds and nothing works, no control now over Spotify in my car no more, it just keeps saying the attached.

[Sarah_Mary_D]

I am still having a problem with this with my One Plus 7 Pro with my 2019 Subaru Impreza’s infotainment system. I can connect to Bluetooth and the first song will display the title and artist. But as I try to skip through music the display is stuck on the first song that came on. I have tried re-installing spotify on my phone, clearing the cache, signing in and out. I re-paired the phone with the car. I tried Pandora and this problem does not occur, therefore it seems to a problem with Spotify, not my phone or my Subaru. If anyone has an answer to this I would appreciate it.

[CarlosE]

Hey there @Sarah_Mary_D,

Thanks for posting on this thread.

Could you let us know if you already tried using a cable? Was there any difference?

We'd also like to know if the same happens when using a different account, like a friend's or relative's.

Keep us posted. We'll be on the lookout.

[Sarah_Mary_D]

If you're talking about using Android Auto with a USB cable, everything works fine with loading song titles. However, the sound quality is god awful with android auto and there doesn't seem to be an easy fix for this since the quality relies on the USB cable. I prefer to not use this method for this reason and use Spotify over bluetooth. I will try making a new account and see if that helps. 

[CarlosE]

Hi @Sarah_Mary_D,

Thanks for keeping in touch and for the extra info.

Take your time to try this with a different account. We'd also like to know if the same happens when you use a different mobile device. This would help us narrow down the possible cause of this issue.

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

[WARRENCOAKLEY]

OK here is what I have discovered in many testing's etc.

So here is what I tried;

Logged out of my account, deleted app and reinstalled, and nothing
Logged out my account and logged back in with another account and nothing.
I do not have a USB in my car so I cant answer if it works by that. Bluetooth is preferred anyway.
Deleted my phone from the car settings and repaired again and nothing.
I have a Google Pixel 4a 5G and it did work but now it isn't working.
I tried Spotify on my Nexus 6p and it worked, it displayed the information as it should.

So for me I think that there has been an update in Android 11, a security patch id say that has broken the information displaying within your Spotify app. It cant be the app if its working on my Nexus 6p running Android 10 and the latest Spotify app installed.

You will need to look at their updates and see what they have changed to see why its not displaying the information anymore.

[WARRENCOAKLEY1]

I've posted about 5 times in what I have discovered, shy are my posts not visible?

[YX]

I had the exact same problem as you describe (Spotify only displays the info for the first song played) for months. I tried:

- Clearing the app cache.

- Uninstalling and reinstalling Spotify.

- Removing all Bluetooth devices from my phone and car and re-pairing.

None of these worked. 

Today I found a solution that works: in the Android developer settings (Google how to access) I set the Bluetooth AVRCP to 1.3 (it was 1.4).  I disabled Bluetooth on the phone.  Shut down Spotify. Re-enabled Bluetooth and restarted Spotify and the song information was being updated.

The problems started around the time there was both an Android and Spotify update so it wasn't clear which was the source of the problem. 

I'm now on Oxygen OS 10.3.8.  Spotify is now 8.6.12.986.  The car is a 2017 Toyota 4Runner.