Playlist is not updated on mobile or linux app after adding tracks to playlist through web API

[simpamusic]

Plan

Premium

Country

Sweden

Device

Fairphone 5, Dell XPS 9500

Operating System

Android 13, Ubuntu 22.04

My Question or Issue
I have successfully added tracks to one of my private playlists through the web-API. I get a 201 and a snapshot ID in response and if i go to the playlist in the browser i can see the updated tracks. However, if i go to the playlist on Spotify Android or Spotify Linux App the playlist is empty. If i reinstall the apps, both on the phone and computer, I can see that the playlist contains the tracks I expect. I'm creating an app for myself that updates this playlist everyday and reinstalling spotify in order to do this is just ridiculous. If i manually add a track through the UI, either on the phone or linux app, the playlist is updated everywhere.

Am i missing something or is this a bug?

Kind regards,

Simon

[simpamusic]

Actually when I look closer, I'm getting a 200 and not a 201. The documentation says that a a successful insert should result in a 201 so perhaps this is the underlying problem somehow?

[sharkdad]

yeah same. sometimes a client sees it, sometimes it doesnt. sometimes i get extremely cursed behavior where the new version ends up merged with the old version. the playlist tracks api doesnt show the broken version that mobile and desktop are showing. regardless, the functionality of my app is completely broken.

[simpamusic]

Ok, at least nice to know I'm not alone with this issue. Have you found any workaround? How long has it been like this? Just switched to Spotify from YT Music where stuff like this worked like a charm, even if there was no official api. 

[theconbot]

I was just investigating an issue with a small app I made to archive my discover weekly every week. It seems that back in April the API just silently started failing and none of my songs have been added? I will get a snapshot ID back while using the app I made and via curl, but none of the tracks I try to add appear in my archive playlist. I've also tried:

• Making a whole new app on the dashboard
• Changing which playlist I'm adding tracks to
• Re-authing

[sharkdad]

this is very new, like within the last few days. the only 'workaround' i have is that if you add a track to the playlist on the busted client itll fix it. it seems to be something the api is doing that ruins the state of clients that have a cached copy of the playlist. the web player isnt affected.

i was using a playlist to control playback in an automated way which is now obviously busted, but it wasnt perfect before either. desktop and mobile clients would pick up changes to the playlist while playing, but tv apps wouldnt, so its been on my backlog to experiment with using the queue instead. ill probably do that now but wont be surprised if i run into more bugs or inconsistent behavior across clients.

im a longtime customer but its a uniquely frustrating experience:

• the apis are not supported in any meaningful way. you will run into bugs and spotty or worse availability. behavior will change, not match the documentation, etc
• the product's behavior you depend on will change or be removed in ways that at best make no sense, at worst are insane, latest favorite: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Your-Library/They-changed-quot-liked-quot-button-to-quot-add-to-pla...
• new behavior will be added to the product that gets in your way, latest favorite: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Content-Questions/Sponsored-recommendations-how-do-I-turn-them-off/...

[LambertSpot]

I am unable to replicate this. I add a track to a playlist via the API, and I can see it show up in realtime in the iOS or desktop app.

[LambertSpot]

Do you have the URIs of the playlist and/or tracks you are adding? 

[infinitu]

Hey!

Experiencing the same issue for about 3 days

Here is the link to playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0nzjWftxcvj4WeWdJ8KYa9

[simpamusic]

Sure. Here is the URI to the playlist. It should now be public and empty:
1ASroRguEBLOHGtMo9oOkm
Here are the track uris:

"uris": [

"spotify:track:6ursmCnbc9oDRGa2yHKkoZ",

"spotify:track:1k5Jr3Ir3tXJLrI5ZsJ0fo",

"spotify:track:7xIGe2EodcQMU51kmmWJhs",

"spotify:track:3Tg8JctqoeIwZ3Rue8BjaI",

"spotify:track:3mv3V9Ed2tgb3voqeuUAYI",

"spotify:track:0b5p5ABN0LcKMSlpEcnsk9",

"spotify:track:6VYQ5HXqK4veRkuicaF7vW",

"spotify:track:15s9W4YHKtPCGKMubsdA5f",

"spotify:track:3VOSbVUAwGu7z8NVtEq2Yi",

"spotify:track:6fDkvAtV0lrIKLfHrllN0H",

"spotify:track:2ft5DQtntkEdw3sQL7hQHO",

"spotify:track:78DGy5xF9IQhWrmz71Wuf7",

"spotify:track:0jPLDCNOPHKjdwMIRRS9NR",

"spotify:track:1J339w8ZGvf8IiY7oLCEYa",

"spotify:track:7jbEwkIEcmqtAeYEw2k2fB",

"spotify:track:3l41iYzGOf1S50XIYl86Hh"

]

[simpamusic]

Ok. What Desktop app are you using? Have you been able to test it on Android?

[infinitu]

For the desktop app I'm using the version, patched via SpotX.It reports to be 1.2.40.599.g606b7f29

This playlist seems to be in sync between an Android and Spotify, even though I'm using an old version of mobile app (8.8.74.652)

However, I have the other playlist, that's also populated through an API, and that's out of sync between all the devices:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/58OSfN2plJKEJoZRbKRY4w

What's shown on the mobile view was added to that playlist about 4 days ago

[sharkdad]

use PUT /playlists/{playlist_id}/tracks to replace the items in a playlist. in case it matters, have the playlist start with 10 items and replace them with a different set of 10 items. this fails for me every time on latest iOS, windows desktop, and linux desktop.

[Ximzend]

The weird thing is: the preview (next to the download button) is updated, but the tracks in it not.

I'm using http://smarterplaylists.playlistmachinery.com/

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bQ4a8xr9Jsov8dcFzyAIP?si=lNaBqEbeQTOx02pS07U_Zg&pi=h0c3esfnQeyGN

[LambertSpot]

After some investigation a change was uncovered that might have caused this issue for playlists. They believe it has been addressed now and I just wanted to check if it is working for you now before proceeding with further investigations.

[infinitu]

Hey!

For me it seems to be resolved now

[simpamusic]

Yes it, seems to be resolved now. Just tried to add and delete tracks and both android and linux app were updated.

[Ximzend]

Edit: it's fixed now

[sharkdad]

I don't see the issue anymore, thank you @LambertSpot for hunting it down, much appreciated!

@Ximzend, if you have a broken playlist it won't fix itself and it won't be fixed by modifying the playlist with APIs. In my case I saw the new contents of the playlist merged with the old broken state. I fixed it by adding a track to the end of the playlist in the app that is broken. This kicks the app into pulling the right playlist contents and I was good from there. I would guess reinstalling the android app would also fix it.

[Ximzend]

It got fixed after I woke up this morning 🙂