Jam session playback control not working

[lusep]

Plan

Premium

Device

iPhone 16 plus

Operating System

iOS 18.7.1

My Question or Issue

Hi, I'm experiencing an issue with the Jam feature. When I start a Jam from my iOS device and share the link with my friend (who is using Android), she can join the session, but she cannot control the playback. I can play and pause the songs, but when she tries to pause, the music keeps playing for me and nothing happens on her end.
Additionally, if my friend creates the playlist and I join the Jam, I also cannot pause the music. It continues playing for her, but not for me.
We both tried reinstalling the Spotify app and logging in again several times, but the issue still happens.
A few days ago, everything was working fine. We even tried starting the Jam from the desktop app, but the issue persists — my friend on Android still can't control playback.
Is this a known issue or is there a fix available?
Thanks in advance.

[Ivelina]

Hey there @lusep,

Welcome to the Community! We hope your don't mind that we moved your thread to the Your Library section of the Help board as is it better fits here.

Appreciate the shared details and for providing us with the steps you and your friend have tried already 🙂

Since this is happening after a reinstall and on different devices, there's something else you both can try. The host has the ability to allow/disallow guests to have control over the volume and playback. With this said, the next time you start a Jam, make sure that whoever is the host toggles on the option to allow guests to change the Queue order, play, pause and skip tracks by clicking on Jam details > Guest settings.

More info on the Jam feature you can find here. 

Let us know if this does the trick.

[lusep]

Hi @Ivelina! Thanks for your answer. The option to allow guests to change the Queue order, play, pause, and skip tracks was already enabled. We tried disabling it and enabling it again, but we're still experiencing the same issue. 

[Eni]

Hey @lusep, 

Thanks for getting back to us! 

We've passed this info on to the relevant team so they can take a closer look. We'll let you know as soon as we have any updates. 

Cheers! 

[lusep]

Hi @Eni!
Thanks for the update! We really appreciate the solution because this feature is one of our favorites, so we’re glad it’s being looked into.

[existone]

The problem has returned. For the last few days, songs in the jam have been stopping at 0:00.

[volkkner]

Same issue, music stalls at 0:00 when I'm in a jam remotely at home, with my coworkers in the office playing to their speaker there.

Please fix this, this feature is like half the reason why I pay for Spotify!

[12128562624]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

PC

Operating System

(Windows 10/11)

My Question or Issue

I make Jam sessions with my friend a few times per week. Recently, we have both been getting an issue where the jam will completely stop for the person not hosting it. When this happens, Spotify will not play any audio, will not allow you to skip songs or select new ones, and it will not show the duration of the song. It does not matter if I host the jam or if my friend hosts the jam, it will eventually result in this weird state of limbo at random times (sometimes happens within in 10 minutes, sometimes happens within 2 hours). Restarting Spotify DOES fix the problem, however it is not a viable long-term solution. We both are using our PCs, I am on Windows 11 ans she is on Windows 10. We both have tried the troubleshooting steps and they haven't helped. Does anyone have any other ideas?

[OscarDC]

Hey folks,

Thank you for your patience.

We've received some info from internal teams confirming that this is now an expected behavior. As of right now, when the Jam host pauses the playback, it will be paused for everyone in the Jam, while if a guest in a remote Jam pauses the playback, it will be paused just for them. When they unpause the playback, they will rejoin where the session currently is.

Thank you all for your feedback regarding this.

If anything else comes up, the Community will be here for you.

[volkkner]

Hey Oscar,

This expected behaviour isn’t satisfactory given it used to work perfectly, your answer cannot be made the resolution for this thread as it sweeps the issue under the rug.