Repeat keeps turning off / has stopped carrying over between all playlists, albums and songs

[BlackValeKnight]

Plan

Premium

Country

Australia

Devices

Samsung Galaxy A55,

Samsung Galaxy A30s,

Desktop Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.64.408.g0a9b557c

Operating Systems

One UI v6.1 + Android v14,

One UI v3.1 + Android v11,

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

For the past few weeks, the repeat playback feature has been behaving differently for me.

Until now, I have always had repeat enabled (on all my devices), and it has continually stayed enabled - ie if I search a song and play it, that song will repeat over and over until I select a new song/album/playlist, at which point the new selection repeats over and over until a new selection, and so forth.

Recently, however, I will select a song to play, it will play once, and then stop with no repeats. When I look, repeat is disabled. So I will enable repeat, hit play and the song will start to repeat. But then at seemingly random intervals I will find repeat has turned off again.

At first I assumed it meant I had to manually enable repeat for EVERY instance, but even songs have manually turned repeat on for keep eventually disabling repeat again (which is exceptionally frustrating when I turn my music on and begin driving, only to find that once again repeat has disabled itself, and now I can't listen to music for the remainder of the drive).

Has there been any recent changes to the functionality of repeat?

I cannot see any playback settings for a global repeat option - I vaguely recall turning it on as a setting at the same time when I turned off Autoplay, but that was some time in the last 7 years, so I cannot recall if that is correct. The fact that I have suddenly run into the issue across all devices (Android and Windows) makes me think it's either a change to the repeat feature OR a change in the way Spotify handles swapping between devices.

I have recorded a video showing the issue in real time, occurring on both desktop and Android (Youtube link below). I haven't been able to pin point what triggers it - sometimes I run into the issue multiple songs/searches in a row, sometimes after pressing play from a song/album/playlist in my library, other times after resuming the currently playing track that I had been listening to on repeat hours earlier. It doesn't seem to discriminate between songs I've previously listened to or new songs.

Essentially, I just want repeat to be enabled globally on my device/s (how it has always been prior for me!). Any answers or insights would be appreciated, cheers.

Link to issue demonstration: https://youtu.be/OT5HkUVaU50?si=WWTBqlSzpKBXyKal

[yule]

Did you manage to find a solution?

I'm experiencing it too.

[BlackValeKnight]

No, haven't found a solution, sorry 😞

When I get the time I am going to completely uninstall from all my devices / unlink from discord etc to see if I can do some hard reset or try manually downgrading to an earlier version. 

If I can't find a fix, I'll be trying another streaming service. Aus subscription prices are going up and yet I can't just listen to my music on repeat 

[Shura17]

Same here. It's especially annoying because I have a calming playlist I have on repeat to help me sleep, and now I have to remember to set "repeat on" every **bleep** time, otherwise it'll switch to random music at the end and wake me up. This happened to me like 3 times this week already and I hate it. If it doesn't get fixed I'm also gonna unsubscribe, cause this significantly affects the usability of the app for me 😕

[Shura17]

Plan

Premium

Country

Netherlands

Device

Samsung Z Flip 7, Acer Nitro V14

Operating System

Android 16, Windows 11

Spotify version

9.1.2.1253 on mobile, chrome browser on desktop

My Question or Issue

My "repeat on" setting keeps turning off whenever I switch between albums/playlists. It's especially annoying because I have a calming playlist I have on repeat to help me sleep, and now I have to remember to set "repeat on" every time, otherwise it'll switch to random music at the end and wake me up. This happened to me like 3 times this week already and I hate it. If it doesn't get fixed I'm gonna unsubscribe, cause this significantly affects the usability of the app for me 😕

Anyone else experiencing this?

[Joan]

Hi there @Shura17,

Thanks for reaching out. We'll be glad to help you take full control of your musical experiences.

We've noticed some different unusual behaviours when it comes to the repeat function, so let's try and narrow down what exactly it is that you have. Could you please provide us the following:

• What device does this happen on? Is this on all devices or only on that specific one?
• Does this only affect the normal repeat function or the "Repeat One" function for looping one song as well? Has Shuffle ever turned itself on/off without input?
• Have you noticed any pattern as to when it happens (i.e. when listening offline, when listening via Connect, etc.) or is it purely sporadic?
• The exact Spotify Versions you use.

With this information, we’d be happy to investigate.

Keep us posted.

[Shura17]

Updated the original post with the details. I noticed it in the past week almost every day. When switching between my laptop and phone maybe? Every day I listened on my laptop during work and then at bedtime on my phone, so there was also 4-5 hours inbetween, might have to do with something cached/removed from cache. I never use shuffle and I think that stayed off. I only use the normal repeat, not the repeat one. I did travel between countries (from Netherlands to Hungary), in case that's a factor. Thanks, and good luck!

[Ivelina]

Thanks for the response and shared details, @Shura17.

We hope you don't mind that we merged your thread with the already existing one on the topic where you had posted, in order to keep better track of the situation.

We've also reported this behavior internally, so that the relevant team can take a look. Unfortunately we can't give you an ETA for a fix/change, but if/when there are any updates on the matter, we'll make sure to let you know here in the thread.

We understand that it's important for you that the repeat function stays on while you're listening to your calming playlist and for the time being what we can suggest is to make sure that autoplay is turned off in Spotify's settings, so that random songs are prevented from playing. Additionally, you can also queue the playlist a few times to ensure it will repeat - click on the three dots > Add to Queue. 

Hopefully these steps are helpful to you in the meantime and we remain just a post away if there's anything else we can assist you with.

Take care!

[Shura17]

Oh that's a great tip, I didn't know I could disable Autoplay. Done it, thank you!!

[yule]

I've been using Spotify for like a decade now for sleeping. The repeat had always worked on its own until this year. Now I keep having to get up to turn the repeat on because I keep forgetting to manually click on it.

I suspect that turning off the autoplay feature that plays related music non stop is somehow clashing with the original repeat feature that was implemented all these years. 

This is so annoying.

[BlackValeKnight]

I fully agree with you.

I am Autistic, and use music as a regulation tool. Listening to the same song/s on repeat helps me stay calm because it is unchanging and therefore predictable (Hence why I do not use shuffle or the autoplay similar music features). Forgetting to check and re-enable repeat every time I turn my music back or choose a different song can easily send me into a meltdown on days when I am not coping well with life 🙃

Do you listen across multiple devices? I have still not found a reliable way to reproduce the issue, it just seems time happen intermittently, but I feel like it happens more often when I switch from my PC to my phone.

Outside of swapping devices, or having autoplay disabled as you mentioned, the only other loose theory I can think of is the possibility of back end detection trying to prevent bots or accounts from farming listens by toggling off repeat every so often? I have nothing to base that on other than not being able to consistently reproduce the issue.

[BlackValeKnight]

Hello, I never received a request on my original post, so just to update my Spotify and device specifications. I am aware the Galaxy A30s (my old phone) is not up to date; I intentionally disabled updates for other reasons, but it still stands that the repeat issue is present across all three devices.

Desktop

Spotify Version:

     Spotify for Windows (64 bit)

     1.2.78.418.gaeeb5ebd

System Type:

     64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Windows Specifications:

     Edition Windows 10 Pro
     Version 22H2
     Installed on ‎20/‎03/‎2023
     OS Build 19045.6466

Phone 1

Spotify Version:

     9.1.2.1253

Product Name:

     Galaxy A55 5G

Model Name:

     SM-A556E/DS

Software Information:

     One UI version 8.0

     Android Version 16

     Kernel Version 6.1.138-android14-11

     Build Number BP2A.250605.031.A3.A556EXXSACYJ2

Phone 2

Spotify Version:

    9.0.78.1116

Product Name:

     Galaxy A30s

Model Name:

     SM-A307GN/DS

Software Information:

     One UI version 3.1

     Android Version 11

     Kernel Version 4.4.177-22825772

     Build Number RP1A.200720.012.A307GNDXS6CWH1