Apple TV - I have to log in every time I use the Spotify app

[sadastronaut]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

Apple TV 4th Gen

Operating System

tvOS 14.7

My Question or Issue

I do not stay logged in on the Apple TV app. Almost every time I use the app (it may stay logged in for a few hours), it asks me to log in and gives me a pairing code. 

[sadastronaut]

Hey folks!

Thanks for the patience with this.

The issue seems to be stemming from low space on the AppleTV that causes Apple to purge the data. Our tech folks are working on a possible fix for this.

For now, please make sure your storage has enough space.
Apple doesn't provide this info on AppleTV settings, so you can use this free application to understand how much storage you have left.

Hope this helps!

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for your replies and for the info shared.

@SoCalG, @AppleTVLoginGuy as mentioned above by @Vasil, this behavior seems to be related to low space on the AppleTV, which causes Apple to purge the data. Our tech folks are working on a possible fix for this, so, please make sure your storage has enough space.

Apple doesn't provide this info on AppleTV settings, so you can use this free application to understand how much storage you have available on your device. If this is not your case, please let us know.

Keep us in the loop!

[bandtank]

That is straight up wrong. If someone told you it's due to low space, they are lying or incompetent (or both). It has nothing to do with persistent storage space, which is a simple thing to test. This problem can be experienced on a brand new Apple TV with nothing other than the default configuration plus Spotify. The issue is related to time, not space. The authentication token expires and a new token is either fetched or stored incorrectly.

[SoCalG]

Can Support please stop telling people this? As many have pointed out has nothing to do with space as described here.    

The app is basically unusable until this bug is fixed. 

[Kuba86]

Hi,

So how much space does saving Spotify account pairing require?

[bandtank]

Authentication tokens are very small. Here is an example of what the Spotify API returns after a successful authentication request: {'access_token': 'BQA5Zu1uNhJbKpr3tBcWRseAy-qfwwPXMjJQEvXyqKdy0Y1XaQvsC8HTE7qYuI1e_fMUVuwLltADeA-QuNc', 'token_type': 'Bearer', 'expires_in': 3600, 'scope': ''}

The access token is around 100 bytes. On TV OS, every app is allocated 1 MB of CloudKit space to store app-specific information, such as access tokens. You can get more space if needed, but I have never needed more than 5% of the allocated space in any app I've ever programmed or used.

Even if the spotify app uses a different authentication mechanism, the amount of storage space has never been, is not currently, and will never be the reason for the issue. Again, for any Spotify employees who are responsible for customer support - if such a thing exists - you can test this on your own without asking Bill from IT, who tells you what you want to hear so he can go back to playing Halo.

[AppleTVLoginGuy]

Thanks for pointing out the app. It says there is 5% free (28.15/29.63 GB).

It would appear that if what you are saying is the cause of this problem is low disk space, then it would follow that Spotify is being targeted over all the other installed apps on the device which require activation. This is straight up racism! 

[Corginator]

Best "workaround" for this issue is to use your phone to cast/airplay Spotify to your AppleTV. You can play a song on your phone, open the Spotify app on your AppleTV (that is logged out) and from your phone select "Devices" and there should be an AppleTV there. It's not the best - but one of the options around this issue.

[Kuba86]

Wow, did you eventually fix it?

I opened Spotify and miraculously it didn’t ask me to pair this time. Is this a one off, or should I play jackpot today?

[bandtank]

Has the app updated recently? Check the history to see. Mine is still broken.

I created a test app to for my Apple TV to investigate this issue. The app fills the disk to 100% by copying Wall-E images.  It then authenticates with the Microsoft Teams API as well as the API I created for my business. The oauth keys are stored in the keychain. Even at 100% disk usage, my application had no trouble executing the authentication mechanism and writing new refresh tokens to the keychain. This issue annoyed me enough to spend the effort to validate what I have been saying all along. Spotify, I want to love you, but you're making me hate you. Please fix this.

[DIZZYDJC]

It is BEYOND annoying that this is still a problem. I don't even use Spotify on my TV anymore because this problem exists. How long has the app been out now? There are no excuses for this poor, poor level of service... especially with the amount of profit you guys bank roll in.

SORT. IT. OUT!!!

[nathanbeach]

It's not so much the service (I totally get having bugs in a complicated product), but the fact their customer support won't acknowledge that this is a problem... on one of the biggest device platforms on earth.

And @bandtank... this guy fjcks writes test-driven software.

[AnnoyedAtSptifysBS]

I canceled because of this. When companies ignore and punt product issues that are clearly prevalent, even with the evidence shown now, they don’t deserve a customer’s business. It’s a shame because I was a fan, but I get Apple Music as a bundle already, so there’s no sense paying for Spotify also now.

[trondbj · Accepted solution]

Mine is now working as well. I have done nothing and just discovered, like you, that I no longer need to log in/pair Spotify on my Apple TV. I’ve even tempted fate and terminated the Spotify app on my Apple TV. Restarted the app and I’m automatically logged in. Great!

[nathanbeach]

In celebration of the grand tradition of b1tching about stuff on the internet, I have to give credit where credit is due. Spotify and/or Apple has fixed the issue since the latest update to tvOS or the app itself. I have been able to use the Apple TV Spotify app multiple times now without logging in again. Well done!

[Vasil]

Hey folks!

As @nathanbeach and others have noticed already, this should now officially be fixed.
Our tech folks have found the root cause of the issue and, in case you have all updates installed, it should no longer be required of you to log in every time.

Thank you for your patience with this 🙂

[bandtank]

While I'm glad it is fixed, the original report was 18 months ago and this was a very simple problem. Not good.

[jupiterLILY]

Has anyone else had to re pair since the fix? 

I have. 

[bandtank]

I logged in last Sunday to test the new version of the app. The login process was completed successfully and I listened to music for about an hour. On Tuesday morning, I was met with the login prompt again. On Thursday, it did not ask me to log in, which was a new behavior. However, the app had not updated in two weeks, which I did not realize at first. After forcing the app to update, I was required to log in again on Saturday. On the next Monday, I was also met with the login prompt. On Wednesday, it worked without needing to authenticate. So, my results have been mixed.

For what it's worth, it seems to be related to the type of authentication; e.g., entering a code from another device versus entering credentials directly into the TV app. The former method appeared to work while the latter method did not. I did not spend enough time working on it to know if what I experienced was repeatable.

[MihailY]

Hey @jupiterLILY and @bandtank,

Can you please let us know your device models and OS versions so we can forward your reports to the team responsible for this?

Cheers,

[jupiterLILY]

Sorry for the delay in responding. It's stioll happening to me intermittently, I'll be logged in for a few days ro a week and then it'll boot me out again.
Apple TV model is A1625 32GB. tvOS 16.4 (20L497)