Audiobooks locked on ios app but plays on desktop and web player

[snakedisorder]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

iPhone X

Operating System

(iOS 16.7

as the title says, i'm unable to play audiobooks through the app but i'm able to listen everywhere else. When I add to my library and try to listen on my phone, i'm prompted to purchase the audiobook despite being a premium user. i've cleared my cache and reinstalled the app on my phone several times but still cannot play any audiobooks through the app. 

[Lyubka]

Hey @snakedisorder,

Thank you for reaching out here in the Community. 

By saying that you're a Premium user, but you can't access your audiobook in the app, you got us thinking that you might be logged into another account that doesn’t have Premium. Can you please double check that you're using the correct account on your mobile app ? 

In order to do that, go ahead and open your Settings and check under Account - you should see "Premium Plan" there. 

If that's not what you're seeing but you know you're subscribed to the service, we'd recommend that you log out and try locating your other account with the steps here.
 

Once you find it - you can log in and try to see if the issue persists. In case it does - let us know. We'll be happy to help out further 🙂

[snakedisorder]

I only have one account. I do not have any others. I am logged into the same account on my phone app and desktop app

[Joan]

Hi @snakedisorder,

Thanks for the reply. Could you let us know the exact Spotify Versions you use on both the iOS app and on Desktop? Perhaps there is some discrepancy there that is causing this.

Thanks in advance.

[Liza2834]

I have the exact same problem. What is the solution please as it is very impractical to use my laptop to listen. 

[Pokeymama]

I have the same problem, and no laptop.

[Breadmlk]

I had the same issue, I fixed it by updating the app on my iPad.

[SummerSaison]

I have this issue in the android app as well. The book plays fine on desktop but shows as locked on the mobile app.

[Pokeymama]

I reinstalled Spotify on my phone and that took care of the issue.

[laurenwford]

I had the same issue. I updated the app and that solved my problem. Will report back if any further issues.

[Giantandre]

Can confirm this worked for me as well

[#12]

I have 34 minutes left on an audiobook.
My 15 hours of time have just refreshed.
I am getting the message. Title not n subscribers catalogue anymore. However you can still listen until may 9th.
It will not play!!

[#13]

I have just paid a top up on my Premium subscription to get another 10 hours of listening. The book I want is showing as locked in the app, but I can listen to it on the web. Any idea how to unlock it in the app?

[user1238873]

The same thing is occurring to me - I only have one account, which is a premium account and my app is up to date. On desktop I can play the audio book for free but on my iphone it says it's locked and can't be purchased on the app. But then on desktop, it doesn't say it needs to be purchased, nor does it show where to purchase it if it was necessary. Kind of a rip off to have premium advertised as allowing access to audiobooks and then restricting that access on the mobile app, which has got to be like 90% of the use case. Constitutes false advertising and a failure to deliver paid services. 

Is anyone at Spotify even reading these? Would love to know this is getting addressed. I went through several chat boards, FAQ centers, etc. and found no relevant answer nor a way to directly contact support. 

[dborishansky]

Updating the iOS app worked for me, too.

"Make sure your app is on the latest version" should be the default response for this problem from Spotify support -- unless a version comes along and breaks the functionality, of course 🙂

[Ardwinna]

I have a similar problem. I can only access the audiobooks on my Android device, but I cannot listen to them on my desktop. I believe I purchased the audiobooks through my mobile phone, and maybe that's why I can't listen to them on the desktop? However, I am logged into the same premium account on both Android and desktop, so I'm not sure why it doesn't work on desktop. 

[#17]

The audiobook play button has a lock on it. When i hit the button the screen says "Want to Listen? You can't buy audiobooks in the app, but titles you've already purchased through Spotify can be listened to here."
I have Spotify Premium.

[money4jamm]

just reinstall the app on your phone. problem solved.