Disable autoplay when connected to Bluetooth

[HLMem]

Give an option to not play music when connected to a Bluetooth device like the car. The android client has this why not iphone?

This issue has been brought up in 2018, 2019, and 2020 and the mods keep saying it's a user issue and to reinstall. Please stop lying to us as its a spotify feature issue. 

[nevsky]

didn't work for a minute; rebooted my iphone, and the shortcut DOES seem to work...!

[nevsky]

can't edit posts here? anyway, it's just NOT working, it shows up when i connect my headphones (to pause playback on iphone), but... music continues. UGH

[Juicewzl]

This feature still does not exist. All I want is for my music to play when I WANT IT. Not start playing when my car turns on. It is NOT a feature of an older blue tooth, this happens on both car play and the 2022 I just got. I don’t want music to blaring unexpectedly.

inreally so like Spotify, I’ve used it for a decade, but “play music only when I want it to” seems fairly simple to expect from a music player. 

I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m honestly going to look at Apple Music and see if it’s capable of Basic Functionality 

[cocowinter]

where can I find the feature?

[StorytellerDragon]

So what I'm seeing on this thread, and several others highlighting this problem is that the only solution is to uninstall Spotify and cancel the sub. Because none of these fixes seem to work, in fact half the menu options mentioned don't exist where they're said to exist. All because i simply don't want to get blasted out of my seat every time my phone connects to the car.

[Wilpie]

I have the same problem. Even when I don't listen to music and end a phone call, Spotify starts playing music on my Bluetooth device.
I now have the option Spotify Connect on background turned off. Then tested by making a telephone conversation. It now remains silent after the telephone conversation has ended. I turned the option back on. and still remains silent. There may be a bug in this???

Hopefully this is helpful to you. At least it's quiet for me today 🙂

[Wilpie]

try disabling the option "Spotify Connect", see my post below.

[Wilpie]

The problem still exists, so this was not the final solution. Strange that turning it on/off seems to work temporarily?

[slmswpj2noc0eio]

Plan

Premium

Country

Canada

Device

Android, Samsung S10

My Question or Issue

Whenever I open spotify on my phone it will automatically start playing if I am connected to my Bluetooth FM transmitter in my car.

I have disabled car mode.

I have disabled Android Auto.

I ha e disabled autoplay.

This problem is not related to any of those things.

It is extremely frustrating.

Furthermore, whenever I finish a podcast it will automatically start playing another podcast, but when I open the app it will stop playing and instead list nothing as having been played. This means I have to search for whatever it was playing instead of just having it show up at the bottom of the screen.

[Steffffi]

Nothing is helping in Android, this a real pain in the... every other media app can do it and dont let startup the app when connected to the car audio.

I solved it now this way: remove spotify app an use webplayer in Firefox Android if I want to listen to a podcast. When done, I end the browser and close it, done. It wont appear again till I open the spotify website.

Another solution is: logout from Spotify and only login in the APP when really needed. If you save the credentials in your wallet, it works real quick.

[Ccvandyck]

Just a note that the option noted in the post for the shortcut no longer works. There is no action to ‘pause’ media anymore in IOS 17.4.1. 

[MatMoir12]

I have found a solution that works 100% of the time for both Android and iOS….

Cancel all subscriptions and delete the app!

Spotify will soon rectify the fault when they lose all their custom.

You are welcome 🤗 

[Claude_in_Cincinnati]

100% correct!
Force Stopping doesn't do anything to stop the app from playing on it's own. It's incredibly insulting to call this an OS problem. it is NOT. Furthermore, it's not that Spotify starts playing when Bluetooth is initiated, but rather when you turn Bluetooth devices off, well after you've stopped the music via the app, CLOSED IT, not playing in background (though it must be because the sound has to be coming from SOMEWHERE). Sometimes it takes a good minute before out of the blue, I just hear music starting to blast from the phone. Earphones are in the charging carrier, off, and, again, SPOTIFY IS CLOSED. 
If I'm in a situation, like a courtroom, and this happens, Spotify is LITERALLY ENDANGERING MY FREEDOM. 

FIX THIS IDIOTIC CODING.
Period.

[deiv667]

This problem is related to the device you are connecting to, Car or Headphones or other Bluetooth devices.

It is not Spotify related and it is not an Android or iOS issue.

The problem lies in how the bluetooth interface is programmed. For example, I had this problem when I connected to my car, but not with other bluetooth headphones. I discovered that when the car connected to the phone it sent a bluetooth Media Button Play command at every communication. So if I put the music in Stop even by turning off the screen it restarted. This is because for every action there is a bluetooth communication between the car and the phone, and the signal coming from the car always contained the Play Button

I solved it with an app that intercepts the Media Button Play signal coming from the car and transforms it into Stop and I solved it

Specifically I used MacroDroid for Android, I created a macro that contains: Event: Media Button V2 Play, Action: Media Button Stop, Constraint: When connected to the car's bluetooth.

There are also other apps like tasker that do similar things.

The basic idea is to intercept the Bluetooth Play signal that comes to the phone from the device and transform it into Stop. There are many Bluetooth devices, especially car infotainment, which are programmed to send the Media Button Play signal at every interaction with the phone.

Hope this can help.

The same procedure can be applied to headphones or anything else that causes autoplay problems

[DoffaM]

If I have been listening to Spotify but have paused it, it will begin playing what I was listening when I unlock my phone.

[DoffaM]

Hi, thanks for the reply. It mostly happens when I have been connected to Android Auto, via USB in different makes and models of vehicles, or when I have had my ear buds connected. It sometimes happens when I haven't connected to anything but not often.

I have a Pixel 8, now on Android 15. 

[Dnivek]

Now Spotify thinks they should charge us more because they can't fix a problem, maybe they need to hire a couple hundred people to not resolve issue, I'm down with cancel family subscription, I don't know why I should be uninstalling an app all the time to stop it from automatically playing. And this problem is directly related to Android auto, when in my vehicle on weekend with Android auto I have to select Spotify and start playing music, but then all week driving my work vehicle with only Bluetooth Spotify thinks it should automatically start playing, every time I start vehicle. If on the weekend I don't listen to Spotify in other vehicle this doesn't happen.... They need to add the feature to stop it, not replace cars to stop it...

[Darkprocessor]

I have a Samsung S21, of course Android installed.
When I'm in my car, everytime I connect Bluettoth, Spotify automatically starts.
I don't want that.

How do I prevent Spotify to autostart when Bluetooth is connected ?