[IOS 15] Auto connect to other device volume

[AyaneXuan]

Plan

Premium

Country

Malaysia

Device

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Operating System

IOS 15

My Question or Issue

After update my phone to ios 15 my spotify auto connect to other device volume setting for example my desktop.

I've try to force close the spotify app but however after some time its still auto connect back the volume ( I've check my background app  spotify was not running ) 

[AyaneXuan]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your inputs and patience so far.

Our tech folks are unable to provide an exact timeline for a fix at this moment.

In the meantime, there's this idea about keeping Spotify Connect's audio control separate from the device volume which you should check out and give a like to. Even though the idea is marked as Closed, it's still open for voting and we encourage to show your support if you'd like to see this feature implemented.

The Community is always here if something else comes up.

Take care.

[Alex]

Hey @Traneupcqk,

Thanks for the post.

Can you provide us with the following info in this thread:

• Exact Spotify version
• Device + OS version
• Troubleshooting step that you're tried so far
• Are there any changes when you try initially setting your phones volume to medium or lower volume?
• Video recording of the issue

Cheers.

[Traneupcqk]

My spotify version is 8.6.84.1353
Running on ip 13 pro max, ios 15.2.

There was no video cause this happens so randomly but all I know is when I play music on my PC then my phone volume goes to maximum

[MafeG]

Hi @Traneupcqk,

Thank you for your reply.

We've passed your information to the team who is investigating this.

Please keep an eye on the thread shared by @Alex, in there we'll post any developments and news we have regarding this issue.

We'll be on the lookout. 

[klaster]

• iPhone 12, iOS 15.2
• Spotify for macOS (Intel): 1.1.76.447.g11f432d8
• Spotify for iOS: 8.6.94.351
• Reset account cache, change password, reinstall mobile app, devices lock screen – off, upgraded device (XR –> 12)

[DSteel22]

Hello,

I’m having the same issue of volume going to zero when I have my phone connected to the Bluetooth stereo in my vehicle. What I’ve noticed is that when Spotify is playing through the vehicle(BT), the volume bar on the watch shows 0% even though my phone is showing 100% volume. So the slightest bump to the watch crown turns the volume to 5% or whatever the next lowest volume is. There is not enough movement in my wrist to ramp volume from 100 to 0. This is not the case for when I play Spotify audio from my iPhone speakers, the volume shown on the watch is the same as what is displayed on the phone. For reference, if I play Apple Music audio, the volume bar is properly sync’d in both scenarios. Also, same condition when I had the iPhone 8plus. 

I’ve done a full reboot of watch. Uninstalled and reinstalled the Spotify app on phone. this has always happened since I bough the watch. I don’t use BT headphones much. I will test that. 

iPhone 13 pro max - iOS 15.2.1

Watch series 6 - watchOS 8.3

Spotify app - 8.6.98

[MafeG]

Hi @DSteel22,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community!

In order to narrow this down as much as possible, we'd like to know if you were able to test if the same happens when connecting to a different Bluetooth device such as the headphones you mention.

Also, it'd be very useful if you could share with us a video showing the connection process you follow. This way we can take a better look at the issue.

Keep us posted.

[Traneupcqk]

Hi @MafeG @Alex

Thanks for your reply.

I don't know the exact steps to reproduce this bug, but I think here it is.

1. Use a Windows PC and play music on Spotify, just keep it playing. No stop

2. Start Spotify on an iOS device then put it to background (Swipe the navigation bar up to go Home).

3. Do not use that iOS device for an amount of time (eg: 30mins or 1 hour)

4. After specific amount of time, the iOS device's volume went to maximum for no reason.

Note: I turned on Background App Refresh for Spotify.

Hope it's useful.

[Kiril]

Hey there @Traneupcqk,

Thanks for your reply and additional info on the matter.

As @MafeG already mentioned, we passed on your details and relevant info to our internal teams, who are currently investigating this. We're unable to give you an exact prediction about when this situation will be resolved though. However, it's best to follow the thread that @Alex has provided, as any updates on the matter will be posted there first.

Hope this gets sorted out soon. If you need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[skywalkrncsu]

I just upgraded my phone to an iPhone 13 Max Pro from an iPhone XR and now whenever I listen to music on my PC it randomly maxes out the volume on my iPhone. This was not an issue with the XR but this is a huge issue now. It is unacceptable for me to have my phone volume maxed out without me knowing and has caused issues when I had headphones in listening to something else.

Everything is up to date and versions are below:

Spotify iOS - 8.6.98.1447
Spotify Windows 10 - 1.1.77.643.g3c4c6fc6
iOS - 15.2.1
Windows 10 - Up to date, build - 19044.1466

I have also gone into the iOS Spotify settings -> Devices -> and unchecked Devices Lock Screen. This seemed to help some but the issue persists.

[MafeG]

Hi folks,

Thank you for posting and sharing your information, we've made sure to pass it on to the teams in charge. 

@skywalkrncsu We've merged your thread with this one, so we can keep all reports in the same place. 

Please make sure to run through the troubleshooting steps shared throughout this thread, some of them have worked for other users. And the issue persists in the end, let us know so we can include your info to the report.

We'll be on the lookout.

[Lag117]

I've also experienced this. It's quite jarring. Here I share my repro steps & workarounds. And suggestions for Spotify to fix.

To reproduce the issue on-demand (vs waiting for it to randomly adjust volume):

1. On mobile device (I use iOS/iPhone):
   1. Quit Spotify app completely; do not background it.
   2. Set device volume to normal (non-max level). I use ~50%.
2. On desktop device (I use macOS/iMac):
   1. Play something on Spotify desktop app.
   2. Set the Spotify volume to something different than mobile device volume. I use 100%. Note that the macOS volume is unchanged. I use ~50%. These are independent volumes, unlike the mobile setup.
3. On mobile device:
   1. Note volume level is still what you had (50% for me),
   2. then open the Spotify app. The volume will be changed (100% for me).
   3. You can pause the music on desktop or mobile app, and the mobile volume returns, usually: If you background the app first and *then* pause on desktop, mobile volume might not return right away; this is probably what is happening in reverse when it suddenly maximizes volume (b/c I use 100% on desktop, YMMV): the backgrounded Spotify app, potentially not used for hours, suddenly syncs because you decide to use your phone and have been playing music on the desktop app; BLAM: NOISE: CRACKLE: ringing in ears. Not fun.

A workaround I tested is to go to mobile Spotify app > Settings > Devices, and turn off "Devices Lock Screen". After that, you pretty much can't control the remote device even *in* the mobile app: You can't pause, because when you press play it switches back to playing on mobile when you unpause. You can't change remote volume in the app either. You can skip songs though. So if you don't need to remote control your desktop from your phone, just turn this setting off.

A different workaround is to delete the Spotify app and switch to Apple Music. Apple Music does not sync playback across devices and will let you play different songs on different devices, with different volume levels, at the same time. But see above workaround: you could just turn the feature off in Spotify; Apple Music doesn't even have the feature.

Suggestion to Spotify: Just turn off volume sync. I noticed we can't do the opposite anyway: I can not control my phone's volume from my desktop app when my phone is the one playing music (the desktop app volume slider grays out). So I can only change songs.

Suggestion 2, to keep volume sync: when mobile app is connecting/controlling a remote device, use a separate in-app volume slider that matches the remote device. This would remove the ability to use mobile up/down physical buttons & lock screen volume sliders, but still allows partial control (desktop also has OS volume, speaker volume, etc.) without interfering with the mobile device's global settings. The Roku TV app does this with mute/down/up buttons. Also acceptable: a separate in-app volume slider all the time, leaving the device's global volume untouched; other apps have this and it lets users turn up or down all those apps or change which app sounds louder than another, just like on desktop.

[Alex]

Hi everybody,

Thank you for your feedback and the information you've submitted.

The developer team at Spotify has confirmed that it's expected behavior when playing on a remote device and have Spotify open, Spotify will always sync the volume to the remote device. That means that the phone volume will jump to a 100% on Spotify app open, if you are playing on desktop with volume set to 100%. The devices lock screen setting will disable this behavior while Spotify is backgrounded, but it will not disable it while Spotify is open.

We know that this app behavior is affecting a lot of users and it proves to be disruptive to the way music is enjoyed. We've passed on all the feedback from this thread to the right teams at Spotify. As we'll look into improvements and adding additional options in the future, we are open for your additional suggestions on what can be improved.

Thank you again for taking the time to create your posts, running through troubleshooting with us and sharing your workarounds.

[Vulpix298]

Hi there, 

No. You don't understand. It's adjusting the volume even when Spotify is not open on the phone. If it's open and playing JUST on my laptop, and not on my phone--not open in background either--it still adjusts the volume. The lockscreen setting is turned off. It is NOT open on my phone. I will be scrolling another app on my phone, spotify playing on my laptop but NOT OPEN on my phone, NOT IN THE BACKGROUND, and the volume will still jump up. Sometimes I don't notice it and then play a video that suddenly blares at full volume. That is not expected behaviour. I have commented a few times on this thread with my issue description so please read my previous comments over again thoroughly this time if you need to. (Capslock is for emphasis, not yelling.)

[Platsson]

@vulpix298 is exactly right, this is mostly what this thread is about.

 Spotify is all the way turned off on the phone or other device and the volume button on the phone still adjust other devices.

from what I’ve seen, we have 2 phones and several echo devices. To start with Spotify is all closed on both phones

 we then start Spotify on one phone, use the phone to start playing on an echo device, once playing on the echo device we close Spotify ( close it all the way) (at this point: if I lock the phone Spotify is NOT on the Lock Screen as expected)

Waiting a while (could be 5 minutes or 20 minutes or anything in between) the phone takes over volume control of the echo again, and it does so on both phones! At this point Spotify is back on the Lock Screen on the phones (usual this occurs on both phones, not necessarily at the same time)

 the only way to get it away from the Lock Screen (and stop controlling the volume on the echo) is to open Spotify and then close it all the way again again

( and when that happens, the adjust volume thingy shows up on the Screen, so if you are browsing the web and scrolling; well the Volume adjuster is just at the place where you scroll, so the volume turns up all the way)

This seem to have started with iOS 15, it could simply be that Apple changed something in the api and some updates to work properly is needed for iOS 15 so it really turns off all the way

[Konigi]

Thank you moderator Alex for sharing that our concerns are heard and that the issue is investigated. This has not been the case with many things reported to Spotify.

But as others have pointed out, it seems our concerns remain misunderstood. What we share is being flagged as expected behaviour, only you now acknowledge that not everyone enjoys it.

This is an understatement.

As others have pointed out, this should NOT be expected functioning from an app. Sometimes I haven't open Spotify for DAYS on my iPhone, but I use it daily on my MacBook. And yet it will still edit my iPhone volume even though I haven't touched the app for days.

One thing you wrote show that the issue is not understood: "it proves to be disruptive to the way music is enjoyed".

No, you don't get it. It is not about the way the music is enjoyed. It is about how the whole phone experience is enjoyed. You, Spotify, would be the first to complain if another iOS app --or worse, Apple-- was meddling with the way your app works. This is the same here. I am just doing anything on my iPhone, like opening a game or watching a video, and the volume, out of nowhere, bursts violently. It took my a while to figure out it is due to Spotify, because it is not even obvious in the first place. This is NOT accepted behaviour for apps. I was not listening to music (it was note even playing on my computer -- the desktop app is just open by default there, whether or not I listen to something) and here it damages my ears, days after days. This is just rogue behaviour by an app which takes control over other apps, or rather, the whole phone.

Seriously, if this is not solved in the following weeks, I am seriously thinking of cancelling my subscription and switching to Apple Music, who understand what an app should be doing and should not be doing. And an app is not supposed to get in the way of other apps. Especially if I have not used it for days.

I have experienced it for months now. It makes no sense at all to keep such a buggy feature like that. Scrap it, please.

[lizkat22]

I agree with the most recent posts. The Spotify app is closed and not running in the background yet still connects to my desktop app and changes the phone volume to max. The app should not be connecting when it is not even running at all. The only way to stop it is to open the app and completely close it again, but then it will just reconnect a few minutes later. As everyone else has stated, we seem to have completed all of the proposed troubleshooting steps and nothing has fixed it thus far. I have had this issue since October 2021.

[AndyDevine]

Still a thing in 2022.

macOS 10.12.6

Spotify desktop client for macOS (Intel) 1.1.77.643.g3c4c6fc6

iPhone 11 Pro Max with iOS 15.3

Spotify on iPhone presumably latest/current version, I have auto-update of apps enabled on phone. 

Volume of macOS desktop client and iPhone's system volume are linked. 

Even when I quit the Spotify app on my phone; disconnected phone from WiFi and disabled Bluetooth and STILL the phone volume and the desktop macOS Spotify client volume slider are hooked together. Changing volume on iPhone Control Center changes the volume in desktop client, and vice versa. This makes no sense.  

[kptr]

As others mentioned, it's very difficult to record, but for clarification it look like the following: I'm scrolling in an app on my iPhone(iOS:15.2.1 and earlier versions, model no: MLPF3HU/A), and then suddenly the volume bar appears with full volume then it start playing sound at max level. In some cases it can happen like 3 times in a minute, sometimes once a week. 

It may be connected to the fact, that I'm also using Spotify (Spotify for macOS (Intel) 1.1.77.643.g3c4c6fc6) on my Mac (16-inch, 2019, macOS 12.1 (21C52))

[Yordan]

Hello everyone,

We have passed on your feedback to our developers, who'll be looking into any possible solutions. As always, we'll post updates as soon as we have new information to share, so stay tuned.

Take care!

[5m4d]

another week has passed, what's your excuse this time? passed some more info to your developers? 😄

just fix this, it's so annoying, so many complaints and so many threads just about this issue