Inconsistent playlist sync behavior on iOS vs Android, Windows and Linux

[dawidcwikla1]

Hi,
I'm experiencing an inconsistency with how Spotify shows which playlists a song is already added to — specifically on iOS.

Here’s what happens:

• When I add a song to a playlist on Windows 11,

• Then open Spotify on Android or Linux (Kubuntu),
  I can tap the green checkmark ("Add to Playlist") and immediately see all playlists where the song is already saved — even if I haven’t opened those playlists recently.

On iOS, however, this doesn't work correctly:
When I tap the green checkmark on a song, I don’t see the actual playlists the song is in, unless I first manually open each of those playlists one by one. Only then the app seems to “refresh” and show the correct info.

This behavior makes it difficult to manage playlists on iOS — especially when working across multiple devices. I often don’t remember which playlists I used, and the app gives no hint unless I open them manually. On Android, Windows, and Linux, it just works — so this feels like a bug in the iOS app or how it handles cache and sync.

Please fix or improve this behavior on iOS so that playlist data reflects correctly after cross-device sync — just like on Android and desktop.

Thanks!

I also use Spotify on Linux (Kubuntu) and Windows 11. If I add a song to a playlist on Windows, and then open Spotify on Linux and tap the green checkmark (add to playlist), I can instantly see the playlists the song is in — even without opening them beforehand.

The same works on Android. Only iOS fails to reflect these playlist assignments properly unless each playlist is manually opened.

So this is not a server sync issue — it seems to be a problem with how the iOS app caches or fetches playlist data.

[dawidcwikla1]

Hi! 🙂

I just updated Spotify on iOS to newer version: 9.0.44. 

but I wouldn't want to intentionally add a song that I don't want to have, to check if this bug with displaying where a given song is added (to which list) still exists. I'll find out only when I actually want to add something new and save it to the library. I hope for your understanding. Regards!

[dawidcwikla1]

Hi again 🙂

Also tested both the Flatpak and the DEB version on Linux – the issue happens in both cases, so it seems to be a platform-specific behavior, not packaging-related. Looks like the Linux client doesn't refresh the full "Liked Songs" state from server.

[dawidcwikla1]

Quick update (iOS + Linux):

Hi again! 👋

Just a quick update regarding both platforms:

iOS:
The issue with "Added to playlist" info still persists in version 9.0.46.563. I need to manually close and reopen each playlist for it to appear in the "Added to" section. I’ll test further when I naturally want to add something new — I don’t want to risk messing up my library just to reproduce the issue on purpose. 😅

Linux:
After a short moment where my Flatpak client didn’t sync all 3,554 liked songs (it showed fewer), it’s now back to normal without reinstalling. That confirms the issue is likely related to local cache or delayed sync — not account or network problems.
For comparison, the APT (.deb) version also failed to sync correctly, so it’s not just Flatpak.

Thanks again for keeping this thread visible. Hopefully this helps narrow things down for the devs.
Regards! 🙂

[Dessi]

Hi there @dawidcwikla1,

Thanks for the update!

Our tech folks are still looking into this, but we've now forwarded this latest info to them, thanks for checking and letting us know! Also, it looks like you're not running the latest mobile app version so it'd be great if you can update and check if the issue persists afterwards.

Keep us posted.

[dawidcwikla1]

Hello Spotify Community Team,

I'm reporting a highly frustrating and specific bug within the iOS Spotify app related to playlist synchronization and the "Add to Playlist" screen.

The issue is a failure to refresh the list of "recently used playlists" when adding a track, particularly after changes are made on another device (like PC or Android).

Steps to Reproduce (How to see the bug):

1. On PC/Desktop App: Add a new track to two or three different playlists (e.g., "Playlist A," "Playlist B," and "Playlist C").

2. On iOS Device (iPhone/iPad): Select any track and tap "Add to Playlist."

3. The Result: The pop-up menu showing recently used playlists only displays old data (e.g., only "Polubione Utwory" or lists used long ago). It DOES NOT show "Playlist A," "Playlist B," or "Playlist C" as recently used, even though they were just used on the PC.

The Current, Annoying Workaround:

To force the iOS "Add to Playlist" screen to update and show the correct recent lists, I have to:

1. Go back to the main Library screen.

2. Manually open and close (tap on and then navigate away from) "Playlist A," "Playlist B," and "Playlist C."

3. Only after this manual interaction does the "Add to Playlist" pop-up correctly display them as "recently used."

Key Observation:

This issue is specific to the iOS app's interface (likely an aggressive caching of the recent playlists list). The synchronization itself is fine—the track is on the playlists. The bug is that the small pop-up screen fails to read the updated list activity from the server unless the list is physically opened on the iOS device first.

Thank you for your time and attention to this. Fixing this would significantly improve the flow for users who switch between devices.

[shagohodd]

my iphone acc doesnt sync with my pc one (windows), tried all solutions provided here and yt and internet overall. ipad and iphone are synced but not with windows. 

[ctrLd]

bump. 
This has happened countless times, and at the end of the day, a fix for an issue like this, on Spotify end, is so simple that even a baby could do it. Spotify's CDN should have no issues adapting this improvement, and for a web-app there should be zero requirement to even have to reinstall/log out to force a resync.
Really frustrating.