Iphone 4 - spotify with waze - audio drop outs

[neakmenter]

iPhone 4 ios 7.1.1 spotify and waze causing audio drop outs. Anybody got any recommendations (other than upgrading to an iphone5)? Spotify works fine when I'm not using waze, but it seems like the combination is too much for the CPU or something - about once or twice per minute audio will stop for a few seconds, similar to buffering issues, but it's definitely not a bandwidth buffering thing, as it's fine when spotify's either the front app or if I close the screen... It didn't used to with older versions of the apps... And it doesnt when using the built-in music or podcast apps...
Incredibly frustrating. Any help anyone? Or info about how I can put the older app versions back on my iphone!?

[riffmaker]

I have exactly the same problem. Native music app works fine.

[Peter__]

It is possible the device is struggling, from what I understand Spotify does a lot more decoding for playback than for mp3's and others (via the native app).

[riffmaker]

It's possible. But couple updates back everything was fine. Playback works when the screen is locked, but it's probably because there's nothing to render

[RaylonS]

I use waze often, and I've noticed - not only when Waze is being used - but when other apps are fighting for the audio that it can cause dropouts in the songs.

If you haven't yet tried, go into Waze and disable the voice prompts (the little speaker icon). This may help you.

[riffmaker]

Hi,

thanks. I've tried that, but unfortunately it doesn't help at all

[neakmenter]

Hi there - Thanks for the input... I've also tried disabling other audio feeds (from the waze app and all others) - it seems to make no difference!

I agree that it's likely that the device is struggling - but it seems to be only with the latest versions of Spotify

As an update -

A) the issue occurs when any of my various gps (satnav) apps are in active use - seems like rendering the screen updates when moving has an impact - this goes for Apple's own Maps app too.

B) the issue occurs regardless of streaming quality selected

C) the issue also occurs when playing downloaded offline tracks - again regardless of selected download quality

D) I downloaded SpotEQ to try an alternative client - Same issues.

Whilst I appreciate that IOS 7 is certainly not optimised for the older hardware - (there are occational track transistion issues even in Apples IOS podcasts app) - it is very frustrating that theres no way of raising the priority of the spotify playback engine relative to the screen renders. I belive that IOS 6 had quite a different Audio subsystem. I certainly regret upgrading the software as there's no going back!

I do belive though that the older versions of Spotify didn't have this issue - even on IOS 7 - though my memory could be wrong here.

Still again - I didn't save the old .ipa files so can't downgrade my Spotify Client to test this!

Please Spotify - if there is any way you could do a "lite" version or at least test the client in more situations - such as this very popular one of driving and listening to music... that would be awesome. Thanks. 🙂

[Ladymcquaid]

I have an iphone 5. Same issue. Just noticed today. When I use waze, the music stops. This is no good. Need a fix ASAP.

[neakmenter]

I found what may be a partial workaround. Kinda annoying though.

Try Waze in 2D maps mode. Seems to stress the CPU that much less and seems to lead to less or no drop outs of spotify audio.

The only trouble is that 2D doesnt show as much of the road ahead and is less clear to use when driving. Its one heck of a compromise...

Very dissapointed to hear this is happening on iPhone 5 too. I was thinking about upgrading my handset to try to get around this issue. Are you iOS7 or iOS8?

Its just a real shame that apple have obviously deprioritised the audio subsystem relative to the screen rendering. It seems like apples music and podcasts apps are more aggressive at grabbing cpu time - i wonder if spotify programmers would be able to do this too???

[neakmenter]

So - this seems to be getting worse! Even happening with only the spotify app open now!
If I play a track that needs to animate the text to fit the tack name in, the whole thing stops playback whilst the animation happens!
The only workaround is to start the song, then standby the screen!
I KNOW it's an "old" phone, but come on! How inefficient is this screen render code!!! Sort it out spotify. Please?

[hanrandr]

Same problem plays track but no audio sort it out spotify I pay good money

[Ladymcquaid]

So I have a 6s now, and no more issues. Now if only they'd change their privacy settings to allow waze to use your locations only while using the app. Sigh

[neakmenter]

lucky you! I actually eventually got an iphone5 and haven't found a problem with it. The 4 is relegated to a kitchen music player. It does ok for that task...