Spotify eating up data and causing overage charges

[emzabell]

Hello, I am using the latest version of Spotify on iOS 7 (running on an iPhone 5) with a Premium account and, just this month, it has started to eat up my data like crazy. I have not changed any of my Spotify settings, nor have I used the app any more than usual, and I have already gotten 2 overage charges on my 5GB data plan (I have currently used 7.753GB on a data cycle ending on the 25th, mostly from Spotify's usage) which usually covers all my data usage. Just in the past 3 days, it has used 2.4 GB of data which is absurd given my level of spotify usage. I checked my last.fm account just to make sure spotify was not left on playing music continuously, and that does not appear to be the case.

Regarding settings, I do not have sync over 2g/3g turned on but I am playing music at Extreme levels. Again, it has always been set to Extreme with cellular sync turned off, I have not been using the app anymore than usual, and I have never had a problem until now. This is definitely an issue with the app sucking data away.

I can try uninstalling and reinstalling the app to see if that fixes the issue, but that does not take care of the data overages I am now facing (currently $20 - 2 extra gigabytes at $10/GB - but it will be much more if this continues). I will be cancelling my subscription if this is not remedied.

I hope this is the right place to receive support from the company regarding this issue but I will also try using the contact form. It is frustrating that Spotify does not have a call center for this kind of support.

[emzabell]

By the way, my spotify username is elfie7x if you need to look at my account.

[Merik]

I've noticed other users having this same problem. Other users are experiencing data usage when setting the app to Offline mode. Spotify is aware of this problem, and hopefully, they work out something soon.

[emzabell]

Yeah there's no way I'm the only one. I never turned on offline mode, though.

This is a serious bug that needs to be squashed immediately. I could end up with $100+ in overages at this rate if I were to continue using Spotify every day (but of course I won't). If they are unwilling to reimburse me, I will be switching to a competitor.

[Merik]

I recommend you contact Spotify at their contact form and see what they say and maybe they can troubleshoot what's going on. But I know, Spotify will NOT reimburse you for excess data usage - I would try talking with your cellular provider and see if they can waive the fees. If you are in the USA, I recommend you go with T-Mobile as they have unlimited data..trust me when I say unlimited data I mean you can use over 100GB and not even get a warning.

[emzabell]

I understand that they wouldn't reimburse users for regular data usage, but they better if their app is chewing up data in the background when it's not supposed to be and causing overage fees. I would think they would be liable to a class action lawsuit, but either way they ought to if they don't want to lose their customers.

[Peter__]

You can take it up with customer services and see what they say, although I agree with above it is highly unlikely Spotify will fork out to cover your data charges. However its worth pointing out that in signing up for the service you waived your right to take part in a class action lawsuit against Spotify under section 18 of the EULA (whether that in itself is legally allowed, I don't know!). 

[gpers]

I'm having the same issue - where I'm now stuck for 4.6 gigs of data used by spotify and I wasn't even listening! 😞

How do I "take it up with customer services"? I can't seem to find an email address...

Thanks

[Peter__]

You can email them from this page. 😉

[emzabell]

I have spoken with Verizon and there is nothing they can do for me regarding this issue. It is most definitely an issue with the Spotify app, which I'm highly suspecting started with the recent update on November 29th as I had no issue previous to that date.

I've done a little research on class action waivers in arbitration clauses and it appears that, unfortunately, they are currently legal in the United States. It concerns me that it seems there is basically no protection AFAIK available for consumers who are incurring damages less than what it would cost to litigate or arbitrate (in which case, why bother?).

[theRealBigP]

Just wanted to chime in and say that I too am experiencing extremely high data usage rates that I just started noticing the weekend of 12/7. I've been a Premium subscriber for about two years, and have always listened to Spotify while driving/walking around over cellular. I got a data overage for the first time in 3 years with AT&T, and sure enough, when I checked the usage in Settings...Cellular, it reported Spotify chewing up the vast majority of my data.

On 12/14, a new billing cycle started for me, so I tried a little experiment: I went back to Settings...Cellular, and reset my statistics. Then I started streaming a single track from the iOS Spotify app and paused it after about 15-20 seconds. When I went back to Settings..Cellular, the entry for Spotify reported 6 MB of data usage for those few seconds of playback! I've always listened at 96 kbits/sec, and if I multiply that out, I only come to (96 kbits * 1024 kbits/sec * 20 sec / 8 bits per byte) = 245760 bytes, which is nowhere close to the 6 MB reported usage. The only thing I can think of that I changed around the time of 12/7 is I switched to offline mode for a couple of hours, realized that I didn't have enough storage on my device to cache many of my songs, and then switched back to online mode. 

For the time being, I have disabled cellular access for Spotify in the iOS settings, but this is not a workable solution. If anyone from Spotify is reading this, please let me know how I can help troubleshoot this problem. I enjoy the service, but I cannot go into debt with data overage charges 😉

[theRealBigP]

Uninstalling/reinstalling Spotify on my iPhone did not address the problem. I also tried Spotify on my wife's iPhone, logging in with my account - same problem. 

[slowantelope]

I'm having the same issue.  It started last month.  I have a 3gig monthly plan through ATT and I've used almost 2 gig listening to Spotify for around 3 hours over 3 days.  I had $20 in overages last month after about two weeks into the period. 

This is horrible.  I was going to buy a Spotify subscription for my wife for Christmas.  Glad I didn't.  I'll have to cancel if this isn't fixed soon. 

[Sfffen]

I'm having the exact same problem since the latest update... I checked the cellular usage statistics and listening to music for 10 minutes almost used up 150 (!!!) Mb with the quality set to basic.

What the hell, Spotify? This bug makes the whole app unusable...

[emzabell]

I was going to gift a subscription as well to my father but I changed my mind once this started happening. I'm speaking with Spotify support over email but they haven't gotten back to me in a few days.

I spoke with Apple support and they've reported the issue to the App Store team. Hopefully the app will be temporarily taken down or reverted to the old version in the App Store before this harms other users.

[emzabell]

Still haven't heard back from Spotify support in a week. This is unbelievable and I'm very upset. I've cancelled my Spotify subscription and started a free trial of Google Play Music All Access. Unless Spotify starts treating me like a valuable customer and remedies this situation, it looks like Google will be getting my $10/month from here on out.

[sonic1905]

I downloaded the app on my phone and on my pc, and listened to a couple of songs and then over the last couple of days my mobile data usage has skyrocketed. Ive used a gig in 2 days when for the last 24 months ive been on a 1.5g plan rarely even coming close to the limit.

My mobile provider contacted me about irregular usage and ive pinpointed it to spotify (even though i wasnt even using it!) and had to remove it from my phone. 

[CraftyCraft]

Just wanted to say that I too am having the same issues. $40 in overages this month! I have written to Spotify support and I hope this is addressed. I believe this began with the last update and am very frustrated. Spotify, please fix this!

[Drewman24]

I too am having this issue.  In fact today (while using Spotify) I received texts from Verizon saying I had gone over my Data usage for the month and then an hour later (while still listening to Spotify) it said I had used a GB of data!  I merely thought fliping the swtich on the playlist to "offline" meant I was offline and it wasn't until later did I realize that you had to go into the app settings and select "offline" as well to actually be offline.

I have the sound quality on normal however I wasn't on "offline" but apparently it sounds like people are still experiencing this issue even when they went into their settings and selected "offline" for their playlists.  

Is this truly a bug, because I've only had the mobile premium version on my phone for about 4 days now and that's when my data usuage shot up on my phone?

[annaelvira]

Same here... Spotify cost me about €25 last 2 days beacuse I did'nt know the reason I charche more data use. Furius right now. Will report this as well to Apple and Telenor (which is my Swedish phone subscriber). How do you contact Sportify by this form: https://www.spotify.com/us/about-us/contact/contact-spotify-support/ ? 
There is no option for this matter in the form. Even more irritating. Spotify should pay us back the money we've lost cus of this.