Spotify interfering with Auto lock

[sarahs16]

Plan

Premium

Country

 USA

Device

iPhone X

Operating System

iOS 12

My Question or Issue

 Lately I’ve noticed that when I’m listening to music on Spotify and a notification pops up or I check my screen, the screen doesn’t auto lock after 30 seconds like I have in my settings. Auto lock works with all my other music apps. Anyone else notice this issue?

[dlireton]

I really hope this gets figured out soon!! The screen waking back up/ staying awake constantly is absolutely KILLING my battery. batteries only get so many full charges before wearing out, and i would really rather NOT pay for another battery due to spotify's issue. During commutes i now avoid listening to spotify and instead use podcasts because it is not worth having my phone go from 100% to under 50% in under an hour commute...

• Your device and its OS version
  • iphone 6s iOS 12.2
• The version of the Spotify app
  • 8.5.0.833
• Does the same occur when trying on a different device or when offline/connected to a different network connection?
  • occurs all the time no matter the connection
• Does this only happen while the app is in the foreground, or also in the background?
  • both foreground and background - noticed if i manually lock screen (hitting side button) it will go dark until the next song and then will turn back on

[ryan_018]

I am having the same issue. I have not had any issues when in the app itself however when listening to spotify in the background my phone won't autolock when notifications pop up on the lock screen and when attempting to play any form of other media (voice messages, videos in twitter, iMessage, reddit, etc. posisbly even snapchats?) there are repeated interruptions where the media will play for 1 second when I click "play" but will pause instantly after the second. To note, I can only recall these events happening when Spotify is paused in the background. Either due to me diconnecting my airpods or pausing in the iOS control center, never through the app itself. I find that pressing play and then pressing pause in the actual Spotify app normally resolves the issue (that and force closing the app). I am unable to consistently replicate this issue however through my experience it appears to be an issue with the Spotify app recognizing if it is playing on the device or not through external controls (i.e. the music stops playing when paused through forms other than the app itself, but the app still thinks that it is playing music and attempts to stop other media from playing because of that). 

edit: I just got the issue of screen not auto-locking while actively listening to music. I placed my phone on a wireless charging pad and am listening wirelessly with airpods. Placing the phone on the charger turns on the screen to show that it is charging and the screen never turned off since.

I am using an iPhone X on iOS 12.2 (this has happened on previous versions too)

Spotify app version 8.5.0

[AMR1994]

This has been happening to me since installing the app and signing up for premium family last month. Very annoying and killing my battery when I don't notice that it hasnt locked. I have an iphone Xs and am running the most current version of spotify. 

[ktt889]

I've been having this issue as well. 

iPHONE XR iOS 12.2

Spotify Version 8.5.1.105

Happens when the app is in the foreground as well as the backround. 

[user-removed]

It’s been more than 6 months now and this bug hasn’t been fixed yet...

This is really unacceptable. It should be escalated and addressed quickly as it is a critical bug.

On iPhone X and XS, not only it drains the battery, but as they have an OLED screen, it can cause a burn in on the screen. Do you still have people working on the app Spotify? 

I think we can all understand that bugs occur and can be patient. But more than 6 months, for a service that we pay and a bug that occur on the lastest flagships, it’s a shame. 

I’m now considering to switch to Apple Music as I don’t want to destroy my oled screen.

[kashmerekitty]

Same issue here, just did fresh install of Spotify and restarted iphone (most up to date ios).  Seemst o have fixed the issue for now.  If it happens again I will report back.  It's been DRAINING my battery!

[Jemi]

Hey folks,

Thank you for reporting this issue to us.

We just wanted to let you know that the right folks are looking into this.

We're not able to provide an exact timeline for a fix, but we'd recommend always keeping your Spotify app up-to-date to ensure you're on the latest version.

Thanks again!

[Nicotroll]

I have the exact same problem. Hopefully there is a fix soon because this is extremely annoying.

I have an iPhone XS

[k3ellix]

This is happening to me as well (I've tried all the debug steps suggested in this thread)

The only way I can get my phone's autolock feature back is if I "swipe away" Spotify from my recently used apps.

Spotify Version: 8.5.2.666

Subscription: Premium

Operating System: iOS 12.2

Phone Model: iPhone 8 Plus

[paulskim586]

I've been having the auto-lock issue for at least 4~5 months, from what I'm aware of.  Didn't put two and two together that it was actually a Spotify App issue rather than an actual Iphone XS Max phone issue.

Like others, if the Spotify App is open, whether playing any music or not, once I receive a notification while the phone is locked, it turns the screen on to notify me of the notification, but does not go back to idling.  I can't even imagine how many nights the screen remained turned on while the phone was charging during my sleep when receiving notifications.  I've tested the duration and if you leave the phone alone once a notification is received, the screen will remain on indefinitely; as long as there is battery life to sustain the screen being on.  This is literally killing peoples batteries and screens.

Killing the app from the background and just not using the app fixes the issue of the screen not auto-locking, so if the issues persists, I'll also have to consider cancelling my Premium family plan.  I'd rather move to another service than have my phone destroyed slowly over time.  I've also tried other "possible" fixes like turning attention awareness off and uninstalling and reinstalling the app, but the issue still remains.

Phone Specs:

Iphone XS Max 256gb

IOS 12.1.2

Spotify version 8.5.2.66

[Nicotroll]

I’ve cancelled my Spotify and went with Apple Music.. the issue is gone

[scotty321]

This is an absolutely urgent issue, because it is a security leak!! Please see my thread on this issue here:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/Urgent-security-issue-with-Spotify-for-iOS-Spotify-...

[JVGen]

This is still an issue.  If I leave spotify open in the background while my phone is idling (screen is black) and receive a notification, the screen stays on indefinitely.  Spotify is not playing music and is running as a background app (e.g. I don't have spotify selected when I first put my phone into idle).

The only way to get around it is to close Spotify completely when not in use.  When in use, I have to watch my phone for notifications and manually power off the screen after receiving a notification.

Much longer and I'll have to switch to another service (its been weeks since this issue was posted...)

[k3ellix]

@Jemi why is this issue marked as not right now if the "right folks" are looking into it? the status, without clear explanation, implies that this issue has already been acknowledged and triaged by Spotify and that the decision to resolve it is not right now.  i can imagine that it's deterring other from voting on it. if the "right folks" are truly looking into it, it should be under investigation.

it's literally affective everyone iphone user with spotify that i know...

[RaffGonz]

I also have this issue. @SpotifyCares on Twitter advised me to contact Apple, but this isn't an Apple issue. Only the Spotify app causes this and reinstalling makes no difference. If i kill the app completely, auto-locking works again. iOS 12.3 Spotify 8.5.3. No difference whether wifi or cellular. No difference whether the device is open, or in the background. Major security issue and i'm going to have to consider cancelling my account.

[RaquelFernandes]

Having the same issue here 🙋🏽‍♀️. Am new to Spotify and have re-installed twice with no luck. Am on iPhone 6, iOS 12.2.

[RaffGonz]

We need to keep this thread alive. It’s totally not ok for this not to be fixed. I’d also recommend that people tweet @Eldsjal on Twitter who is the CEO of Spotify for some action on this. This isn’t a mere nuisance it’s a security risk for all the data on our phones. 

[sarahs16]

All, it seems Spotify released an update to the app last night. I just updated and will let you all know if something happens! If you’ve updated, please let us know how it works for you!

[dlireton]

I was hoping the update last night would help as well! Unfortunately it is definitely not. Just got back from a couple meetings where I left my phone in my office, and it was apparently lit up the entire time. Battery went from over 80% to under 50% in less than 2 hours. Thankfully, the notifications I had on my screen did not contain sensitive material, but this issue is becoming ridiculous. The security issue is obviously most pressing, but this is also causing significant wear and tear on the device as well. Pretty sure Spotify doesn't want to have to pay for all replacement phone batteries...

[paulskim586]

Hm, can this be grounds for a class action lawsuit?  Not sure about most others, but I'm a paying customer who signed up for a music streaming service, not a "destroy my phone battery and burn out my screen slowly" service. 

Someone else posted, I think, but I think Spotify basically deflected and said to take the phone back to Apple, which means they think it isn't their issue.

The "lockscreen not idling indefinitely after receiving a notification" issue has been around on my iphone xs max for several months now, and the Spotify app is literally the only thing that causes this issue.  Spotify either has programmers who are a bunch of Google rejects, or maybe ex-Microsoft programmers, and are the most incompentent programmers on this planet, or... they just don't give a **bleep** because they're still raking in money from both paid subscribers and free users through advertisement revenue.