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Spotify is extremely slow to sync offline playlists on iOS

Solved!

Spotify is extremely slow to sync offline playlists on iOS

Hi,
I'm running the latest Spotify for iOS 5.0.1 version + did a complete restore on 2 iPhones 4S yesterday. I have the same problem on both my iPhones: Spotify is unbearably slow to sync offline playlists.
I have 1200 songs that I want to sync for offline listening. The mobile Spotify app is extremely slow to sync songs and usually stops after 20-25 songs. This has been happening for weeks if not months.
I have a blazing fast cable connection: 100Mb download speed + backup 8Mb download DSL. I've tried on these 2 connections + a 20Mb DSL connection at work and I have the same issue. Wifi signal is 5/5 on both iPhones and bandwidth tests are good.
Friends of mine living where I live (Strasbourg, France) don't seem to have the same problem. I can only think that it might be related to my account.
In addition, I've had to re-download all my playlists something like every 2 weeks for the last 4 or 5 month. I'm only using Spotify for offline listening on 2 devices so it has nothing to do with the 3 device limit.
I usually turn offline mode off every 5 days to make sure my offline playlists will stay on my 2 iPhones but I still have to re-download everything very frequently.
Spotify has become unbearably painful to use because of all this...
Please help!
Thank you,
Fred
Reply

Accepted Solutions
Marked as solution

Please try to sync the tracks again now, it should've been greatly improved since yesterday evening.

 

Hope it works better now!

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

Although syncing playlists to my iPhone is slow, it's bearable.  My large issue is that when manually syncing specific playlists, I'm only to sync 1 playlist at a time.  Furthermore, when trying to scroll down to view all of my playlists, spotify snaps back up to the top of the screen, not allowing me to see playlists further down.  

 

The view of the playlist sync window is also extremely cumbersome, not allowing to change to a detail list view rather than the album cover view.  In addition, the playlists are not in any sort of particular order, so it becomes difficult to find exactly what you're looking for.

 

Lastly, the playlists viewed includes both my spotify playlists as well as my iTunes playlists, even I've set my preferences NOT to show iTunes music sources.  I can sync my iTunes files from iTunes (quite easily I might add.)

 

All in all, the system needs a big overhaul. 

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

I had previously experienced slow sync issues but as reported these have improved significantly. I went to see a band called 'Waters' in Lyon tonight and added their album to my playlist from my seat. I got home and 10 songs synced over wifi within 2-3 mins.

@Mrgrimm your problems are predominantly user interface related. This slow syncing problem thread isn't the best place for it to be seen by people who can solve your problem.

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

Yes. Please do something about the view of the Playlist Sync window. The issue with the playlists snapping back to the top after scrolling is completely maddening. I can't believe this has not been fixed. GIVE US A LIST VIEW PLEASE!

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

Hi, I'm still having lots of problems syncing playlists offline.  The only way I can get them to sync is to listen to the song in a wifi area.  What's up?

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

I'm having the same issue as well. I'm connected via wifi and it has taken 30 minutes to sync 5 songs. I have an iPhone 4 and just updated to the newest OS today which I think is 5.1. Its like brutal slow. I had to resync everything after the log in issues we had recently.

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Marked as solution

updated it last night still the same issues. i let it run overnight after the update and restart. turned off lock screen and staed playing a song with spotify app open. 200 songs synced in 7 hours? Extreme quality. That's not very good. Again its not my network as my android tablet an sync the entire list in half that time.

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

Hello community,

 

I just started using the Spotify premium service. I was pretty happy and overwhelmed about the features.

Firstly I only used it on my windows desktop and my macbook. Everythings works perfectly there.

 

What I did

A while after I found out that there is an iPhone app. I installed it, synced my songs for offline use. Worked!

Than again after a while I found out that there is an iPad app. Also synced for offline use. Worked!

 

Problem

And again I discovered a new feature. "Sync in extrem quality". I changed the settings from high to extrem on both my iPad and iPhone.

 

Spotify resynced (form high to extrem) all the songs on my iPad within a few minutes. But it takes hours (still syncing) on my iPhone. I tried to reinstall Spotify on my iPhone and restarted it. Didn't help. I can't get Spotify to sync the songs for offline use on my iPhone. Even if I set quality to normal. The problem just appeared out of nowhere.

 

Please help.

 

EDIT

Long story shot: Offline syncing is slow on iPhone but fast on iPad and Mac. iOS5.1.1. Same WiFi. Worked before, problem just occured.

EDIT2

Seems that many others have the same problem with sync beeing slow on the iPhone. This user also reports that his iPhone is slow but iPad fast.

 

Please reply and show that you are interessted in fixing the problem or me and I'm sure many others might cancle their subscription which would be a shame. Cause the service you offer is realy great.

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

I just read through this thread and I'm surprised at how poorly Spotify communicates with its paying customers. I mean, this is obviously a problem for so many people, so how come the people at Spotify aren't more vocal on this thread? This is BS.

 

I'll be quiting this service if it doesn't improve soon. Its been one year since I joined and the same problem with slow syncing exists today. There has been no improvement. I'll give it one more month and then I'm out.

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

i just checked prxy to auto in my wifi settings on my iPhone 3GS and it flies again like a bird!

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Marked as solution

On iPhone 5 I set Proxy to Auto and finally works extremely fast.

View solution in original post

Marked as solution

Please come to this topic in the new bugs section to provide more info and help us find out what might be causing this.

 

The point of starting this new topic is to try and gather more specific information, which in turn can hopefully help us identify possible causes.

Community Ergo Sum

View solution in original post

226 Replies

Yes me too. I'm finding syncing in offline mode to my iphone painfully slow to the point of being almost unusable. Smiley Frustrated

 

Have re-installed the spotify app earlier and it's still just as slow.

 

Watching with interest to see if you get any answers.

Over 45 minutes so far  to sync one track......     this is ridiculous

Same problem here. Takes hours for 40 songs 😞

Marked as solution

Please try to sync the tracks again now, it should've been greatly improved since yesterday evening.

 

Hope it works better now!

Marked as solution

Although syncing playlists to my iPhone is slow, it's bearable.  My large issue is that when manually syncing specific playlists, I'm only to sync 1 playlist at a time.  Furthermore, when trying to scroll down to view all of my playlists, spotify snaps back up to the top of the screen, not allowing me to see playlists further down.  

 

The view of the playlist sync window is also extremely cumbersome, not allowing to change to a detail list view rather than the album cover view.  In addition, the playlists are not in any sort of particular order, so it becomes difficult to find exactly what you're looking for.

 

Lastly, the playlists viewed includes both my spotify playlists as well as my iTunes playlists, even I've set my preferences NOT to show iTunes music sources.  I can sync my iTunes files from iTunes (quite easily I might add.)

 

All in all, the system needs a big overhaul. 

Marked as solution

I had previously experienced slow sync issues but as reported these have improved significantly. I went to see a band called 'Waters' in Lyon tonight and added their album to my playlist from my seat. I got home and 10 songs synced over wifi within 2-3 mins.

@Mrgrimm your problems are predominantly user interface related. This slow syncing problem thread isn't the best place for it to be seen by people who can solve your problem.
Marked as solution

Yes. Please do something about the view of the Playlist Sync window. The issue with the playlists snapping back to the top after scrolling is completely maddening. I can't believe this has not been fixed. GIVE US A LIST VIEW PLEASE!
Marked as solution

Hi, I'm still having lots of problems syncing playlists offline.  The only way I can get them to sync is to listen to the song in a wifi area.  What's up?

Marked as solution

I'm having the same issue as well. I'm connected via wifi and it has taken 30 minutes to sync 5 songs. I have an iPhone 4 and just updated to the newest OS today which I think is 5.1. Its like brutal slow. I had to resync everything after the log in issues we had recently.

I had the same problems with several minutes to synchronise a track, but found that synchronising at 6am was considerably faster than during the evening. So I had to wake up earlier in order to sync! 

However I'm now syncing 961 tracks at 8pm on a Sunday and it's already done 170 tracks, so it seems the problem I've experienced over the last few months has been fixed and syncing is back to normal. I had an iPhone 4 on 5.0.1 at all times and now 5.1. 

I am having the same problen with slow sync. I am cosidering canceling and returning to Pandora and Itunes. it was fast at one time now it takes forever to download. what made me sing up and be an advocate fo this servce was the speed of download

This is so frustrating! Just got a new iPhone 4s on iOS 5.1 and the offline playlist syncing is so slow! About 8 songs after an hour??

I have spotify on my MacBook pro and my android tablet. Syncs up super quick over my home network. I have a very fast Internet connection. What is going on here? I've tried keeping the screen unlocked and tried turning off mobile data. Ive also tried downloading offline playlists with the app playing. No luck. What is wrong with the iOS app?

Hey suited,

 

Have you tried (since you just got a new phone I assume the app is downloaded new too) to delete and re-install the app? How about rebooting the app first and try it again?

I'm having this issue also. First 50 or so tracks sync no problem, then it just grinds to a halt almost. Don't understand , I'm sure this used to work just fine.

I tried deleting the app an reinstalling. Still super slow. On my android tablet it too just a n hour to sync my entire 1200 song playlist. On my iPhone it's ridiculously slow. It's been 6 hours and only 46 songs downloaded fork offline playlists? What is going on? I'm about to cancel my subscription over this.

Yes I'm on wifi. Yes I've tried different networks. Yes I have a track playing and the screen to never sleep or lock. Ive tried everything. So is the app just broken. If that's the case i wish spotify would just admit it so I know what to expect!

What quality are you syncing at?
Airhorn Enthusiast

Getting the same. Good upto about 50 tracks then slows down to a crawl.

Have just reinstalled the app and changed the quality from extreme back to high. Same thing. 50 tracks in a couple of minutes and then about 1 track per 3-5 mins thereafter.

It's also killing the battery very quickly.

We just released a little update for iOS - Take a little look over at your App Store, you should have an update.
Airhorn Enthusiast

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