Spotify stops playing on iPhone when screen is locked

[franckmatthews]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

iPhone 11

Operating System

iOS 10

Software version 15.3.1

My Question or Issue: 

When I press play on a song and lock my screen (when I go running for instance), Spotify app either plays the song and stops or it closes the app.

I have power cycled my phone numerous times, deleted the Spotify files, deleted the app, then reinstalled everything and this has not fixed the issue.  I have had the same settings in place for this phone for 2.5 years and the problem started last night.

[mleche]

Very similar problem, never had it until 15.3.1.

Spotify plays current song, then stops when it changes to the next track.

It’s still in play mode, but nothing happening. If I pause and play, no go.

If I skip and play, no go.

Select another playlist, no go.

Close all, open app, no go.

If I select different play destination (eg to sonos) then select back to iPhone, sometimes works, but not always.

Don’t know what to try 😕 

[mleche]

A bit more info….

When I select a different destination to play the music, all is working fine in all my tests, eg Spotify broadcasting from iPhone to Sonos. Ok when next track starts, Ok when skip track etc.

Problem is only when ‘this iPhone’ is the destination.

[Alex]

Hey folks,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

We'd recommend running a clean reinstall of the Spotify app, following this Guide. This is a bit different than a normal reinstallation, as it involves clearing all Spotify app data and cache from your devices.

Can you also make sure that Background App Refresh is activated from your phone's settings.

If after this the issue continues, please provide us with the following info:

• Device model, OS version
• Spotify version

Looking forward to your replies.

[mleche]

Hello Alex

Have followed the instructions provided, and am happy to report that the problem is no longer happening. All has returned to normal, thank you.

Will report back here, if anything changes.

Michael.

[Elena]

Hey @mleche!

This is so good to hear, we're happy that everything is back on track.

spotify:playlist:37i9dQZF1DX7KNKjOK0o75

[Jack-Roy]

I had this issue but worked round it by putting Spotify into split screen mode with another App.  Not a guaranteed fix but it’s been working for a few hours FWIW

[Dian]

Hey @Jack-Roy,

Thanks for posting the workaround.

Could you also try enabling the background app refresh for Spotify on your iPhone? Here is how to do that. Does this also work?

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[radtravis]

Restarting the Spotify app is what worked for me.

[dkraus]

Hello, I am having this problem as well. I just went through the clean reinstall process, but the issue persists. When playing music through iPhone speakers, the music pauses when the screen locks. Background app refresh is enabled. 

Spotify version 8.9.8 .487 (just downloaded from app store), on an iPhone 13. 

[MihailY]

Hey @dkraus,

Thanks for reaching out and kudos for the troubleshooting you've tried.

We know this sounds simple, but have you tried closing all running apps and restarting your device?

Let us know if that helps.

[dkraus]

Thanks Mihail. This did not work. Worse, this issue is now also happening on my other iPhone (work phone). It is happening on both iPhones regardless of the output speaker - most recently while connected to airpod pros. Constant pausing of music or podcasts while the iPhone is at lock screen or the screen is off.

[MihailY]

Hey @dkraus,

Thanks for your reply.

We're sorry to hear this is still happening. 

Since we haven't had any recent reports outside of this thread, we'd recommend reaching out to Apple support about the issue. Perhaps they're aware of some settings or apps that might be causing this behavior.

Let us know how it goes.