Very high data usage

[daveb1]

Well, I have read in this topic that Spotify uses about 2,4MB per minute.That's about 144mb per hour, which is fine. 

Today I drove about 30 minutes to work and 45 minutes back and listned to Spotify on max. quallity. My data usage? 790MB! How is this possible for only 75 minutes of streaming?

[Craigski]

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@haaszilla wrote:

Ok so I got an answer back from support on the issue of Spotify, while in online mode, using a ton of data to play offline songs. He said:

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"The Spotify application would still stream the tracks you saved and downloaded when your device if online and your Spotify is Online. The Available Offline will only work when your application is Offline."

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Well that's certainly not the way it's been working since I signed up over a year ago.

Untli recently I had a very small cap on my phone.  I got around it by syncing tracks when I was at home, which I would then play all day with essentially zero hit on my cellular data.  I've never, ever put Spotify into offline mode.

I increased my data at the start of the year and have been streaming away with no surprises on my data usage.  If anything I was suprised that Spotify used less data than I thought it would.

But I still make heavy use of downloaded playlists because I never bothered turning them off.

Then the last update comes out and suddenly I've used more data in two days than I did in the entire previous month.  And that's with heavy use of downloaded tracks.

Last night while running tests for Spotify support it used up 800MB in under 1 1/2 hours.  That's almost 1/2 what my allocation used to be.

edit: added quote cause I jumped top new page

[daveb1]

Okay a new iOS update appeared. Does anyone have the changelog?

[Garbera]

@daveb1
As far as I can see, it's not fixed yet.

[daveb1]

Sad... I used another 350MB today with about 30 minutes of streaming.

[Garbera]

@daveb1
It's really weird that an issue like this stays unfixed for a whole week. I can't believe it, there must be so much users out there who don't know about this bug and are gonna end with an incredible high data bill end of this month.

[Craigski]

Nah, it's still using a lot of data for me as well. 

Do you guys have the same issue that I have? 

If I download a playlist when I'm connected to WiFi, it ignores the WiFi and uses cellular for the download?

[clesser]

I am having the same issue...my family plan's data cycle reset on the 11th and yesterday, the 18th, we got the text that we had used 75% of our 20 gb plan. The culprit? Me. In audio services. Aka Spotify. 22 days with only 5 gb of data to split between 4 people, 3 of whom are extremely angry with me, and me, very angry that I had NO IDEA this was happening because I have been using Spotify on the same settings since I got this phone in 2014. To make this even better, I have to pay for any overages on the bill, and I'm in a financial hole right now and don't have the extra cash, so my phone is a very expensive paperweight until May 11th. Safe to say I am fuming about it.

[haaszilla]

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@clesser wrote:
I am having the same issue...my family plan's data cycle reset on the 11th and yesterday, the 18th, we got the text that we had used 75% of our 20 gb plan. The culprit? Me. In audio services. Aka Spotify. 22 days with only 5 gb of data to split between 4 people, 3 of whom are extremely angry with me, and me, very angry that I had NO IDEA this was happening because I have been using Spotify on the same settings since I got this phone in 2014. To make this even better, I have to pay for any overages on the bill, and I'm in a financial hole right now and don't have the extra cash, so my phone is a very expensive paperweight until May 11th. Safe to say I am fuming about it.

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 Supposedly this is not a bug, but by design. This is what  Spotify Support told me directly:

"The Spotify application would still stream the tracks you saved and downloaded when your device if online and your Spotify is Online. The Available Offline will only work when your application is Offline."

So if the support guy is right then they decided to change the way Spotfy deals with Offline songs in the latest version. 

I think whats more likely though is that the support guy didn't want to admit it was a bug so he just told me that. I think this because it took 5 different emails back and forth of me asking the same question to get an straight answer from him. He kept trying to dodge around the question for some reason. Very strange behaviour to be honest.

[clesser]

You'd think they'd tell us that...

[cedge]

I just realised that this issue has caused £5+ worth of credit to be used up on my PAYG phone in the last 2 days (normally this amount lasts me a good month) since the last ios/spotify update.  I reset my data statistics then realised that Spotify had unknowingly used a further 50mb despite the option to only use WiFi for downloads selected in less than 10 minutes!

This issue/bug what ever you call it needs to get fixed ASAP and those affected like myself reasonable compensated as this situation is unacceptable.

[kellte2]

This is a huge problem that could land Spotify in some hot water, legally speaking.

[daveb1]

I think we are having two different problems here: one in which Spotify is using data while the playlist is saved online (which already was functioning this way for years) and mine problem in which Spotify is just using way to much data for one song. (No offline modes)

[robcmcdonald]

I'm having the same issue. Up until a week ago my data usage was moderate (would usually hit my cap towards the end of the month). I use Spotify whenever I'm on public transport, but I have playlists saved and never stream songs.

All of a sudden, in the last week, I've used an extra 4-5GB of data just by playing music that has already been downloaded to my phone!

Based on the above two options:

1) Spotify is still streaming music for some reason, despite having it saved to my device which totally negates the point of having music saved to your phone; or

2) There's a bug which is causing data to be excessively used.

Either way, I've been charged over $40AU by my carrier just for trying to listen to music like I used to. Spotify better have some answers, and fast.

[haaszilla]

I suggest we all contact Spotify support, linking to this thread, asking for a definitive answer on whether this is indeed a bug, or by design with the latest version. I was told by a support guy it was by design, but I really think he just didn't know what he was talking about. The more people that contact them regarding this issue, the faster will get a fix, or at least an answer. And if it is by design, then Spotify needs to start informing all of its users ASAP.

[Craigski]

Their line about it being by design is just crazy.  I decided to remove Spotify till this is fixed.  But I was going insane at work with no music.  I ended up taking up my ISP on its one year free Apple Music offer to fill the gap.

After dealing with Spotify destroying my cellular data I initially thought Apple Music was broken, or hiding its data usage somehow.  It seemed so low.  Then I realised Spotify used to use the similar amounts before the early April update.   I still prefer Spotify, so I hope they fix it soon. 

Talking to support can be a bit like banging your head against a brick wall.  But you just have to stick it out while they work through their script.  It's kind of frustrating that the person replying to my emails would change frequently.  I was often asked for details I had mentioned in previous emails.  I mentioned this thread and others like it each time as well. 

I also saw this yesterday, http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/04/spotifys-ios-app-is-using-loads-of-mobile-data/.

[daveb1]

I normally do not use offline playlists, but when I did it used data. It already does that since years ago, there's nothing really new on Spotify using data on playlists that are saved offline. I don't get what the problem is.. Just turn Spotify in offline mode and it's fixed.

I think my problem in which Spotifys uses about 2GB a hour is much more concerning.

[robcmcdonald]

I understand that it would use some data in order to update play counts, album art etc. But why bother streaming a playlist that I already have in higher quality saved to my phone?

This was not an issue a month ago. Something definitely has changed, either by error or on purpose, neither of which is acceptable. I shouldn't have to toggle Offline mode on and off every time I leave a wifi area, just like I didnt have to a month ago.

[Craigski]

I've used offline playlists for over a year, (I only signed up for Spotify last Jan). 

I've never put spotify into offline mode.  It's pretty much used no data in the past beyond a pittance which I assumed was adminy stuff, misc lookups, scobbling etc. The only restriction I've ever put on Spotify was making sure the 'download over cellular' was off.

Up till this year I had a small cap of under 2GB.  I would sync my playlists in the morning on WiFi and head out the door.  I never put spotify into offline mode.  I rarely went over a couple of hundred mbs in total for everything, (not just spotify), I used online.

It was only this year that I got a decent data plan and started streaming more.  But out of habit I still synced my regular playlists.  But I started streaming from the other spotify playlists about 1/2 the time when I was out.  Last month I used about 1 1/2 GB in total, not all of it Spotify.  The first few days of this month, with no change to my habits, Spotify used more than that on its own.

Now I'm getting massive data usage for everything spotify related, be it online streamed or downloaded files.  I suspect it's linked because it all started after the early April update.

[daveb1]

That is weird. Im 100% sure that when I used a Spotify offline list 2/3 years ago it simply was streaming it anyway. Maybe it changed afterwards and now they changed it back? I also do'nt get the point of a offline mode when you wont use data if they're already downloaded. Maybe it isn't possible on iDevices by Apple developer restrictions.

[Craigski]

I don't know what to say, man.  Up till this month, downloaded files/playlists worked the way I assumed they would work when I joined up.  That is, if a track was downloaded, it wouldn't use your cellular data to stream it again.

I used MOG before I had spotify.  And downloaded playlists worked exactly the same way.  It also had an offline mode that I never used.  And back then I only had a 1GB cap and still never used more than a couple of hundred mb a month.  Because cellular data was freaking expensive and I was too scared to use anything but downloaded playlists to avoid overuse charges.  Still never set it to offline mode though.

With Spotify, I stream at normal, but download at extreme.  If I'm playing back a downloaded playlist when I'm out and about, I don't want to stream it at lower quality when it's already sitting on the phone in extreme quality.  It's one of the reasons I still download my favourite playlists.  For the better quality.  Whether or not I can really tell the difference when I'm out and about is still up for debate though.

edit:spelling, missed a bit.