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Very high data usage

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Very high data usage

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?

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So Spotify...

 

Since your app caused me to run out of data less than half way through my billing cycle...

 

Are you going to pay my cellular data overage charge this month?

I have an answer: Spotify can pay my cellular overage charge. Give me a couple months of free service. 

 

This is an expensive and serious mistake. What will be done to make things right?

What is the best way to contact them?


@83evans wrote:

What is the best way to contact them?


I think the only way to contact them is through their support, which is kind of pointless if you want to actually get some answers.

 

I wonder if us users have any legal right against Spotify.

 

@what if we started contacting all the big tech blogs and see if they would do a story on this. This "bug" is very serious like you said and I think completely newsworthy. If we can get some viral traction on this, Spotify will have to take action to save face. @Craigski posted a link a couple days ago to a story Gizmodo did on this bug, but they didn't take the legal angle on it. I wish they would of.

 

Edited to add additional info.

What about just posting on their facebook page? That might generate some conversation.

 

If everyone on this thread who has been effected by the problem goes on the facebook page and posts their story, it could have an impact. We just need enough users to take action. 

 

I like your take. I am definitely on board.

I've contacted Spotify and explained the issue, this was their response:

 

We’re sorry to hear you’re experiencing variable data usage with Spotify. Our latest iOS release (5.4.0) needed tweaking slightly, which meant users with content downloaded to offline mode were incurring higher than normal mobile/cellular data usage for a short time. Don't worry!

 

This has now been fixed. 

 

To ensure you’re running the fixed version, we recommend fully closing and reopening the app twice. Here’s how:

  1. Double-tap the Home button on your iPhone.
  2. Swipe up on Spotify to remove it from your running apps.
  3. Reopen Spotify.
  4. Double-tap the Home button on your iPhone.
  5. Swipe up on Spotify to remove it from your running apps again.

Apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused. If you need anything else, give us a shout!

 

So this is an issue that needed 'tweaking slightly'. My provider told me this morning I had an extra $60 in cahrges (managed to get that halved). All that spotify has offered is a one time courtesy of one month free Premium. Not good enough.

 

I don't know where everyone else in the world is having this issue, but I'm in Australia and I'm sure the ACCC would have something to say on this.

I dont see why I should ask my cellular provider for a break--this is
spotify's problem, they should have to fix it and make things right.

I also have incurred cellular overages. I am not going to just forget
about it.

Sure, they MAY have fixed the problem, but the damage has already been done
for thousands of users. What will spotify do to make it right?


@robcmcdonald wrote:

I've contacted Spotify and explained the issue, this was their response:

 

We’re sorry to hear you’re experiencing variable data usage with Spotify. Our latest iOS release (5.4.0) needed tweaking slightly, which meant users with content downloaded to offline mode were incurring higher than normal mobile/cellular data usage for a short time. Don't worry!

 

This has now been fixed. 

 

To ensure you’re running the fixed version, we recommend fully closing and reopening the app twice. Here’s how:

  1. Double-tap the Home button on your iPhone.
  2. Swipe up on Spotify to remove it from your running apps.
  3. Reopen Spotify.
  4. Double-tap the Home button on your iPhone.
  5. Swipe up on Spotify to remove it from your running apps again.

Apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused. If you need anything else, give us a shout!

 

So this is an issue that needed 'tweaking slightly'. My provider told me this morning I had an extra $60 in cahrges (managed to get that halved). All that spotify has offered is a one time courtesy of one month free Premium. Not good enough.

 

I don't know where everyone else in the world is having this issue, but I'm in Australia and I'm sure the ACCC would have something to say on this.


Just tried this on my iPhone 6S running the latest version of Spotify (5.4.0.1011) and no dice. I'm still burning through data like crazy. I'm so confused right now. Has this fix worked for anyone else?

I deleted the app and installed the most recent version. Have not really
tested yet.

I will not be happy until spotify has compensated me at least in the amount
of the overage I have been charged by my provider.


@haaszilla wrote:

Just tried this on my iPhone 6S running the latest version of Spotify (5.4.0.1011) and no dice. I'm still burning through data like crazy. I'm so confused right now. Has this fix worked for anyone else?


I'm going to try it after lunch.  I don't currently have Spotify installed, so I'll start with streaming only and then work my way up to downloading a playlist and see what it looks like.

I've had a play.  In short, it looks like it is back to normal. (edit: Back to normal for me at least. YMMV Don't take my word, test first) I didn't have Spotify on my phone.  So I had to install and set it up first.

 

Streaming at normal consumed 56.3MB for an hour.  This is what I was seeing last year when I checked it.

 

Downloading a playlist no longer uses cellular when you are connected to WiFi.  Yay.  that's where most of my unexpected usage was coming from.

 

Playing back downloaded tracks for 5 mins (2 tracks) used 1.7MB data.  I'm not sure about this one.  On one hand it is no longer using hundreds of megabytes of data like it was last week.  On the other hand, I've never actually tested this before.  So I have no idea if 1.7MB is normal for playing back two downloaded tracks.  It probably is  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (edit: It's probably not be related to playing back at all, just spotify stuff in the background.)

 

Finally I streamed 10 minutes of unplayed (edit: and not downloaded) tracks to see if having downloaded tracks present changed anything.  It used 14.7MB.  It's a bit too short to work out a long term figure, but I think it was enough to confirm it was no longer consuming hundreds of MB per track.

 

I'd still keep an eye on it though.  The last message Support sent me was they would let me know when it was fixed, and I haven't heard from them since 🙂

 

edit: Cause I read it back like I should have b4 I hit post.

Thanks for the update!



--
Tyler D Evans
<snip-personal info>

Hey guys!

 

The issue has been solved!

 

 

 

Still having issues even after attempting posted fix.

Have you tried to restart the app?


@Craigski wrote:

 

 

Playing back downloaded tracks for 5 mins (2 tracks) used 1.7MB data.  I'm not sure about this one.  On one hand it is no longer using hundreds of megabytes of data like it was last week.  On the other hand, I've never actually tested this before.  So I have no idea if 1.7MB is normal for playing back two downloaded tracks.  It probably is  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (edit: It's probably not be related to playing back at all, just spotify stuff in the background.)

 

 


@Thanks @Craigski for doing some tests for us!!

 

So 1.7 mb of data for 5 minutes of playback is typical with Spotify? Does anyone know what Spotify would be doing that could be using that much data? 1.7mb for 5 minutes isn't bad, just curious.

 

if I remember correctly, Apple Music doesn't use any data when playing a downloaded song, which I think is best case scenario. 

Keep in mind that you use mobile data to download the album art.

Of course I have.

Hey @hasszilla. I'm not too concerned about 1.7MB at this point. My tests don't really represent a real world situation. I had only just reinstalled, and done a bunch of stuff in quick succession, so there was probably a lot of background admin stuff being done. It is something I would keep an eye on though.

I have just changed my phone and I am now experiencing this problem, in 1 day I used 2.5gb of data for offline playlist. I have version 6.5.0.1665 on iPhone 7 and I have been using spotify for years and this is the first time this has happened.

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