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Volume buttons on device don't work when casting

Volume buttons on device don't work when casting

As of Spotify 8.9.xx and newer I can't control the volume on my iPhone when casting to a Chromecast device. I need to go into the slider inside the Spotify app to change the volume.

 

This is not an iOS or apple issue:

My non working version of Spotify is 8.9.16.556 and just today updated to 8.9.18.xx which has the same bug.

On another iPhone a WORKING version of Spotify is 8.9.14.526

The latter works perfectly fine. It is not a iOS problem but a Spotify bug!

Both iPhones run iOS 17.3.1

 

If this is not being actively solved by Spotify I'm sorry to say I will cancel my subscription and change to Tidal. This is a CORE functionality.

Reply
Top Answer
AlejaR
Moderator

Hey folks,

 

Thanks again for raising this to the community.

 

Spotify is rolling out a new way to control your volume when listening via Spotify Connect on your iPhone. Instead of using the hardware buttons on the side of your iOS device, you will now need to use the volume slider within the Spotify app. This change is a result of Apple discontinuing the technology that powers some of Spotify’s volume controls.

 

We'll be here if anything else comes up.

493 Replies

seriously? Spotify will lose a lot of subscribers from this. You should elaborate more as to what is happening

I don’t think repeating the same line is helping anyone here…

Can you explain why other apps are able to do it then? I think we can all accept it if it’s a defect/regression due to an iOS update and Spotify is looking into a fix… But I can’t really accept this blame shifting when others have already shown it’s not on Apple (other music apps work fine). 

I am sorry but this is simply not true. I have demonstrated that by having two iPhones with the same iOS version. One older version of Spotify works just fine while the updated version does not. 

To add to that, Tidal works fine, apple music works fine.

This is not a good look Maria - please stop recycling the same answer and closing threads where people are reporting the same issue.

 

Can you escalate and advise when a fix is due rather than just fobbing us off.

 

Thanks in advance

This isn’t correct. Some iphones (same model, ios version and spotify version) can adjust volume with buttons and some can’t. 

 

Any ios change would impact ALL users on that version.

 

Come on spotify, this is infuriating. Not at all what Daniel Ek wants Spotify users to experience. 

 

Get it sorted, ideally before someone smart in the community of users has to find a workaround/fix  and prove your statement wrong. 

oh, and the new Spotify IOS version released today (yesterday?) 8.9.18 doesn’t change anything on this. Still no volume adjust with buttons. 

It was released yesterday and it doesn't fix the issue. -Testing out the free trial period of Tidal..

This is an absolute joke, why on earth should the customer pay for the beef between Apple and Spotify. This is hilarious, trying Tidal now

Apple's app store policies demand payouts, even if the app is free - Spotify is one of the biggest companies trying to fight this because it also makes them earn way less money than Apple Music which doesn’t have to pay those royalties - since it already is by Apple. Still, Tidal might be the way to go, still has all the features and better quality 

I have disabled automatic updates on my iPhone. This was working TODAY before I updated the Spotify app. Now I have regrets. It is NOT related to iOS version.

This problem with Spotify volume control via iphone volume buttons also extends to using a Fitbit Versa with Spotify app, no longer controls volume.  This is a HUGE LOSS with the USER EXPERIENCE.  Going back to your iphone, opening phone, opening the app, finding the volume slider and adjusting take attention away from your current activity vice tapping the external buttons.  The extra steps are a WORK AROUND procedure, NOT A SOLUTION!  Return the original intended functionality Please!

It seems to be an issue created at least partially by Apple…

I have Sonos Speakers I use with Spotify Connect. (The Sonos App is … well…)

 

Back in June/July 2023 Sonos removed the ability to use the hardware volume buttons to adjust the volume with this explanation:

 

With the 15.6 update released in July of this year, Sonos removed the ability to control the volume using the iOS device hardware buttons when streaming from the Sonos app. This is the reason that was given by Sonos:

“The way these features were architected do not meet Apple’s experience guidelines for developers and no longer offer a reliable control experience.”

 

it seems like a „hack“ (I.e. not standard functionality) was used to enable hardware volume control for Spotify connect, similar to Sonos. Apple changed something and now the „hack“ used does not work reliably anymore…

 

if this is correct, I am still disappointed that a) it was known since at least summer (even Sonos, a much smaller company knew about it) and b) the poor communication of it. 

and c) at least according to the Sonos Thread an alternative solution is possible, but was too resource intensive for Sonos to follow (which I understand because I don’t think anyone uses the Sonos app for anything other than creating speaker groups and adding new speakers…)

 

That doesn't explain why it worked perfectly with the old Spotify version but it doesn't with the new ones. One the same iOS version. Nor why Tidal works perfectly either. Or when I listen to my airpods from spotify it works perfectly (bluetooth) or when I listen to the cloudbeats app with airpods or through the car stereo I can in all these instances control the volume from the hardware buttons.

 

It seems Spotify broke something and don'tt kow how to fix it. Sadly it will cost them at least this paying customer as I'm going to use Tidal from now on. It got higher quality as well. -Remember Spotify HiFi?

As far as I understood, the volume buttons still (or only) are intended to work when the music is played directly from the IOS device - if you use bluetooth the iphone actually plays the song, same for airpods or the car stereo.

 

In case of Spotify Connect (or Sonos for that matter), the IOS device does not actually play the song (it is not streamed from the iphone to the speaker, the Sonos Connect device streams the song directly from the internet without the iphone). If you turn off the iphone, the playback with the bluetooth devices, airpods and the car stereo will stopp.

Spotify Connect will just continue to play the music even if the iphone is turned off, as the iphone itself does not stream the music.

As the device itself is not playing music, some "workaround" was used to be able to still use the volume buttons to change the volume of the Spotify Connect device. It seems Apple changed something (or will change something) or put in an additional restriction that the ios volume controlls cant be used in this way anymore.

 

This part now is just pure guesswork: I assume Apple communicated this change at least back last summer (or earlier), so developers had a chance to change the functionality of their apps - as e.g. Sonos did in July.

I would also assume that apple is now starting to make whatever changes they planned to the API, which makes the solutions previously used by Spotify at least unstable. 

The workaround they used may even still work, but probably either unrealiably or Apple made it clear, that after a certain point (e.g. the next ios update) Apps that still use this API will not be validated in the Appstore anymore, so Spotify had to change this.

 

But again, I dont want to defend Spotify with this issue!

I am just doing guesswork here and it would be easy for Spotify to clearly communicate the issue, the reason behind it and the planned action to the community. 

The solution presented by the moderator in this thread is nonsense or at least extremly inconvinient. I dont want to 

1) Unlock my phone

2) open spotify

3) Tap on the speaker button to open up the window with the window slide

4) then painstakingly adjust the slider

 

Compared to simply press  a hardware button to adjust the volume.

 

But I have little hope that we will hear anything more from a moderator in this thread...

 

 

PS: on a side note, the change not only impacted the hardware buttons. Up until recently the volume could also be adjusted when you used the software volume slider in ios, this also does not work anymore, probably because both use the same API

 

PPS: Yes, Spotify HiFi is a perfect example at how great Spotify is with communication. They have been talking about this since 2021 I think, in the meantime most serious competitors already have it...

So glad to learn that I’m not the only one with this annoying issue! This issue is with both my Spotify Connect speaker and with my Google Nest

iPads updated with iPadOS 17.3.1

Updated yesterday with Spotify app ver. 8.9.18.569 works fine with hardware volume buttons.

So we are back to that Spotify messed up but won't admit it.

Someone make a new thread maybe? So we can keep their attention on this?

Hi Maria (and hi fellow Spotify users!),

 

I am replying to this thread because I contributed to this one, about basically the same issue.

I understand that the issue might be due to iOS issues, but the short answer you give does not acknowledge the time people spend on reporting issues and following up with videos and other information.

 

If this is an iOS issue, at least you can elaborate on what the issue is and whether you expect it to be resolved at a later moment or not. Or whether you are actually looking into that. Just blaming Apple without giving any other information about what you are doing is not very professional and not really user friendly, IMHO.

 

Also:
This issue leaves your users with a UI where you have to tap three times before you are at the point of being able to change the volume. Surely you are thinking about improving that. It would be really helpful if you give people some insight in what you are actually doing to make life better for users of your product.
Really hope that you will reply with some more information.

Update: problem disappear itself today, without doing any particular action. Side buttons are back for adjusting spotify connect volume!

 

I’ve noticed spotify released the 8.9.18 update in the meantime. It seems to solve the issue. 

I noticed that volume buttons on device don't work after a few minutes after the cast, I suppose 15 or 30 minutes.

My settings:

iPhone 7 Plus + iOS 15.8.1 + Spotify 8.9.18.569

Destination:

Amazon Echo Dot 5 

or

Denon Avr-x1600h receiver

 

 

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