When I open Spotify it mutes other audio streaming

[Pertul]

Plan

Premium

Country

Sweden

Device

iPhone 13

Operating System

iOS 16.1

My Question or Issue

There is an error with the app in iOS.

As soon as ypu open the Spotify app it mutes other streaming audio sources.

So if I am listening to radio in another app and want to go in to Spotify and just add a song to a playlist, it will directly close audio from my radio app. Same with all apps playing audio, they will all be killed as soon as I start Spotify. And even if I do not play anything in Spotify it mutes all audio, so I hear silence. 

No other music app I have does this.

Please fix so it does not kill other audio apps playing / streaming audio when you just open Spotify.

You may want to just open the app and add a song etc without playing from Spotify at that time.

It should only take over as audio source when you press play on something in Spotify, like other audio apps behave.

Thank you.

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Apologies for the radio silence here.

Our tech team is aware of this issue and is currently working on a fix. In the meantime, just make sure to keep your app up to date.

Cheers,

[#3]

I have Android 14, and one fraturei that It hás is multiple sound. I can use diferente applications with sound at the same time. The exception is Spotify. If I use any other apps, they work perfectly. But If I press play on Spotify, It Will pause any other app with sound that I'm currently in. I would like to watch a masterclass while listening to instrumental sounds on Spotify.

[sirph]

Hope you’re really fixing this finally. After so many years it seems like a joke on customers

[jamboolie]

How's that fix coming along? This is so annoying. 

[dhmusak25]

Any update on a fix?

[ggarrod]

Dear Spotify Team, can you pretty please (with a cherry on top) remove that god awful feature where your videos in the search tab pause other apps playing. It's really annoying not gonna lie. Seen lots of forum searches about it!

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

(iphone 15 pro max)

[mallinckrodt]

I found a workaround for this. If you enable Datasaver the videos will not preview and the other apps won’t be muted. The downside to this is that the audio quality in Spotify is automatically set to low on Datasaver.  

I’m hoping Spotify will give us the option to disable video previews without changing audio quality. 

[alliabee]

Opening the Spotify app on iOS automatically pauses any other audio that's playing, even when I'm not trying to play music. This is disruptive to both my spotify experience and experience in other apps. Please give users an option to prevent Spotify from taking over the audio session unless playback is manually initiated. 

[AU0]

Stuff like this is why I left Spotify and will never come back. Four pages of moderators saying “what? No way. Which phone? When? Delete the app. Buy a new phone. It’s not us, it’s you.” 

[sirph]

“The mute issue is beyond our programming capabilities but instead we’ve just dropped new nice button in the corner of the screen. Oh, don’t thank us, we know you love it”

[scwebb93]

I am still having this problem. 

iPhone 13 Promax iOS 18.5, but has been persistent for YEARS.

It seems like it's only once I have opened the search tab on Spotify where the little videos play, even if I don't click on them, they make my phone think they're playing sound and cut off whatever is in the background. I don't remember this being an issue before those videos that I don't know anybody watches were added, so I think it's an issue with them. 

I listen to XM, and if I just want to add a song to my playlists, it stops XM... 

FIX PLEASE. 

I have done a hard reinstall. It's not a phone issue. IT IS A SPOTIFY ISSUE. 

[Peakstocreeks]

Hi, When I’m playing music from another app such as Apple Music or SoundCloud, the music stops when I switch to the Spotify app. If I restart my phone, it doesn’t do this for a few minutes but starts up again. This is a problem for me as a  wedding DJ since I need to switch between apps often. Please help! Thanks!

[ribezaz]

Hey! How are you? Welcome to Spotify.

From what I've researched, there is currently no way to prioritize the Spotify app over all other sounds on your phone. The music shouldn't stop if you swipe over a video with the sound set to "Muted" in the various social media apps, but if those apps automatically play videos with sound, you will hear those videos and the music in the Spotify app will pause.

Different devices have different customization settings, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution for this. You need to set the user preferences for each of the social media apps you use so that they don't play sound automatically. Muting notifications may also help on some devices.

Keep me updated!

Cheers,
ribezaz

[paulohtobias]

If Peakstocreeks' problem is the same as mine I think you got it wrong. The problem is not that spotify stops when I switch out of it to another app, it's the opposite. If I have media playing on another app and I open spotify, spotify will pause the other media automatically.

Sometimes I'm just checking or downloading a podcast, with no intention of playing media from spotify at the moment but it pre-emptively stops my other media from other apps for no good reason.

By the way this behavior seems to be happening only on iphone. I have an android phone and it does not happen in it.

[cantstanditanymore]

I own an iphone, please stop taking over other apps audio when I open spotify research. I literally avoid opening spotify, and I pay for it