apple watch doesn’t play music

[pasvadin]

apple watch always plays on iphone even though wifi is off on the watch and the iphone is in flight mode with bluetooth and wifi off.
every time i switch the output device to the watch is switches back to the phone.

even though the iphone should be completely cut off from all networks the music i select on the watch plays on the phone. how is this possible? 

i would attach a video but my iphone recording isn’t supported here. 

[Vasil]

Hey @pasvadin,

Thanks for reaching out!
We did some research and this behaviour looks connected to Apple itself and possibly its Airplay function.
I'd advise reaching out to Apple about this, but before you do, you can try the following steps:

1. Hit music
2. Hit the 3 little dots in the upper right
3. Hit airplay
4. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the device list
5. Hit "Control other speakers & TVs"
6. Hit Apple watch
7. Hit play

If this works and the playback doesn't revert back that'd be a workaround for the time being at least.
For any further questions in regards to this behaviour it'd be best to first reach out to the Apple support folks. 
We'll be around in case there's anything required on our end 🙂

Hope this gets resolved quickly! We'll be on the lookout.

[pasvadin]

Thank you for the response.

I can't find the option "airplay" in the spotify app. I've attached screenshots of the available options. If I select "pasvadin's AirPods Pro" I get a list of my wifi-speakers (amazon echos) and the airplay function. When I select that option I do not see the apple watch.  

When I try to switch devices from the apple watch I see both the phone and the watch.

I've reached out to apple about similar issues in the past. The response I got from them was that it is a spotify issue. It feels like neither side wants to be responsible and it is now my job to figure out what the issue is.

I just want to use the products and features that I pay for without having to regret my choices. 

[OscarDC]

Hey @pasvadin,

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the info shared.

If you couldn't find the Airplay option on the 3-dot menu, follow these steps:

1. Open the app and start playing the song you want from your phone
2. Open the Now Playing view
3. Tap the "Connect to device" icon
4. Select Airplay and tap your Watch

Also, make sure that both of your devices are online and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as Airplay needs a stable connection. 

If the issue persists, could you record a short video where we can take a better look? You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to watch it).

We'll be waiting for your response. 

[jhsansom-us]

Plan: Premium

Country: USA

Device

Apple Watch Ultra 1

Operating System

watchOS 11.3.1 (22S560)

My Question or Issue

Over the past year, I have been attempting to use my Apple Watch (which has cellular connectivity) to listen to music via my bluetooth headphones without my phone (I am a runner and would rather not bring my phone). I very consistently have issues changing my playback device from my phone to my watch.

My procedure is: I tap in the bottom righthand corner on the phone logo (which is glowing green to indicate that spotify will play from my phone if I press play). The "Play on a device" menu appears. I select my Apple Watch. It goes back to the main screen, the apple watch logo blinks grey a few times, then it goes back to my phone (glowing green again). I could repeat this infinitely without resolution.

This issue occurs every single time I go on a run. The best solution I have identified is to create physical distance between myself and my house/phone. After I'm 100 yards or more away, I can finally get it to play via my watch. I can also get playback to switch to my watch if I totally shut my iPhone off. (However doing this now makes it such that the play button no longer works after many repeated presses, lol).

The following possible solutions do not resolve the issue:

- Turning my iPhone's bluetooth off. 

- Turning my watch's WiFi off

- Shutting off the spotify app on my iPhone

My personal opinion is that the apple watch app does not work very well at all. This is simply the worst and most consistent bug that I have noticed, but there are certainly others.

[Yordan]

Hi there, @jhsansom-us,

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

Are you able to properly set the Apple Watch as the playback device when the Spotify app is closed on your iPhone? Also, are you streaming directly from the watch or listening to a downloaded playlist?

There's some additional things you can try in this article - feel free to check it out, if you haven't already. Something else that comes to mind is unpairing and your Apple Watch and your iPhone, then pairing them again to see if that helps.

Let us know how it goes 👍

[hildiehoeschen]

I'm having this same problem, but when I open the app and start playing a song then tap the "Connect to device" icon, my Apple Watch doesn't show up as an option under "Bluetooth & Airplay," even though my watch shows as being connected to my phone in my phone's bluetooth settings. Not sure where to go from here...

[MihailY]

Hey @hildiehoeschen,

Thanks for reaching out.

Have you tried reinstalling the Spotify app on your watch? Also, make sure that:

• Your watch is connected to the internet.
• The Spotify app is open on your watch.
• You've enabled Background app refresh for the Spotify app in your phone's settings.

If the above doesn't help, you can also try re-pairing your watch to your phone.

Let us know how it goes.

[jhsansom-us]

Hi Yordan, thank you very much for your debugging suggestions. I have tried most of them, unfortunately to no avail.

• Unfortunately no, turning spotify off on my phone (i.e., swiping upwards to turn off the app) does not resolve the issue.
• I am attempting to stream directly from my watch; I have cellular enabled on my watch
• Force close and restart the app on your Watch: Tried, does not work
• Reboot your watch: Tried, does not work
• Update Spotify: Already up to date
• Update WatchOS: Already up to date
• I don't want to unpair my watch from my phone since, based on the website linked, it seems that this is an inordinately difficult process that involves potential deletion of data, account credentials, etc.

Let me know if you have any other tips for debugging. To be honest, this bug has been fairly consistent for me over the past 1-2 years of using the watch app, and I would appreciate it if someone at the Spotify team could work on replicating this issue and debugging it (as it is clearly a software issue rather than a user error).

[OscarDC]

Hey @jhsansom-us,

Welcome to the Community and thank you for joining the conversation. 

In order to look into this further with the relevant teams, let us know the following info:

- Your phone info (make/model) and OS version

- Your Watch info and OS version as well

- Exact Spotify version

Also, could you record a short video where we can take a better look at the behavior you're reporting? You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it).
 

We'll be on the lookout for your response.