[iOS] Devices menu not showing device over mobile data

[Winter141]

Plan

Premium

Country

United Kingdom

Device

iPhone 13 mini, Macbook Pro

Operating System

iOS 16.1.1, macOS Monterey 12.6.1

My Question or Issue

The Devices menu will not display any devices that are not on the local WiFi network.

My laptop can't see my phone and vice versa once I've switched my phone to mobile data. I've done the following as part of older threads:

- Re-installed the app;

- Verified Settings -> Show Local Devices Only is disabled;

- Verified Spotify has access to Mobile Data and Local Network in the phone Settings.

This is not the case for my old Android phone which has no problems seeing other devices, whether it's over Wifi or mobile data.

[Eni]

Hey there @Winter141, 

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community. 

Just to confirm, have you been using the same data provider on your Android phone that you're using now on your iPhone? 

On another note, we suggest that you try logging out and then logging back in to your account on your devices to see if that makes the difference. 

Let us know how it goes.

[Winter141]

Hi Eni!

Yes, I'm using the same data provider as on my Android phone 🙂 I did try logging in and out, unfortunately to no avail. 😞

[Alex]

Hi there @Winter141,

Thanks for the post.

What happens if you turn on WiFi on the iPhone, and select it from the Connect Picker on your PC and switch off WiFi after that? Does the phone stay selected?

You might also want to go through your iPhone settings and check if the Spotify app is granted all permissions and that Cellular Data is allowed for Spotify. You can check what other users facing a similar issues have shared here. They have written which settings changes have worked for them. It's most likely a setting that's preventing the device from being discovered while on mobile data.

Cheers.

[Winter141]

Hey Alex!

Thanks for getting back to me!

I've scrolled through that thread and tried basically everything that I could do, short of resetting the entire phone, still no luck whatsoever. 😞

I'm at an absolute loss what might be causing this. I'll be more than happy to share screenshots of my settings, just so that you guys can confirm I've set everything right and I'm not actually losing my mind.

---

What happens if you turn on WiFi on the iPhone, and select it from the Connect Picker on your PC and switch off WiFi after that? Does the phone stay selected?

---

Yes, the phone will stay selected and playback will continue on it, but connection to the laptop immediately drops. I further verified that by leaving my laptop as the current playing device and trying to use my phone as a remote control - phone attempts to play the next song, but nothing happens on the laptop. The moment I re-enable Wifi, it immediately re-connects and changes songs as expected.

The reason why this is such a big pain in the **bleep** for me is because all my playlists live in a folder and I can only play folders on the desktop app, but not on the mobile app. I like having music from all my playlists shuffled and unfortunately, that's impossible on the mobile app (or I don't know of a way to do it).

[MihailY]

Hey @Winter141,

Thanks for getting back to us.

Can you please check your carrier supports Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and try setting it to Off or Data only? If not, then try switching between LTE and 3G and see if that makes a difference.

Keep us posted.

[Winter141]

Hey mate,

Thanks for getting back to me!

I can't find such option in my phone's settings, for what it's worth, I've tried every single option available under Settings -> Mobile Data, including changing the preferred data from 5g to 4g, from low data to max allowed data on 5g, enabling and disabling limited IP tracking etc. and none of this had any effect.

[AlejaR]

Hey @Winter141,

Thanks for all your help and the info shared.

In this case, we'd suggest to reset your network settings. To do it, tap Settings > General > Transfer or Reset [Device] > Reset > Reset Network Settings. You can see the steps in this article.

Just to confirm, just to confirm, can you use the web player from your iPhone? It'd be awesome if you could check. Try it and let us know how it goes.

Lastly, just to confirm, do you have enabled Data Saver in your account settings? If yes, try disabling it. You can find out how to turn on and off the data saver in this article.

Keep us in the loop!

[Winter141]

Hi AlejaR,

Apologies for the obscenely late reply to this.

In this case, we'd suggest to reset your network settings. To do it, tap Settings > General > Transfer or Reset [Device] > Reset > Reset Network Settings. You can see the steps in this article.

I did that and it had no effect - I still cannot see my laptop over mobile data.

Just to confirm, just to confirm, can you use the web player from your iPhone? It'd be awesome if you could check. Try it and let us know how it goes.

If my phone is connected to the Wifi, I can see it and use it, but the moment I switch to mobile data, the connection is lost.

Lastly, just to confirm, do you have enabled Data Saver in your account settings? If yes, try disabling it. You can find out how to turn on and off the data saver in this article.

Data Saver is disabled.

I can provide a screen recording too, if that'd be any easier.

[Lyubka]

Hey @Winter141,

Thanks for getting back to us and for the troubleshooting you've tried so far.

Sending us a screen recording of the issue happening is a great idea and would come in handy. You can attach it by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it).

We'd also like to know the exact Spotify version you're currently running on your devices. If you don't know how to check it - go to this FAQ. 

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[Winter141]

Hi Lyubka,

Please find a recording of how I can no longer see/control the laptop once I switch over to mobile data here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVH51i03Kjo

My Spotify app version is 8.8.8688.

[MihailY]

Hey @Winter141,

Thanks for sending over the recording.

We've forwarded this to the relevant team here at Spotify, however, we can't confirm when it will be addressed. In the meantime, please make sure to keep your app up-to-date.

Take care,