Black overlay bar blocking left side of podcast video

[CasuallyNanners]

Plan

Premium

Country

Australia

Device

iPhone 13

Operating System

ios 18.0.1

My Question or Issue

Only two or three days ago I noticed when watching a podcast video, a black see through bar appears on the left side of the screen. It doesn’t have text but blocked the left side and won’t allow me to hit the arrow to minimize the video. 
I have restarted the app a few times and it fixes itself and I see that it is initially a “show video” button but when a new episode plays or if I click out and back into Spotify, it lengthens the button vertically and won’t go away. 

[CasuallyNanners]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the replies.

Our internal testing shows that the issue is resolved in all versions after 8.9.96. Your reports here seem to corroborate this. Please update your apps to the latest version and test what happens. If the issue persists on an app version after 8.9.96, please let us know so we can investigate further.

Cheers!

[eddiemoceri]

The same thing is happening to me while watching JRE

[Joan]

Hi there @CasuallyNanners, @eddiemoceri,

Thanks for reaching out.

Could you please provide us the following:

• Is this on all devices or only on iPhone?
• When did this start happening?
• Does this affect all podcasts or only specific ones?
• Is it only podcast videos? How about the recently released music videos?
• Try performing a clean reinstall if you haven't already and let us know how it goes.

With this information, we’d be happy to investigate.

Keep us posted.

[8rzxfmv10bj4yk9c7s91]

Same exact thing is happening with me and I’ve already been through support and did everything to try to fix it but nothing has worked!

[Neo1003]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

Device

(iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy 9, Macbook Pro late 2016)

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

My Question or Issue

[Yordan]

Hey folks,

Just to confirm, before this occurs, are you watching the podcast with video or are you just listening to the audio? Do you see a "Switch to video" or "Switch to audio" button on the Now Playing View? It's worth checking if the issue would still occur if the video isn't playing. Something else you can try is switching to full-screen mode temporarily to see if that does the trick.

In any case, a short screen recording which captures the behavior in action would be greatly appreciated - that way we can get a direct view of what's happening on your end.

Let us know how it goes 👍

[CasuallyNanners]

Hi Joan,

I am on my iPhone and haven’t tried it anywhere but chrome cast. It does not appear there as I assume it’s only when it’s not in full screen. 

it started happening about four or five days ago now. 
I haven’t tried any other podcast and I’m not sure about the music videos as I haven’t seen any or tried if they had appeared. 
I uninstalled and reinstalled and that hasn’t fixed the issue. 

[CasuallyNanners]

Hi Yordan,

when I begin watching, it is normally automatically video. It appears even when just opening an episode for the first time. 
if I force quit the app and come back, it shows the little “switch to video/audio” button appears but as soon as it goes to an ad or goes to a new episode, it appears again. 
Full screen gets rid of it but the most annoying thing about that is I can watch in full screen and I prefer it but the ads force the video to diagonal and I have to switch it back to full screen every time and often times the button to full screen does not work so it’s a burden really unless I am streaming it to my tv. 
I will attach a video. Just shows how it looked when I first open the app, when I switch to full screen, and when I click the long button (which I understand is just the glitched out “switch to video/audio button) it does remain even when video is off. 

[CasuallyNanners]

It’s just annoying. I watch mostly on my phone and I know switching to fullscreen does fix it but even though we may PAY for premium, we still get ads. And the ad always switch it from horizontal to vertical and then the black bar will pop back up and I’ll have to switch back to fullscreen every 7 minutes or however often an ad is. 

[Julian]

Hi @Neo1003 , welcome to the Spotify Community! 

After checking the screenshots you sent us, we'd like to start by suggesting to try logging out of the app and logging back in. If that doesn't help, try with a clean reinstall.

If the issue continues after this, we'd like more info to have a better context:
 

• Does this happen in other sections of the app?  
• Can you test this on a different mobile device? You can ask a friend or a relative. 
• If this is happening with selected songs, send us the URI of the affected songs so we can test it from our end. 
   

We'll be waiting for your response. 

[Admatron]

The change to video or change to audio button is replaced by it I think.

when clicked it changes to cover of podcast or to video.

still a problem as it is in the way of video.

[melomana]

 

 

Hello, I have this glitch where there’s a shadow in the left top corner extending down. 8.9.90, duo plan.

[melomana]

It also happens in playlists with shorter names

 

[CasuallyNanners]

Yeah. It’s not a massive inconvenience since I can go fullscreen but it’s horribly annoying when ads pop up and turn off fullscreen and it’s blocking the screen again in 10 minutes. 

[Kenzara]

Odd. I have an iPhone 15 and having the exact same problem whilst watching podcasts. When I tap it, it also switches from the thumbnail to video, and vice versa.

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for all your replies and for the info shared.

In this case, we'd like to gather some additional info to be able to pass this important info onto the right team. Please send us:

• The exact make/model and OS of the affected device.
• The exact Spotify version you're running there.
• All the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far.
• Does this happen when trying to play music videos?
• Did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event such as an OS update?

@CasuallyNanners, we really appreciate the video you kindly sent us. Make sure you've sent all the info we asked for.

Keep us in the loop!

[ntowen]

I have this same issue when playing video in portrait mode.  In landscape mode it goes away.  

iPhone 15 Pro Max

iOS 18.2 beta

Spotify v.8.9.90

[ThatRedHead]

I am also having this issue on a new install of Spotify on a brand new phone. Didn’t have this issue on my iPhone 11, also running iOS 18.0.1
Version 8.9.90.84

iOS 8.0.1

iPhone 16

it went away when I quit the app and restarted and then came back after the first ad. It prevents me from clicking the “back” button and it goes away if I switch to landscape. If I tap it, it shrinks. I’m assuming it’s a button that’s gone screwy

[CasuallyNanners]

iPhone 13

iOS 18.0.1

Spotify version: 8.9.90.84

I have closed and reopened Spotify

I have force quit and come back

I have restarted my phone

I have uninstalled and reinstalled Spotify

I’ve tried the music videos and from what I can tell, I don’t have the same issue but then again there are no ads to break up the music like there are with podcasts that can trigger the bar.

I can say I don’t remember this being an issue before the iOS 18 update but I don’t think it started when I updated to the new iOS, it was weeks if not a month or so after as it maybe started last week or a week and a half ago.

[AlejaR]

Hey there folks,

Thanks for all the info you kindly shared with us.

We went ahead and passed all this info onto the right team. Rest assured this is being investigated. We'd suggest you subscribe to this thread in its three-dot menu, that way you can stay up-to-date on any news.

We'll be on the lookout for your replies!