Android phone owners are complaining that the Spotify Android app is thoroughly broken, with glitches and crashes reported, including word that the app stops working completely after customers install Ice Cream Sandwich. Spotify has told me that it's working on a 'major' update for the app.
A reader alerted CNET UK to the app's malfunctioning tendencies, saying the Spotify app exits every time a song is starred or added to a playlist, and pointing us in the direction of forum threads where Spotify customers -- who pay £10 per month to use the service on mobile devices -- are venting their frustration.
One commenter writes, "I can no longer use Spotify on my phone (HTC Desire HD). Too slow, too unstable, totally useless!"
Swedish blog Swedroid reports receiving several tips about the Spotify app not working with Android 4.0. One forum commenter writes, "Now since the Android app on my Galaxy Nexus (4.0.2) is utterly useless, Spotify will see no money."
Although the app maintains an average four-star rating on Google Play, the reviews there are littered with complaints about the app crashing. "It crashes all the time!" writes one, "It don't work" sums up another, while one claims, "I can't star a track or download a new playlist without it crashing." And those are just a few of the comments posted today.
'Major' update in the works
While the iOS version of Spotify recently received an update that allows for 320kbps streaming, the Android version has had no such luck, leaving customers unhappy that they're paying for an inferior service.
I got in touch with Spotify for comment, who told me, "We're working on a major Android update. Watch this space!"
So for now Android customers will have to sit tight. If you're experiencing glitches, forum moderators' advice has been to log out of the app and change your password, or to perform a clean installation of from a different location, like m.spotify.com if you previously got the app from the Android Market Google Play.
But that advice isn't a patch (geddit?) on a software update that could fix those issues. Fingers crossed Spotify's upcoming update addresses those concerns.
How does the Spotify app perform on your Android phone? Are you experiencing crashes and bugs, or is it working fine? Let me know your experiences -- as well as the version of Android you're using and the device it's running on -- in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
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anonymous 5 April, 2012 16:23
With Napster's takeover by Rhapsody degrading the service I received there, I took out a subscription to compare Spotify's service last week. But the Spotify Android app simply doesn't work under ICS, and the 'fixes' recommended are only temporary, if they work at all (they didn't for me).
Spotify may now have the better catalogue and desktop software but at least the Napster android apps work, and the Napster tablet app runs under ICS nicely optimised for the larger screen.
Lenny Field 5 April, 2012 17:12
I've had spotify on my xperia mini pro with android 2.3.4 for several months now and have never had any problem at all. Through headphones, car radio or the sound system at home, it's been totally reliable. Hope they don't break when they do the fix.
anonymous 5 April, 2012 17:29
My HTC Sensation was last week updated to Ice Cream Sandwich. Now Spotify crashes every time you open it. Subscription reduced until they fix it. ICS has been available since January, they have had time to make it work. It's unacceptable to be honest.
anonymous 5 April, 2012 17:51
I had a Premium subscription simply for streaming to my ZTE Blade, however cancelled after a few weeks due to stability issues with the app.
It was literally crashing at least 2-3 times per day either while a song was playing or during general GUI interaction.
A great desktop app backed up by ridiculously poor mobile apps.
anonymous 6 April, 2012 13:25
The Android app has been broken on ICS ever since ICS came out. Spotify has an extremely pitiful mobile sector if they can't release a working product in over 4 months for it. No subscription for Spotify until they fix this garbage.
anonymous 7 April, 2012 20:54
I've ICS 4.0.3 on my Samsung Galaxy S2. I regularly have trouble logging into spotify. I have found that if I login over 3G, and not wi-fi, it does not detect any of the the offline playlists downloaded onto my phone. This means I have to re-sync spotify, which at around 2000 songs, is an incredible frustration that I have to go through nearly every week.
On a plus note, I received an email from Spotify last week informing me that they were crediting 2 weeks to my premium account for "previous android login issues".
anonymous 8 April, 2012 03:28
I'm running Gingerbread, and the Spotify app constantly tells me that I'm offline even when I'm not, or tells me that music I've set to be available offline cannot be played offline. So far solutions from Spotify have involved uninstalling and reinstalling the software, which works for awhile, but then the same problems resurface.
anonymous 9 April, 2012 04:20
Still no time frame on this 'update', or actually acknowledging the seriousness of the issues. Not much of a comment from Spotify either, I just hope that they pull their finger out on this before they lose any more customers.
My Spotify app is running on my S2 Gingerbread and works fine over WiFi and 3G when I use it in the car - no login issues. Just lots of crashing, I can't edit playlists or star tracks without instant app death, occasionally it logs me out and asks me if I want to share everything on Facebook to be super annoying.
Thanks for looking into this though - A. Reader :D
anonymous 9 April, 2012 17:55
I used to have stability problems running the Stock 2.3.5 ROM on my Galaxy S2 however following the instructions their website offers, the problems were fixed.
I am now using Cyanogenmod 9 which is based on Android 4.0.4. This runs the Spotify app without any hitches. My only 2 complaints would be the lack of folder support and slight GUI sluggishness. It would make my use of Spotify on Android much more enjoyable if the folder support was added.
anonymous 10 April, 2012 17:06
I use spotify all the time on my samsung skyrocket. It does crash every single time I star/unstar a song or add/ remove a song from a playlist. Very frustrating.
anonymous 11 April, 2012 04:23
I have used the app for years without issue on my old HTC Desire. Just upgraded to the One S and now it crashes everytime I open it. Very dissapointing to say the least. Ihope they sort it out soon for those of us with an ICS phone....
anonymous 15 April, 2012 00:17
i am using spotify in OFFLINE mode, which is the only way to keep it from crashing continuously. what i do is i download a dozen of albums and playlists and then switch to offline. because when i use it online, there are plenty of crashes that really annoy me. all this got really bad since November update of the spotify android app. - a paying premium android gingerbread user.
jayysenn 16 April, 2012 20:46
I also experience the issue with adding or starring songs. What does that mean for my experience? Every time I discover a new song I love, it stops playing. When I like something, I star it, or add it to a playlist. It's the worst possible time for the app to crash.
I've been a paying premium customer since I was awarded early access via a Klout perk, and I evangelized Spotify to everyone in my life and social media circles. I still would too, glitches and all, if I wasn't outright ignored by them. I tried to report the issues I was having months ago, which received an auto response that my device was not supported (which is interesting, considering a visit to their site on my phone says it is - I have an EVO). I thought I'd try tweeting them, but they just ignore everything.
I'm sitting tight waiting on this update. If it fixes things, I'm truly ecstatic to continue paying. If it doesn't, I don't know how I can justify continuing to pay to be ignored when I'm paying for a broken service.
anonymous 18 April, 2012 09:59
Hello,
I'm also a pretty frustrated paying premium user. On my Galaxy S2, spotify is very unstable, crashing, especially when online and after starring or editing playlists. But what exasperates me the most is the TOTALLY ERRATIC BEHAVIOUR of the player graphical interface. AAArgh, you liked that break in the song, so you move the cursor back, say 20 sec: it will do plenty of different things, always resulting in major discrepancies between what you hear and what you see (on the screen), like the track playing that break another time, but the UI behaving as if you had done no rewind at all. It does the same with the "next track" and "previous track" buttons, resulting for instance in the player pretending you're listening Madonna when you clearly recognize Beethoven in your headphones (OK maybe I shouldn't put those two in the same playlist ?)
Please update ASAP !!!
malandrews 4 May, 2012 11:44
I have a HTC sensation and since it updated its software about a month ago Spotify and music player have been playing up through the headphone socket.
Spotify will play through the speaker OK but if headphones or a line lead are plugged it it goes silent.things are still playing as the time still keeps tracking.
With the music player running it will play MP3s through the headphone skt but WMA files go silent.
Really weird if you have the phone plugged into external speakers as it goes quiet every time it hits a non MP3 and the back on again.
some times popping the battery to reset will help for a bit, but once I have used other phone features it bombs out again.
Any one suffering the same issues?
anonymous 23 June, 2012 06:07
Do you people realize how exceedingly complicated this technology is? There are bound to be flaws across devices for a project as ambitious as this. We all take our technology for granted, and that it should just "work." There are millions of lines of code that make this work, and hundreds, if not thousands of people working on this technology to make it just "work" for everyone across the globe. Stop complaining about the details and enjoy it for what it is - as a developer, trust me, they know what is wrong, and they are working on it.
anonymous 14 July, 2012 10:07
Do "you" know anything about software development!?! "millions of lines of code" ha, it's like a quote from a film.
This product should be fully tested before releasing to the public you moron.
anonymous 26 July, 2012 23:31
I work in the digital space as well and while I agree that challenges occur and often there are choices that need to be made to push live with bugs associated with edge cases, it's really lame to have a paid subscription service that has been live for less than 2 years (in the US) that breaks across the entire experience for a device that was supported when the product launched (again within a 2 year range). I use an evo and while it's not the latest and greatest HTC product, it is certainly not outdated and not such a small percentage of the market that I should run out and purchase a new smartphone to have this product that I pay for each month be supported. I cannot log out, I cannot make changes to where my offline files are stored, it crashes after only 1/2 a song plays! They really shouldn't have released the new version until they could support their current customer base.
anonymous 4 August, 2012 20:01
Had this exact problem of crashing when starring for months and months since last October on my Desire. I was one of the first to raise this with Spotify as they had no idea about it. After 4 months of battling with a useless customer service, I finally got it fixed and they gave me 6 months free premium. Now resolved with update I'm pleased to say... however, you can't star an album in the new version. Ludicrous oversight!!
anonymous 17 August, 2012 16:50
On my S3, Spotify has no sound. The app acts as if it's playing the song, but no sound is emanating from my headphones. The usual tracking sounds still play when I switch between screens, but no actual music. When I switch to Stitcher, that app plays without any problems. This - after poor performance from Spotify premium on my iPhone 3GS. I was hoping switching to 4G would allow me to go completely streaming with my music, but evidently not. Immensely disappointing.