Spotify down: App stopped working as streaming service says it ‘made tweaks’ to system

‘Something’s not quite right, and we’re looking into it’, the music streaming service tweeted.

The number of Spotify users listening to mental health playlists has doubled in 2020 (Spotify)

Spotify was suffering from technical issues, with users reporting that they could not listen to songs or that songs are skipping.

"Something’s not quite right, and we’re looking into it. Thanks for your reports!", Spotify tweeted at 9:53am. 

A few minutes later, the company issued another statement: “We’ve made a few tweaks backstage, so everything should be back to normal. Need more help? Let @SpotifyCares know!”

However, many users reported that there were still outages. When using the Spotify app, The Independent found that songs would pause after 10 seconds of playtime on the Android app, while the iOS app for iPhones and iPads would not play songs at all. 

The company’s web player was also experiencing bugs - skipping songs after only one second of playing. It also appears that users’ downloaded music and playlists have been erased.

“Still having issues. Skipping through song after just seconds. Appears to play on Google nest, but no sound comes out”, one user tweeted.

“Downloaded playlists are gone and not downloading again, can't play songs, it keeps skipping. Congrats you made it way worse”, another said.

DownDetector, which tracks web service use based on user reports, recorded that the issues began around 9:00am. The vast majority of users (80 per cent) experienced issues with music streaming, while another 15 per cent could not log in.

In an email to The Independent, Spotify said that the issue had been “been identified and resolved”, but refused to say specifically what the issue was. The Independent has asked the company for more information.

The music streaming service has previously experienced problems in August. Users were told that there was a problem with their internet connection and that music was unable to stream, according to a notification in the app. Others received messages telling them that the page couldn't be loaded.

Previously, an issue with Facebook’s developer tools had crashed multiple apps, including Spotify.