[Updated] Spotify app Now Playing progress bar missing or disappearing on Android, issue acknowledged

Here’s the crux of the article in video form:

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on April 11, 2022) follows:

Spotify has long been available in the streaming music segment and has become the leading service in the industry.

Spotify users can enjoy the service across multiple platforms such as web browsers, desktops, Smart TVs, and mobile devices.

‘Now Playing’ bar is a Spotify app feature through which you can see the progress of the song and execute different actions (like play, pause, skip, among others).

However, according to reports, the Spotify app’s Now Playing bar is suddenly missing or disappearing on Android devices for many users (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Currently, many Spotify users on Android are facing the issue in question. The problem prevents them from being able to restart or stop a song, while in some cases they can’t even skip the track.

Since the latest update I’m having the following issues:

– Play bar disappears when I’m playing music so can’t skip, restart or stop

– Music randomly stops playing

App doesn’t remember what I was last playing so goes to home tab every time it opens, very annoying when you’d been listening to a new artist, and go to find out who they are and the bar has gone and you’re back at the home tab
Source

The only way to make the Spotify Now Playing bar reappear is to restart the app. However, the issue will reappear sooner or later.

Asus Zenfone 5z running android 10. Spotify Now Playing Controls vanish in app when they after a pause dissappear from the notification area. No way to get back except for restarting app. If I start playing a song by tapping on it, I cannot pause or turn it off, as there are no controls. Tried having a widget on the home screen, but it does not work.
Source

Also, some users are experiencing an issue where playback via Bluetooth on cars does not stop when the car is turned off.

Same problem as described above.

Additionally: if connected to the cars bluetooth, normally the playback stops if the car is turned off and the bluetooth connection is capped. Now, the playback goes on, on the device itself and there is no other option to stop it, than closing the app via the “Recent apps” screen.
Source

The Spotify team is already aware of the issue and is investigating. They also confirm that the glitch seems to occur mainly on Samsung smartphones.

Hey folks.

We have received reports that Android users (mostly Samsung users) are unable to see the Now Playing bar on the app whenever they play songs/podcasts.

We’ll keep you posted and let you know as soon as we have any updates on this.
Source

We will update this story as events unfold.

10:56 pm (IST): One of the affected users suggested downloading the previous version of the app to get rid of this issue. You can download it from here.

01:50 pm (IST): One of the affected users said that he was able to get back the progress bar when he force-stopped Spotify. Thus, you can try this as a temporary workaround and see if it helps.

10:10 am (IST): A user has shared a possible reason as to why the Now Playing progress bar is missing on Android. Here’s the full statement:

the phone isnt receiving the metadata from the presently playing track. app doesnt visually behave as if a song has been selected. (Source)

12:00 pm (IST): A moderator on the Spotify community has confirmed that they have implemented a fix for this issue which is rolling out to all the users.

10:56 am (IST): Some users are still reporting this issue and Spotify support on Twitter said that they are currently working on a fix for the same. However, they did not provide any ETA for the fix.

11:51 am (IST): Spotify support on Twitter has confirmed that a fix for this issue will be included in the upcoming app update.

06:39 pm (IST): It’s been 6 months since Spotify support promised a fix. However, users are still experiencing the missing ‘Now playing’ bar issue (1,2).

Featured Image: Spotify on Google Play

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