Sonos steals my music when I'm on the road

  • 18 June 2023
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66 replies

Ken_Griffiths

Or maybe someone could look at the problem with the information at hand instead of expecting a paying customer to do all the work for them.  But I won’t hold my breath...

…there you go, it’s fixed. Just hit the ‘end session’ button in the Sonos App:

 

Alternatively - switch the Spotify app back to the mobile device speaker before connecting to your Bluetooth headset…as shown here:

 

 

A
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Or maybe someone could look at the problem with the information at hand instead of expecting a paying customer to do all the work for them.  But I won’t hold my breath...

…there you go, it’s fixed. Just hit the ‘end session’ button in the Sonos App:

 

Alternatively - switch the Spotify app back to the mobile device speaker before connecting to your Bluetooth headset…as shown here:

 

 

Ken,

Those aren’t fixes, they are work arounds if they work.  I don’t see “End Session” in my Sonos app.  I had selected my phone before having the problem about ½ the time, so I’m not sure they would even work as work arounds.  Again, the problem isn’t that the connections exist, it is that the connection is moved without my input.

Ken_Griffiths

Those aren’t fixes, they are work arounds if they work.  I don’t see “End Session” in my Sonos app.  I had selected my phone before having the problem about ½ the time, so I’m not sure they would even work as work arounds.  Again, the problem isn’t that the connections exist, it is that the connection is moved without my input.

I have no idea why you think these various options are ‘workarounds’ - it’s how this has always worked with ‘Spotify Connect’ (direct control), I’m afraid it’s your understanding that’s at the centre of the issue here of how the Spotify ‘Connect’ feature works …and just to also add, it’s the same with any 3rd party speaker that uses that Spotify ‘Connect’ feature.

The reason your App switches back to Sonos is because you have left the earlier audio-output ‘Connect’ (session) ‘open’ and in situ …and then gone onto use a totally different and separate connection using the mobile devices Bluetooth connection. That latter connection is not related to Spotify it’s part of your mobile device operating system and hardware and it can be used for Bluetooth audio output by any audio player on your mobile device, not just Spotify.

You just need to end your Spotify ‘Connect’ session, before using the mobile Bluetooth connection… it’s not a workaround, there are just a variety of different ways to end the ‘Connect’ session. All of which have been ‘clearly’ explained in this thread. I’m sorry if my screenshots are still outside your understanding, but i can assure you the ‘End Session’ is in the Sonos App and the ‘switch-to-mobile’ (speaker) feature is in the Spotify App to use your mobile Bluetooth link.

A
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Those aren’t fixes, they are work arounds if they work.  I don’t see “End Session” in my Sonos app.  I had selected my phone before having the problem about ½ the time, so I’m not sure they would even work as work arounds.  Again, the problem isn’t that the connections exist, it is that the connection is moved without my input.

I have no idea why you think these various options are ‘workarounds’ - it’s how this has always worked with ‘Spotify Connect’ (direct control), I’m afraid it’s your understanding that’s at the centre of the issue here of how the Spotify ‘Connect’ feature works …and just to also add, it’s the same with any 3rd party speaker that uses that Spotify ‘Connect’ feature.

The reason your App switches back to Sonos is because you have left the earlier audio-output ‘Connect’ (session) ‘open’ and in situ …and then gone onto use a totally different and separate connection using the mobile devices Bluetooth connection. That latter connection is not related to Spotify it’s part of your mobile device operating system and hardware and it can be used for Bluetooth audio output by any audio player on your mobile device, not just Spotify.

You just need to end your Spotify ‘Connect’ session, before using the mobile Bluetooth connection… it’s not a workaround, there are just a variety of different ways to end the ‘Connect’ session. All of which have been ‘clearly’ explained in this thread. I’m sorry if my screenshots are still outside your understanding, but i can assure you the ‘End Session’ is in the Sonos App and the ‘switch-to-mobile’ (speaker) feature is in the Spotify App to use your mobile Bluetooth link.

I’m sorry that you have such trouble understanding why someone would consider having their music stop playing on the road at random times when they had not asked for that a bug.

From my perspective, when I tell Spotify to play through the bluetooth device, I am telling it to end the previous session as I don’t want to have 2 sessions.  Seems pretty simple to me.

Again, I have switched to “this phone” in Spotify many times, only to have it switch back to Sonos.  That doesn’t work.  The “End Session” in Sonos I have seen sometimes, but it does not appear reliably.

Ken_Griffiths

I’m sorry that you have such trouble understanding why someone would consider having their music stop playing on the road at random times when they had not asked for that a bug.

From my perspective, when I tell Spotify to play through the bluetooth device, I am telling it to end the previous session as I don’t want to have 2 sessions.  Seems pretty simple to me.

Again, I have switched to “this phone” in Spotify many times, only to have it switch back to Sonos.  That doesn’t work.  The “End Session” in Sonos I have seen sometimes, but it does not appear reliably.

Well it works how I expect a ‘direct control’ (cloud) connection to work …and in the end, they are each just audio output features, one within the Spotify App, and the other is your own mobile devices Bluetooth connection.

Sonos is just the speaker at the end of the Spotify ‘direct control’ connection, in much the same way as your headset is at the end of your mobile Bluetooth connection. In your case you’re using both at the same time, despite there being numerous options to end the Spotify direct control connection, including those that Sonos provide within their own App to assist you… in fact there are several ways to ‘end the session’, which the Staff here outlined earlier in the thread and Spotify provide options in their App too.

So no sorry, I’m not personally seeing it as a bug. 

A
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I’m sorry that you have such trouble understanding why someone would consider having their music stop playing on the road at random times when they had not asked for that a bug.

From my perspective, when I tell Spotify to play through the bluetooth device, I am telling it to end the previous session as I don’t want to have 2 sessions.  Seems pretty simple to me.

Again, I have switched to “this phone” in Spotify many times, only to have it switch back to Sonos.  That doesn’t work.  The “End Session” in Sonos I have seen sometimes, but it does not appear reliably.

Well it works how I expect a ‘direct control’ (cloud) connection to work …and in the end, they are each just audio output features, one within the Spotify App, and the other is your own mobile devices Bluetooth connection.

Sonos is just the speaker at the end of the Spotify ‘direct control’ connection, in much the same way as your headset is at the end of your mobile Bluetooth connection. In your case you’re using both at the same time, despite there being numerous options to end the Spotify direct control connection, including those that Sonos provide within their own App to assist you… in fact there are several ways to ‘end the session’, which the Staff here outlined earlier in the thread and Spotify provide options in their App too.

So no sorry, I’m not personally seeing it as a bug. 

This conversation reminds me of a session with an avionics manufacturer some years ago where they were describing how to fly instrument approaches in an airplane with their new GPS system.  They went on and on covering the many steps needed to make the unintuitive system (that made total sense to their engineers) work in the real world.  It went on and on, and then the presenter got to the end and said, “It’s just that simple!”.  Yeah.  That manufacturer is no longer in business.

Ken_Griffiths

This conversation reminds me of a session with an avionics manufacturer some years ago where they were describing how to fly instrument approaches in an airplane with their new GPS system.  They went on and on covering the many steps needed to make the unintuitive system (that made total sense to their engineers) work in the real world.  It went on and on, and then the presenter got to the end and said, “It’s just that simple!”.  Yeah.  That manufacturer is no longer in business.

I would maybe see it as a ‘bug’ if there was no way to ‘end the direct-control session’ in either the Spotify, or Sonos App, but those features are there for you to do that.

A
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This conversation reminds me of a session with an avionics manufacturer some years ago where they were describing how to fly instrument approaches in an airplane with their new GPS system.  They went on and on covering the many steps needed to make the unintuitive system (that made total sense to their engineers) work in the real world.  It went on and on, and then the presenter got to the end and said, “It’s just that simple!”.  Yeah.  That manufacturer is no longer in business.

I would maybe see it as a ‘bug’ if there was no way to ‘end the direct-control session’ in either the Spotify, or Sonos App, but those features are there for you to do that.

Well, I didn’t come across those “features” (work arounds) while I was struggling with this problem, and I’m no tech novice, so maybe it isn’t as obvious as you think.  To you, “It’s just that simple!”.  Note that the actual fix was the setting in Spotify that I mentioned above as I haven’t seen the problem since doing that.

Ken_Griffiths

Well, I didn’t come across those “features” (work arounds) while I was struggling with this problem, and I’m no tech novice, so maybe it isn’t as obvious as you think.  To you, “It’s just that simple!”.  Note that the actual fix was the setting in Spotify that I mentioned above as I haven’t seen the problem since doing that.

All I can add is, it’s a Spotify feature and the Staff here have explained that to ‘end the direct control session’ you need to do one of these things…

To break connection and stop the source of your Spotify direct-control playback, in the Sonos App, you can either…

  1. Start playback from another music service or source, such as Local Library, Toslink, Apple Music, Sonos Radio, etc.
  2. Group a player registered with Spotify Connect with another speaker.
  3. Trigger an alarm on the player registered with Spotify Connect.
  4. Select END SESSION from the Sonos Controller in that player's Queue.
  5. The session will also be ended if the player registered with Spotify Connect loses cloud connection or is rebooted

I mostly use 1 and 4 above when in the Sonos App, otherwise in the Spotify App I revert its audio output back to the mobile device internal speaker before playing to another source and Bluetooth playback to a BT paired device requires that on a mobile in any case.

There are plenty of ways to end the ‘direct control’ session and hopefully you’re issue should be solved as long as you do opt to disconnect before starting a (different) bluetooth connection - if you’re looking for something further, then that’s certainly a feature request you would need to submit direct to Spotify.

P

I’m with the OP as struggling with the same situation and while appreciative of the detailed and thoughtful fixes, find them overwhelming and confusing considering the jump to the speakers seems totally random. Driving in my car enjoying music and suddenly it goes quiet and I can see it’s playing on my devices far away back at home. And no one else is home to be causing the interference. 

Ken_Griffiths

I’m with the OP as struggling with the same situation and while appreciative of the detailed and thoughtful fixes, find them overwhelming and confusing considering the jump to the speakers seems totally random. Driving in my car enjoying music and suddenly it goes quiet and I can see it’s playing on my devices far away back at home. And no one else is home to be causing the interference. 

Well the answer to stop it happening is clearly detailed in the various posts here - you just need to ‘end the Spotify session’ on your home device(s). The various ways to do that, in many instances, are discussed and explained… you can even end the Spotify session by playing a different audio source to the room/speaker(s). 

A
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I’m with the OP as struggling with the same situation and while appreciative of the detailed and thoughtful fixes, find them overwhelming and confusing considering the jump to the speakers seems totally random. Driving in my car enjoying music and suddenly it goes quiet and I can see it’s playing on my devices far away back at home. And no one else is home to be causing the interference. 

Well the answer to stop it happening is clearly detailed in the various posts here - you just need to ‘end the Spotify session’ on your home device(s). The various ways to do that, in many instances, are discussed and explained… you can even end the Spotify session by playing a different audio source to the room/speaker(s). 

Yes, Ken, the complicated, messy options for keeping this thing that shouldn’t happen at all from happening have been explained, and, as long as the poor user remembers to jump through these hoops BEFORE he leaves home EVERY TIME he leaves home, he’ll be just dandy (assuming he can figure one of them out).  Of course, he could also choose a brand of speaker that cares more about the user experience...

A
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BTW, there is NO REASONABLE SCENARIO under which a rational user would select a speaker and then, while miles away from another speaker, want that other speaker to spontaneously take over playing.  It just doesn’t make any sense.  It’s a bug that should be fixed.  If it’s a bug with Spotify, Sonos should be talking to Spotify about it, telling them that users of their product have problem.  Instead, Sonos is telling us that there isn’t a problem.

P

Appreciate that the current solution has been highlighted - genuinely appreciate that as at least I’m armed with a bit more knowledge. The reality is when you are leaving home it’s probably the last thing thought of, especially as the last time it happened there wasn’t music playing when I left anyway so it wouldn’t have occurred to me to stop, open the app, end session etc. 
 

I think perhaps we are fixated on it feeling like a bug is because of the abrupt jump when we have already started enjoying music elsewhere. In my experience it wasn’t disconnecting after a few seconds - I had been listening for several songs and then all of a sudden it stopped.

 

will say the last bit of frustration exacerbating is that it happened while driving so trying to remedy is near impossible without a passenger as limited through CarPlay  

 

Ken_Griffiths

It’s actually a Spotify issue anyway and by all accounts, it’s the way their 3rd-party (direct) API ‘connect’ feature works. The session doesn’t time-out, or end, until the user ends it manually, or replaces the (direct) connection by using a different audio stream on the speaker or group. Whenever I use it, I just tap to ‘end the session’ on the ‘Now Playing’ screen, which Sonos have kindly provided in their App to stop the problem. Some users set an alarm to ‘end/replace their Spotify session’, so they don’t have to do anything before leaving their home in the mornings etc.

Anyhow, you really need to take up the matter with Spotify. Sonos Staff have explained this already in this thread and elsewhere in the community.

I personally don’t use the feature very much …and more-often just use Airplay instead via iOS as that does not suffer the same ‘lingering’ issue, but sadly that type of audio plays ‘through’ the controller device, rather it being a direct connection, so that too can present issues, albeit entirely different ones and I wish Apple would allow the Airplay stream to go direct to the speaker, but clearly that’s not going to happen as Apple like to stay in control.

L

This is also happening to me now! Never did before.. So something must have been changed from sonos or spotify. When im on my bluetooth hs somewhere a long way from home it just suddenly changes by itself to My sonos at home... That really sucks! 

Airgetlam

Break the Spotify connection at home before leaving. Play any other stream that is not Spotify. 

Bruce
A
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Break the Spotify connection at home before leaving. Play any other stream that is not Spotify. 

Having something to remember to do EVERY TIME I leave home is not what I expected when I paid a LOT of money for some speakers.  This behavior is not correct, and it would nice to hear that acknowledged and to know that Sonos wants to fix it, even if the problem is with Spotify.

Ken_Griffiths

Break the Spotify connection at home before leaving. Play any other stream that is not Spotify. 

Having something to remember to do EVERY TIME I leave home is not what I expected when I paid a LOT of money for some speakers.  This behavior is not correct, and it would nice to hear that acknowledged and to know that Sonos wants to fix it, even if the problem is with Spotify.

Sonos have already fixed it by adding an ‘end session’ button to the Sonos Apps, so the user can end the session from the ‘now playing’ screen .. if you don’t want to use that option, then just set an alarm to play ‘anything’ (silence) etc. to the room at a chosen schedule, as that will end a Spotify ’direct’ session too. 

A
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Break the Spotify connection at home before leaving. Play any other stream that is not Spotify. 

Having something to remember to do EVERY TIME I leave home is not what I expected when I paid a LOT of money for some speakers.  This behavior is not correct, and it would nice to hear that acknowledged and to know that Sonos wants to fix it, even if the problem is with Spotify.

Sonos have already fixed it by adding an ‘end session’ button to the Sonos Apps, so the user can end the session from the ‘now playing’ screen .. if you don’t want to use that option, then just set an alarm to play ‘anything’ (silence) etc. to the room at a chosen schedule, as that will end a Spotify ’direct’ session too. 

That is not a fix at all.  It is just another way to terminate the session that will have to be done by me EVERY TIME I leave home, or else my music will get repeatedly stolen from me while I’m on the road, with no way to fix it while I’m on the road.

Setting alarms is also not a fix.  It is just introducing a nuisance to me, since I don’t know when I will leave home.

So, again, as I said above, this is an ERROR in the function of the system, and all parties to the system should work to correct it.

 

Ken_Griffiths

That is not a fix at all.  It is just another way to terminate the session that will have to be done by me EVERY TIME I leave home, or else my music will get repeatedly stolen from me while I’m on the road, with no way to fix it while I’m on the road.

Setting alarms is also not a fix.  It is just introducing a nuisance to me, since I don’t know when I will leave home.

So, again, as I said above, this is an ERROR in the function of the system, and all parties to the system should work to correct it.

Yes, I guess it’s a bit like having to press STOP/PAUSE to halt the music when you leave home too, except the ‘end session’ button is located in a different place. It must be a real bind for you.

A
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That is not a fix at all.  It is just another way to terminate the session that will have to be done by me EVERY TIME I leave home, or else my music will get repeatedly stolen from me while I’m on the road, with no way to fix it while I’m on the road.

Setting alarms is also not a fix.  It is just introducing a nuisance to me, since I don’t know when I will leave home.

So, again, as I said above, this is an ERROR in the function of the system, and all parties to the system should work to correct it.

Yes, I guess it’s a bit like having to press STOP/PAUSE to halt the music when you leave home too, except the ‘end session’ button is located in a different place. It must be a real bind for you.

Actually, it isn’t like that at all.  I often play music, pause it, start it again later, and repeat, so I’m not stopping music every time I leave the house.  So, adding extra steps for when I stop Sonos (and only Sonos) is indeed a pain in my side.  Add to that the fact that the “End Session” option often isn’t even present and it’s a mess.  So, no, pulling up another app, finding the right place, and hitting buttons to prevent something that shouldn’t happen just isn’t my idea of a good user interface.

Judging by your use of sarcasm, you are in no way serious about solving this problem, or even developing a modicum of understanding about it.

Ken_Griffiths

Actually, it isn’t like that at all.  I often play music, pause it, start it again later, and repeat, so I’m not stopping music every time I leave the house.  So, adding extra steps for when I stop Sonos (and only Sonos) is indeed a pain in my side.  Add to that the fact that the “End Session” option often isn’t even present and it’s a mess.  So, no, pulling up another app, finding the right place, and hitting buttons to prevent something that shouldn’t happen just isn’t my idea of a good user interface.

Judging by your use of sarcasm, you are in no way serious about solving this problem, or even developing a modicum of understanding about it

Takes me around 10 seconds to pick up my mobile and to stop/pause Spotify playback and end its session, as the below animation demonstrates…

 

A
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If you want to waste that time and effort every time you leave (or might leave) your house in order to avoid a problem that shouldn’t exist, then good for you.  I’m sure you and your phone will be very happy together.  The rest of us would prefer that the problem be fixed so we can enjoy our very expensive speakers without gymnastics.

Ken_Griffiths

If you want to waste that time and effort every time you leave (or might leave) your house in order to avoid a problem that shouldn’t exist, then good for you.  I’m sure you and your phone will be very happy together.  The rest of us would prefer that the problem be fixed so we can enjoy our very expensive speakers without gymnastics.

As stated earlier, it’s a Spotify issue and Sonos fixed it for their own customers by adding the ‘End Session’ button in the App - I often end the session that way, but there are other methods to end/replace the session, as previously explained.

I can’t see Sonos changing things, as the discussions have been had in the past on this topic. You can always raise the matter (again) with Spotify CS though, I guess.

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