watchOS 9 breaks Spotify streaming on Apple Watch

Spotify is urging users not to update their Apple Watch to watchOS 9 due to a critical bug that prevents the app from streaming directly to the device.

A bug in watchOS 9 prevents users from streaming audio directly to their Apple Watch, and Spotify is sending emails to customers to warn them not to upgrade. The issue doesn't affect the Spotify app on iPhone, so users can continue to stream content there normally.

MacRumors first shared part of the email from Spotify. It reads:

"Apple WatchOS 9 introduced a bug that causes Spotify streaming on the Apple Watch to stop working. We urge Spotify Apple Watch users not to install the WatchOS 9 update until Apple has implemented a fix for the issue. Users who are already affected can instead download their content to their Apple Watch and listen offline or stream from their phones."

When the iPhone is present, the Spotify Apple Watch app will show what is playing on the iPhone similar to Apple Music. The Apple Watch only streams directly from Spotify if the user begins listening from the Apple Watch app with headphones connected to the Apple Watch.

According to the user reports, a stream will begin for a moment, but then cut out. The progress bar will continue to move, but no audio is being played.

Apple could release a quick-fix update similar to the iOS 16.01 update it released for iPhone 14. Otherwise, users will have to wait until watchOS 9.1 to become available later in the fall, which is expected alongside iPadOS 16.1 after a potential October event.

5 Comments

jdgaz 406 comments · 9 Years

About 2 years ago

I guess Spotify will now join the beta testing program.

auxio 2766 comments · 19 Years

AppleInsider said:

Apple could release a quick-fix update similar to the iOS 16.01 update it released for iPhone 14. Otherwise, users will have to wait until watchOS 9.1 to become available later in the fall, which is expected alongside iPadOS 16.1 after a potential October event.

Do we know for certain that it's an Apple bug? App developers often implement things in very hackish ways which make assumptions about how things work "under the hood". Then they're surprised when those assumptions break. At which point they'll often blame others when, in fact, the real fix is to implement it in a way which doesn't make such assumptions (use the system APIs as designed, rather than hacking them to work the way you think they should work).

I'm not saying that's the case here, but I've seen enough terrible code on GitHub & StackOverflow to know that there are a lot of confused developers out there. And yes, as @jdgaz said, this is exactly the reason why Apple gives out pre-release versions of their OSes.

danox 3442 comments · 11 Years

So Spotify behind software wise….

xyzzy01 145 comments · 15 Years

jdgaz said:

I guess Spotify will now join the beta testing program.

I'd be surprised if they weren't already part of it.... Maybe it's the new version of the old myth "DOS ain't done till Lotus won't run"? ;)

FileMakerFeller 1561 comments · 6 Years

xyzzy01 said:

jdgaz said:

I guess Spotify will now join the beta testing program.

I'd be surprised if they weren't already part of it.... Maybe it's the new version of the old myth "DOS ain't done till Lotus won't run"? ;)

Myth??? For a company that famously ensured backwards compatibility I think the issues that Lotus encountered were quite clearly the result of deliberate action on Microsoft's part. But that's the difference between conjecture and evidence.

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