If your Spotify app is disappearing as soon as you press play on a podcast, you are not alone. Multiple user reports indicate a general crashing of these apps on both Android and iOS specifically when users are trying to listen to podcasts, with music streaming generally unaffected. Spotify says a fix is on its way, but some listeners may want to take action now to bring stability back.
What’s happening and who is affected by the bug
The pattern is the same each time: open Spotify, tap to pick a podcast episode, and kick back for a few minutes of play — then watch as the app closes itself. It doesn’t appear to be related to any one show or network, and most users can still access podcasts or stream music with no issue. Outage trackers like Downdetector have recorded a spike in complaints of crashes, and Spotify’s own status page acknowledges the issue has been fixed, though it won’t roll out immediately for everyone.
- What’s happening and who is affected by the bug
- How to fix it now: steps to stop Spotify podcast crashes
- Android and iOS troubleshooting steps that help now
- Car infotainment issues and subscription fixes to try
- Why podcasts can falter where music does not
- How to keep up with updates and official Spotify fixes
On Spotify’s Community forums, a company representative recommends some basic recovery steps: close and reopen the app; then update to the most recent version of the software; and if problems remain, consider a clean reinstall. Those steps are your best shot at jumping the queue as the backend fix makes its way to every device.
How to fix it now: steps to stop Spotify podcast crashes
Begin by force-quitting Spotify and relaunching it. This resolves a frozen playback session that could cause the app to immediately crash when reattempting to resume the previously playing podcast.
Next, update Spotify in the Apple App Store or Google Play. App updates regularly “contain” hotfixes that require complementary changes server-side. If you’re already current, switch Airplane mode on for several seconds and then back off again to reset network handshakes.
If the crash continues, try logging out and then back into Spotify. This will reset your playback context and remove any corrupted queue that might contain the episode conflicting with yours.
Still crashing when you hit a podcast? First switch to a music track and play for 10 seconds or so, then go back and start the other podcast. It causes another sequence of players to go through the pipeline and may skip past the original crash state.
As a last resort, perform a clean reinstall. Uninstall the app from your device, restart your phone, and install Spotify again through the official app store. Keep in mind, you will lose downloaded episodes and offline music that you’ll need to re-download once you log back in.
Android and iOS troubleshooting steps that help now
For Android, open Settings and find Apps. Choose Spotify and tap Clear Cache. Stay away from Clear Data unless you’re comfortable with re-downloading offline content. Once you’ve cleared the cache, close Spotify, find available updates, and then open a new episode of your favorite podcast.
On iPhone, open Spotify settings from within the app and tap Storage, then Clear Cache. If you can’t access that menu because the app closes too fast, uninstalling and reinstalling is the quickest way to clear local data.
Car infotainment issues and subscription fixes to try
Some other listeners have told us they were having trouble loading playlists in car infotainment systems through CarPlay or Android Auto. If podcasts auto-crash there, unplug the cable or shut off Bluetooth, start a track on Spotify on the phone, plug it back in, and then switch to a podcast. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, reboot the car head unit and the phone, ensuring they have the latest Spotify and system software.
On a case-by-case basis, the subscription purchase flows were also glitchy for some users, though those now appear to be marked as fixed by Spotify.
If you continue seeing errors, attempt again after updating the app and verifying your payment method with your provider.
Why podcasts can falter where music does not
Podcasts and music typically stream using different paths inside the same app. Podcast episodes can be delivered with dynamic ad insertion, chapter markers, transcripts, and mixed content delivery methods that don’t always reflect the music pipeline. If one piece of that dysfunction — an ad tag, for example, or a manifest or metadata parser — misbehaves, then the podcast player can’t work even though music is fine. Corrupted media manifests or malformed episode metadata are typical suspects of streaming app crashes, according to engineers and indie developers.
There’s also wider internet context. Cloudflare has confirmed a recent issue that caused a number of popular services to experience outages, such as social platforms and AI tools. Correlation is not causation, of course, but simultaneous platform disruptions can magnify edge-case bugs in client apps lying otherwise dormant.
How to keep up with updates and official Spotify fixes
Visit Spotify’s status page and The Spotify Community forums for official instructions and timeline information. Sites like Downdetector, which aggregate outages that people are reporting on the internet, can show whether a problem is isolated or widespread. And if you depend on podcasts for commutes or working out, think about downloading episodes proactively in the future when the app gets things more under control so that you’re prepared for any hiccups down the road.
The bottom line: there’s a fix coming, but you don’t have to wait. Restart, update, clear cache, and, if needed, clean reinstall. In many cases, you’ll be on your way back to your queue in minutes with no need to switch feeds or providers.