[Solved] Why Does My Spotify Keep Pausing: 10 Verified Fixes

Streaming services can get annoying but one of the most annoying things Spotify can do is to randomly pause – especially if it does it every 30 seconds, sheesh!

Today’s topic is “Why does my Spotify keep pausing?” We’ve identified 10 potential culprits, and the good news is that they’re all easy fixes. In our experience, most of these issues are Discord-related.

But, there are other causes and other solutions. So let’s cover them all – read on!

Why Does My Spotify Keep Pausing: Fast-Fix to Most Common Issue

Discord is the most common reason why your Spotify keeps pausing. To fix the issue, open your Discord app’s User Settings (the cogwheel next to your profile pic, lower-left corner), go to “Connections”, click the “X” button next to your Spotify profile to unlink it, and then click “Disconnect” to verify. That’s it. For more potential causes and fixes, read on.

Reason 1: Your Discord App Is Causing the ‘Spotify Playback Paused While Transmitting Audio’ Error

Turns out the most common question on this topic is, “Why does my Spotify keep pausing on Discord?”. If your Discord app is on while you’re on Spotify, a red message saying, “Spotify playback paused while transmitting audio” might pop up on your Spotify app.

The fix is easy – you just have to disconnect Spotify from your Discord profile. Note that after this, your Discord buddies won’t be able to see the tracks you’re listening to but – hey, it’s way better than then annoying pauses.

Anyway, follow these steps to solve the issue:

1. 1. Open your Discord app and open “User Settings” (the cogwheel icon in the lower-left corner, next to your username.
2. 2. Select “Connections”.

1. 3. Find the Spotify app and click the “X” symbol to disconnect your account from Discord.

1. 4. A pop-up window will appear. Just click “Disconnect” to verify your decision.

Again, your Discord buddies won’t be able to see the status of your Spotify songs after this, but it’s a pretty good tradeoff considering the alternative. There’s another Discord-related issue here – read on to see if it matches your problem better.

Reason 2: “Your Mic Has Been Transmitting for 30 Seconds. Spotify Playback Paused”

Well what do you know – there are two ways Discord can cause your Spotify to keep pausing. This one goes out to folks wondering, “Why does my Spotify keep pausing every 30 seconds?”.

The root of the issue is an error that reads, “Your mic has been transmitting for 30 seconds. Spotify playback paused”. The fix is easy, so don’t worry.

There are actually two options here under the same settings tree – we’ll explain what they mean in a sec. For starters, these are the steps – and they are verified by Discord.

1. 1. Open “User Settings” in your Discord app (the cogwheel next to your username, lower-left corner).
2. 2. Select “Voice & Video” under “App Settings”.

1. 3. (Option 1) Under “Input Mode”, select “Push-to-talk” instead of “Voice Activity”, that’s the default setting.

1. 4. (Option 2) Untick the slider box next to “Automatically determine input sensitivity”.

1. 5. (Still Option 2) Move the slider bar higher to the right. You can go all the way to the right or start speaking into your mic and then adjust the slider above the noise level you produce).

Now, the difference here is that enabling “Push-to-talk” means that Discord will never pause your Spotify, and you will need to push a dedicated button to do so.

The second option, where you adjust the input sensitivity, still means that Discord can pause your Spotify – you will just need to be louder on your mic for it to happen. This is a good solution if you still want your Spotify to pause if you get very loud on Discord.

Unlike our “Reason 1” solution to the issue of Discord pausing Spotify, this one will still display your Spotify status to fellow Discord users if you want.

Reason 3: Your Playlist Has Local Files, Causing the Pauses

If you added local files to your Spotify playlist – or especially if the playlist is all local files – you might run into the problem of Spotify pausing after every track.

There’s an easy fix here and it was verified by multiple members of the Spotify Community board. It’s not perfect but it gets the job done. Here goes.

1. 1. Open your playlist with local files.
2. 2. Press Ctrl+A (Command+A on Mac) to select all songs, or do it manually.
3. 3. Right-click anywhere on the selection.
4. 4. Click “Add to queue”.

This will make sure that every song on the list is played after the previous one without stopping.

Still, it has its drawbacks because you can’t shuffle the songs, and you can’t repeat the playlist either. I mean, you can, but only by manually adding it to the queue again after it’s finished.

Reason 4: Your Data Saver Mode Is On

Spotify has a data-saver feature that’s very useful if your data is limited. But if you have a normal, unlimited internet connection, turning this thing on can cause pesky issues – like your Spotify pausing to save data.

This feature is available in the Spotify mobile app. This is how to disable it.

1. 1. Open your Spotify mobile app.
2. 2. Tap your profile image in the top-left corner.

1. 3. Select “Settings and privacy”.

1. 4. Go to “Data Saver”.

1. 5. Make sure that the toggle switch for “Data Saver” is off.

If Data Saver was on, feel free to restart the app after you switched it off and then try again.

Reason 5: You Have Low Power Mode Turned On

If your question is, “Why does my Spotify keep pausing on iPhone”, this one could be for you. Users have reported that Low Power Mode on their iPhones caused their Spotify players to pause randomly. This is how to fix this one.

1. 1. Open your Settings app (the cogwheel icon).
2. 2. Scroll down and tap “Battery”.

1. 3. Make sure that “Low Power Mode” is turned off.

After you’ve made sure that Low Power mode is deactivated, launch your Spotify app and try again.

Reason 6: Background Refresh Is Turned Off for Your Spotify App

Someone asked us, “Why does my Spotify keep pausing when I turn my phone off?”, and yes, this can happen both on iOS and Android mobile devices. The answer is that your Background Refresh is turned off, meaning that Spotify can’t refresh when it’s running in the background.

By the way, with “turned off”, we don’t mean that you shut your phone down, of course. We mean that you basically pressed the Power button once and all apps are now running in the background.

Anyhow, there are two solutions. Here’s the fix for iPhone and iPad devices.

1. 1. Open the Settings app (that cogwheel icon).
2. 2. Go to “General”.

1. 3. Tap “Background App Refresh”.

1. 4. Find Spotify and make sure that the ticker box next to it is turned on (it’s green when it’s on).

If you’re an Android user, there are the steps to follow.

1. 1. Open the Settings app.
2. 2. Select “Connections”, then tap “Data usage”.
3. 3. Scroll down and tap “Mobile data usage” under “Mobile section”.
4. 4. Select Spotify.
5. 5. Turn “Allow background data usage” on.

Reason 7: You Need to Update Your Spotify App

OK, we have to say that at this point, we have covered more specific issues and solutions. We will now dive into the more generic solutions that still might solve your issue.

This is a simple solution that applies to a host of Spotify errors – just update the app first. Outdated software can cause issues, so it’s always best to have the latest version of your Spotify app.

To update your Spotify desktop or mobile app, just click your profile image and see if there’s an option in the menu that says, “Update available. Restart now.” If it’s there, just hit it, and the app will update itself. If it’s not there, it means your Spotify app is up to date.

Additionally, you can open your Play Store (Android users) or App Store (iOS users), find Spotify, and see if there’s an “Update” option.

Reason 8: You Need to Empty Your Cache

Another generic solution, but it might fix your Spotify that keeps pausing. It’s easy to clear your Spotify cache and you can do it separately on desktop and mobile apps.

On the Spotify desktop app, click on your profile image in the top-right corner, select “Settings”, scroll down and click the “Clear cache” button under “Storage”.

On mobile devices, tap your profile image in the top-left corner, select “Settings and privacy”, then tap “Storage”, and then just hit the “Clear cache” button.

Reason 9: Someone Else Has Access to Your Spotify Profile

It can also be that your family and friends – or someone unwanted, yes – has access to your Spotify profile and is causing the issue.

To fix this, just go to this page on the official Spotify site. Then scroll down to the “Security and privacy” section and click “Sign out everywhere”. Log back in after that and see if the issue persists. It wouldn’t hurt to change your Spotify password at this point, either.

Reason 10: Your Internet Is Unstable

And then, the most generic option of all – an unstable internet connection is why your Spotify keeps pausing.

You can check the strength of your online connection either by looking at the Wi-Fi symbol or accessing the Wi-Fi settings on your device, or by checking your phone signal if you’re using your data and not a Wi-Fi connection.

An unstable connection affects all apps, and Spotify is no exception.

Recent Issue: Why Does My Spotify Keep Pausing When Connected to Bluetooth

This one popped up in July 2024. The Spotify app had stability issues for Free users on iOS connected to Bluetooth headphones. And it was all caused by a recent software update from Apple.

The problem was promptly sorted out, and the quick fix is now to make sure that you have the latest version of the Spotify iOS app.

So either open your Spotify app, click your profile image and see if the menu has the option to update the app – or open your App Store, find Spotify, and see if an Update is available.

How to Clean Reinstall Spotify

There are instances where you need to perform the so-called “clean reinstall” of the Spotify app for it to sort itself out. This covers a range of issues, and the problem where Spotify keeps pausing can easily be one of them.

The steps vary between devices and operating systems, so here’s a quick rundown of the most common options, as verified by Spotify.

Android

1. 1. Open the Settings app and select “Apps”.
2. 2. Tap Spotify and then “Storage” and “Storage & cache memory”.
3. 3. Under “Clear cache”, tap “Clear storage”.
4. 4. Return to the last screen and hit “Uninstall”.
5. 5. Go to the “Files” app (it can also be “My Files” or “File Manager”, open “Internal Storage”, then “Android”, then data, and delete the “com.spotify.music” folder.
6. 6. Restart the device, and then reinstall Spotify from the Google Play app.

iOS

1. 1. Open your Spotify app, tap your profile image, go to “Settings and privacy”, select storage and click “Clear Cache”.
2. 2. Open your iPhone’s Settings app, go the “General”, then “iPhone Storage” (“iPad Storage” for iPad users).
3. 3. Select Spotify and click “Offload the app”. Confirm your decision.
4. 4. Tap “Delete App” and verify.
5. 5. Turn your iPhone off and then on.
6. 6. Open your App Store, search “Spotify”, and install the app.

Windows

1. 1. Exit your Spotify desktop app.
2. 2. Click “Start” in the bottom-left corner, select “Settings” and go to “System”.
3. 3. Go to “Apps & Features”, selecty Spotify, click “Uninstall” and confirm.
4. 4. Go to the Start search bar, type in “%AppData%” and hit Enter on your keyboard to open “AppData\Roaming”.
5. 5. Delete any Spotify folder that is showing up.
6. 6. Restart your computer, then download the Spotify app and install it.

Mac

1. 1. Make sure you quit your Spotify desktop app.
2. 2. Open your Finder and select Go in the top menu.
3. 3. Go to “Caches” and delete the folders titled “com.spotify.Client” and “com.spotify.client.helper”.
4. 4. Go one step back, open “Application Support”, and delete the folder titled “Spotify”.
5. 5. Hold Command+Shift+G so the “Go To Folder” window appears.
6. 6. Enter “/Library/” and open the “Library” folder.
7. 7. Search for “Spotify”, hit “Spotify: Library”, and delete every file that appears.
8. 8. Restart your Macbook, download the Spotify app and install it.

Read more: Why Does My YouTube Music Keep Pausing

Summary: So Why Does Your Spotify Keep Pausing Then?

OK, that’s a wrap now! We covered just about anything that can cause your Spotify to pause unexpectedly.

Again, Discord is the most common cause in our experience, and the easy fix is to open your Discord User Settings and select “Connections”. Then just hit the “X” button next to your Spotify profile. That will unlink your profile and the issue will disappear.

There are several other potential reasons here, though, so take your time and look around. And if you want more useful tips and tricks, head over to our Blog. Stay safe – cheers, guys!