Spotify down LIVE — latest updates as service goes down for thousands

Spotify acknowledges issues

Spotify has acknowledged problems this morning with its service and has said it is actively checking them out. The last time we had a Spotify outage (back in August) it only lasted for a couple of hours. It seems like the Swedish company is acting quickly today so hopefully this will be resolved fast!

Over 17,000 reports in less than an hour

The outage-tracking website DownDetector is showing over 17,000 reports of problems with Spotify less than an hour after the problems started. That's a huge spike and shows that a lot of people are having problems right now.

The site claims that 61% of those reports specifically claim the Spotify app is failing to load.

"Something went wrong"

Affected users are seeing the dreaded "something went wrong" error message with the app failing to load. I'm based in London, U.K. and the app (both iOS and Android) as well as the Windows desktop app are working without a problem.

Reports are lower in the U.K. — just over 4,000, compared to now over 18,000 in the U.S. but this is clearly a global hiccup. If you're also experiencing problems with Spotify, let me know about it in the comments.

Let me know if you're having problems

If you're having problems with Spotify today, let us know in the comments box below this article or shoot me an email directly at jeff.parsons@futurenet.com. Let me know whereabouts you are and what device you're unable to use the streaming service on.

Spotify's Ongoing Issues forum is currently out of action

Spotify has an Ongoing Issues forum, which is often a way that outages and problems can get resolved. Unfortunately, the site is currently in a read-only mode while Spotify migrates it to a new platform. While old issues are still available to check through, users can't call attention to today's problems with it.

Instead, we'll be keeping an eye on the SpotifyStatus X account for more updates.

Reinstalling the Spotify app isn't a good idea

If you check out Spotify's official advice for fixing technical problems, you'll see it lists three options:

• Restart the Spotify app
• Update the app
• Reinstall the app

The company notes that reinstalling the app means you'll need to re-download any downloaded music and podcasts. But some users have tried this already and found that not only does it fail to solve the problem — they're also unable to log in at all after reinstalling it.

So if you're considering trying to reinstall Spotify as a way to get around today's outage, I'm not sure it's going to work for you.

Reports are still high, but falling

Reports are starting to fall over on DownDetector after peaking at over 20,000 at 10:40am ET / 3:40pm BST. At the time of writing, they've fallen to 16,800 which is still a lot of affected users.

Try Spotify's web player as a workaround

If you're unable to load Spotify on your mobile or desktop app, you can try opening the browser-based Spotify Web Player instead.

Spotify routes traffic through different APIs and endpoints for apps versus web browsers. If the current outage is caused by problems at servers handling the app or desktop client connections, then the web client could be an effective workaround. Let me know how you get on below.

Spotify alternatives to try

If today's problems at Spotify have got you eyeing up whether to switch to another service, the good news is there's a lot of options out there.

It's true that Spotify remains the king, and has upped its features this year (and its price), while Tidal has lost some features in a fairly tumultuous year.

Meanwhile, there are upstarts like Deezer creating AI detection engines so that you know for sure your music is being made by a human being. Niche options have stepped up to the plate with more user-friendly features, too, like Qobuz and its new Qobuz Connect feature for internet-connected devices.

• Check out our list of the best music streaming services right here to find a good alternative for you.

Reports have dropped below 15k

It's been over an hour since Spotify acknowledged the problems with its service and we haven't had any new official update. However, checking over at Down Detector and it seems the reports are continuing to drop. At the time of writing, there are now less than 15,000 reports.

Spotify is quiet

Hey, this is Scott taking over for Jeff. Let's see what's going on.

Since the initial tweet about an hour ago, Spotify has stayed quiet and I'm not seeing any updates on the Ongoing issues page.

Unfortunately, on DD reports just started rising again.

Over 2000 of you said it's down

In our reader poll more than 2000 Tom's Guide readers said that Spotify is down for you.

However, some have already said that it's back. With reports spiking we'll see if that holds.

Spotify status update

The Ongoing issues page changed here's what it says right now:

We're aware of some issues right now and are checking them out! In the meantime you should be able to use the Web player and check for updates here.

Sudden steep drop!

I was watching Down Detector because it appeared that reports were spiking again, but suddenly reports took a steep dive.

We were hovering around 16,000 reports but as of this writing it's suddenly closer to 1,800.

I'm seeing mixed reports in comments amongst all the normal insanity showing that some people are able to use it. Though some are claiming that they're only able to listen to downloaded songs.

I'll keep an eye on things a bit longer to see if things dramatically shift again. And Spotify hasn't provided any updates on its status pages yet.

Where we stand after 3 hours

The Spotify app has been down for the better part of three hours. Reports have all but disappeared on Down Detector, though some commenters there are still claiming that it isn't working properly.

Additionally, Spotify has yet to give the all-clear on its Status X account or the read-only Ongoing Issues forum.

Is it working for you? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email at scott.younker@futurenet.com.

We're going to call this one

Reports are under 600 on Down Detector and comments have basically disappeared, which typically indicates that the outage is over.

Spotify has yet to update any of its pages but they do tend to be a bit slow on those kinds of updates.

We'll keep an eye on things and update if things change but for now, it looks like Spotify is back.