Listening to Spotify with Bluetooth multipoint headphones sucks

Jun 13, 2023

Two convenient features butt heads to create a very inconvenient user experience

Multipoint connectivity is supposed to let you connect one audio device — generally a pair of earbuds or headphones — to two audio sources at the same time. The audio device then chooses which source to tune into based on which one most recently started playing media. For instance, if you're watching a YouTube video on your laptop, then start a music stream or answer a call on your phone, your headphones automatically pause the YouTube video and swap to the audio on your phone. This all happens without much user intervention. In cliché tech parlance, it just works — or at least, it's supposed to.

Even the best headphones and earbuds are susceptible to this irritating issue

Things get complicated when you introduce Spotify's cross-device control features to the mix. By default, when you're listening to Spotify on one device, your other devices where the app is running can also control the stream. Being able to use whichever device is closest (my phone, my tablet, or my laptop) to control music playback is one of my favorite Spotify features. But connecting two devices running Spotify to the same pair of multipoint headphones can throw a wrench in the works, causing the stream to repeatedly pause until you either close the Spotify app on one device, or disconnect your headphones from one of the audio sources altogether.

If you haven't experienced this yourself, my complaint might sound nitpicky. But when I sit down at my desk, pop in my earbuds, and open the Spotify app on my MacBook, I don't want to have to think about my phone at all — having to consider what's going on with multiple devices at once completely negates the convenience of both Bluetooth multipoint and Spotify's cross-device control features. Worse, a less technically inclined user might not have any idea what's going on in situations like this. Without any context, the experience just makes it seem like Spotify is refusing to work, and it's not at all obvious why. It's not caused by low-quality headphones, either; I've been using Sony's premium WF-1000XM5 earbuds for the past week, and the issue is at least as bad there as it is on less expensive multipoint headsets I've used.

Spotify has been 'looking into this' for at least two years.

This isn't a new problem. A Spotify support forum post from 2021 suggests Spotify has been "looking into this" for at least two years, and more recent posts on Sony support forums and Reddit have also failed to produce any satisfactory resolution. All these posts mention Sony headsets, specifically, but I've had the same issue on earbuds and headphones from other manufacturers, including Google and Fairphone. Commenters mention similar experiences with headsets from Jabra and Bose, too.

We reached out to Spotify about this and got a similar response: a spokesperson says the company knows it's an issue and is working on it. "While the problem some users are experiencing is only impacting select headphones," the spokesperson tells AP, "we always strive to improve the Spotify experience everywhere and are working with manufacturers and system operators to find a long-term solution."

There are a couple workarounds you try yourself in the meantime, but they're annoying to deal with, and end up defeating a lot of the convenience that's supposed to exist here. You can either make sure Spotify is only running on one device at a time by manually shutting it down on connected devices you're not actively using, or disable multipoint connectivity on your headphones altogether. But both of these options are just band-aids, and each adds an extra layer of complexity to an experience that, ideally, should be frictionless. With complaints coming in from people using headsets from multiple different manufacturers, and connected to devices running all manner of operating systems, the only common denominator here seems to be Spotify itself. I really hope the company starts taking this issue seriously — for a lot of users, it's been a pain in the ass for years.

But hey, if Spotify's multipoint failings are driving you up the wall, there's always YouTube Music.

Taylor was an amateur phone nerd for the better part of a decade prior to joining Android Police in 2018, where he's since authored more than a thousand articles about all things Android. Taylor serves as Gadgets Editor, and you'll see his byline on editorials, reviews, comparative buyer's guides, and technical explainers, as well as the occasional piece of breaking news. He's got soft spots for personal audio, wearable tech, smart lights, and mobile photography. There's a good chance he's carrying a Pixel phone right now. In his time away from AP, you'll probably catch Taylor hanging out with his two dogs, playing Xbox, or out shooting with his beloved Fuji X-T20. Send him memes and fan mail at [email protected].