Spotify back online after hours-long outage left thousands unable to use streaming app

Spotify is back online after suffering a major outage that seemingly affected its services for hours. According to the outage-tracking platform Downdetector, outage reports spiked at around 12:26 pm Eastern Time (ET) on 12 May, with over 15,000 complaints registered at the peak of the disruption.

The most widely reported issues were related to the Spotify app itself, which accounted for 55% of complaints. Another 18% of users reported problems with audio streaming, while 17% flagged server connection issues, according to the Downdetector data.

Meanwhile, the Swedish streaming giant Spotify officially confirmed that it was aware of the issues and was working to fix them.

“We’re aware of some issues right now with the app and are checking them out!”, the company wrote in a post on X.

Almost four hours later, Spotify confirmed that it had indeed fixed the issues with the platform.

“All clear now – thanks for your patience with this! If you still need help, head over to our Community http://community.spotify.com or get in touch at http://support.spotify.com” the platform added.

Spotify 20 launches

Notably, the outage occurred on the same day that Spotify launched its new nostalgia-focused feature, ‘Spotify 20: Your Party of the Year(s)’ as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations.

The mobile-only in-app experience gives users a detailed look at their listening history, with insights such as the day they joined Spotify, their first streamed song, total number of unique tracks played, and their all-time most-streamed artist.

Spotify is also offering users an ‘All-Time Top Songs’ playlist featuring their 120 most-played tracks, along with play counts. The experience includes shareable cards designed for social media posts and is currently available across 144 markets in 16 languages through the Spotify app.

Users can access the feature by searching ‘Spotify 20′ or ‘Party of the Year(s)’ within the app or through Spotify’s mobile website.

Netizens react to Spotify outage

“Please check your Spotify accounts! Apparently, Spotify is experiencing network-wide issues and many users are reporting problems with the app and streaming. If you notice frozen streams, errors, or trouble accessing the platform, don’t panic and wait for the service to stabilize,” wrote a user in a post on X.

“Spotify being down for almost 2 hours just made me realize how obsessed I am with music….” added another user.

“spotify counter hasnt updated and the app keeps crashing everything just worsening my anxiety” yet another user added.