Galaxy Note8 Spotify and YouTube apps stop streaming on their own

Hello and welcome to another #GalaxyNote8 troubleshooting guide. This post will address a common issue about streaming apps, in particular, Spotify and YouTube, stopping on their own. If you encountered this issue on your own Note8, this post should help.

Problem #1: Galaxy Note8 Spotify and YouTube stops streaming on their own

Streaming apps will stop playing music and/or videos. The app will not crash, it simply stops. I have to hit play and it resumes playing. But the apps will stop continually at random times. Sometimes the app (in my case Spotify & Youtube) will play for a minute and stop. Or play for 15 minutes or an hour and stop, I hit play and it happens all over again. Please help! How do I fix this????? — Chris

Solution: Hi Chris. Apps like Spotify or YouTube can stop streaming for a number of reasons. If these apps worked on your phone without any problems before, then you need to do a number of troubleshooting steps to identify where the bug is coming from.

Restart

You should start troubleshooting app issues by force rebooting your phone. We often use the forced restart procedure if the phone is frozen or unresponsive because it’s always a sign of a system crash. However, one of the benefits of this procedure is that it refreshes your phone’s memory. It is especially effective in dealing with other minor firmware issues that’s why it’s imperative that you try doing it:

Press and hold the volume down and the power keys together for 10 seconds. Your phone will attempt to reboot and if it’s successful, then problem is solved otherwise, move on to the next method.

Uninstall app updates

While this suggestion may seem to run contrary to what we normally tell users to do, in your case, it may actually work. Sometimes, app updates may screw up the app instead of actually fix or improve it. So, you want to try to see what happens if you revert the apps in question back to their default version. You can do that by uninstalling their updates. Here’s how:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Find the app and tap it.
4. Tap More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
5. Tap Uninstall updates.
6. Tap OK to confirm.

Clear app cache

Every app uses a set of temporary files and folders called cache to do tasks efficiently. Sometimes, this cache can get corrupted or outdated, causing performance issues. To check if both Spotify and YouTube are having cache issues, make sure to delete their cache. Here’s how:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
4. Select Show system apps.
5. Find and tap your app.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear Cache button.
8. Restart your Note8 and check for the problem.

Clear app data

Together with cache, apps also keep user-defined contents and information called app data. Like the cache, app data may sometimes get corrupted that can also lead to issues. Make sure to clear data of both Spotify and YouTube by following the steps below:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
4. Select Show system apps.
5. Find and tap your app.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear Cache button.
8. Restart your Note8 and check for the problem.

Reset app preferences

At times, an app may stop working properly because another app or service it depends on had been disabled or removed from the system. To ensure that you all the necessary apps that support other apps are up and running, consider resetting app preferences on your phone. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
4. Select Reset app preferences.
5. Restart your S8 and check for the problem.

Install app and system updates

At this point in your troubleshooting ladder, it’s good if you can make sure that all apps (not just Spotify and YouTube) are up-to-date. Some apps may affect other apps if they suddenly become incompatible with the operating system. To minimize the chance of that from happening, make sure all your apps are updated. We presume you only install apps from the Play Store but if you also have third party apps sourced elsewhere, make sure that you update them to, or least make them compatible with your operating system.

And speaking of the operating system, of course it’s your priority to keep it up-to-date as well. Make sure to go under Settings and check for any new Android updates.

Keep wifi on during sleep (if on wifi)

If you’re having this issue with your streaming apps while on wifi, then the reason for it is probably due to a less known setting. This setting, called Keep wifi on during sleep, is buried deep under wifi itself and can cause active apps like Spotify to stop working once the screen is locked. To ensure that this does not happen, you must do the following:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Connections.
3. Tap Wifi.
4. Tap ADVANCED.
5. Select Keep wifi on during sleep.
6. Select Always.

Check App power monitor

Streaming apps are designed to continue working in the background so if you set your phone to automatically stop apps running in the background (under Settings), or if you have a third party app doing similar task, that’s probably where the issue lies.

To check if your phone is set to terminate apps running in the background, you can do these steps:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Device maintenance.
3. Tap Battery.
4. Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
5. Tap Advanced settings.
6. Tap App power monitor.
7. Turn off App power monitor.

Reinstall apps

At this point, the last thing that you want to do with the apps in question is to reinstall them. This will ensure that you’re signed out from your account and get a new, fresh copy of the said apps.

Reset network settings

Streaming issues can sometimes be due to network bugs. While there’s really no way to diagnose every network issue, the closest that you can do is to clear your Note8 network settings. Here’s how it’s done:

1. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
2. Tap General Management > Reset > Reset network settings.
3. Tap Reset settings.
4. If you have set up a PIN, enter it.
5. Tap Reset settings. Once complete a confirmation window will appear.

Factory reset

If nothing has worked so far, don’t hesitate to return all software settings back to their defaults by doing a factory reset. Factory reset will wipe all user data so be sure to back your files up before you do it.

To factory reset your Note8:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
4. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’.
5. Press Power button to select.
6. Press the Volume down key until ‘yes’ is highlighted and press the Power button.
7. When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
8. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note8 cellular signal disappears when screen is locked

Samsung Galaxy Note using a cricket wireless sim card, first several months the phone worked flawlessly. Past several months its cellular signal drops all the time when i can stay in the exact same spot and give it a few seconds it will regain signal. But if the screen is turned off and phone untouched, it will lose signal. For instance, having it on the charger in my car with the screen off, turn the screen on and goto make a phone call it will say no signal, but yet if i give it a few seconds and not even having to move locations it will a few seconds later have full signal all of a sudden. It used to not do this, and ive tried soft resets, uninstalling apps, and so on. — Cade

Solution: Hi Cade. Sometimes, issues like this are caused by firmware bugs so make sure that you install OTA (over-the-air) updates from your carrier if they are available. Network bugs sometimes come and go and there’s no easy way to know what’s causing them. You just have to keep on narrowing down the possible reasons.

If there’s no update that you can install at the moment, consider doing a factory reset. Refer to the steps above on how to do it.

If you have not tried it yet, you can also let your phone run on safe mode for a few days and observe how signal reception works. You can do this before you factory reset the device to know if an app is causing the signal to temporarily drop. To restart your Note8 to safe mode:

1. Turn the device off.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
3. When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.

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