What to do if Galaxy S9 Plus music apps stop working after playing for sometime

Hello and welcome to today’s troubleshooting article. We don’t know how often #GalaxyS9 and #GalaxyS9Plus owners encounter the problem addressed in this post but we hope that this will serve as a good guide for those affected.

Today’s problem: What to do if Galaxy S9 Plus music apps stop working after playing for sometime

HELP! Very Frustrated. I have the new Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus. Awesome phone but having a major problem. When I play music (any App: Tune-In Radio, Google Music, Spotify, Pandora, I-Heart Radio) after 20 or 30 minutes the App will stop playing and you have to click on play again. Also if the App is in full screen, the screen will not sleep. Now I’ve spent hours in the T-Mobile store and with Samsung Support with no luck. We tried resets, uninstalling Apps and trying one at a time, checking battery functions…everything. I’ve tried it on WiFi, Network, home, car, work… They finally replaced the phone as a defect and yesterday it all worked until the new update and then back to same problem. I tried another Factory reset this morning with no luck. I’ve tried different Launchers. I’ve tried loading one App at a time. Nothing stops this problem. If you search in the Forums there are several references to this problem with the S8, but so far I can’t find anything about S9 AND any questions about the S8 music Apps have no solutions. Do you know anything about this.? The T-Mobile store said I was the only person with this problem. Thanks HOW do I find out the response? — LD Glover

Solution: Hi LD. So far, other S9 users have not contacted us about the specific issue you’re having so this problem might be unique to your device. This means that it’s most likely not an Android update issue but rather caused by something you’ve added (app), that, in turn, resulted to the emergence of this bug. In other words, the update may be the trigger for the bug to show up. Usually, update issues tend to affect many users across devices but since we can’t seem to find any identical situation so far, we’ll treat this as an isolated case.

Boot to safe mode and observe

To see if this is a third party app issue, we suggest that you try to run the device to safe mode while playing music. In this mode, third party apps won’t run so you can only use Google Music or Samsung Music apps for troubleshooting purposes. Be sure let the phone run in safe mode for several hours so you’ll know if there’s a difference. If stock music apps works fine and won’t stop the music on its own, then there must be a problem with one of your downloaded apps.

To restart your S9 to safe mode:

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen appearing on the screen.
When SAMSUNG appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
When Safe mode appears in the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume down key.
While in Safe mode, you can now uninstall apps that are causing a problem.

Remember, safe mode is not a solution. If the issue won’t occur in this mode, you have to invest more time to identify the problematic app. You can do that by uninstalling apps individually. Make sure that after you remove an app, you restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem. If the issue is still there, you have to move to the next suspect app. You have to keep doing this cycle until you’ve identified the cause.

Internet connection issue

Music streaming apps may stop playing on their own if internet connection stops temporarily or permanently. If this is the case, the problem should not happen if you try to play music tracks that are kept in your device’s storage. To check, try to copy a long list of music tracks to your device (for offline playing) and allow your device to play all of them. If the issue won’t occur when playing offline, it’s possible that the problem is caused by the app losing internet connection. Music streaming apps usually loads songs in advance (buffer), especially if you’re trying to play a playlist but this buffer can only only for a few minutes after the phone has lost internet connection. If you’re on mobile data most of the time, consider playing songs while in wifi since it’s more stable and see if there’s a difference.

Clear cache partition

Clearing the cache partition is another necessary troubleshooting step in this case because sometimes, a corrupted system cache can lead to issues. To clear the system cache on your S9 Plus:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Android logo displays, release all three keys.
An ‘Installing system update’ message will show for 30 – 60 seconds before the Android system recovery menu options appear.
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight wipe cache partition.
Press Power key to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight yes, them and press the Power key to select.
When the wipe cache partition is complete, Reboot system now is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Clear cache and data of apps

One of the troubleshooting steps that you can do when it comes to any app-related issue is to clear the cache and data. Since you’re dealing with multiple apps in this case, we strongly suggest that you perform cache and data wipe for each of them.

Open Settings app.
Tap Apps.
Tap More settings (three-dot icon) at the upper-right.
Tap Show system apps.
Find the app you’re having an issue with and tap it.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear Cache button.
Restart your S8.
Check if the problem still exists.

Should the issue remain after clearing the cache, repeat steps 1-7 and hit Clear Data button.

Reset app preferences

Some apps need other apps or services in order to work properly so, if a critical system app or service was disabled or turned off by mistake, problems may arise. To ensure that this does not happen in this case, you want to reset all app preferences. This solution option will have the following effects:

re-enables previously disabled apps and services
resets default apps for actions
turns off background data restrictions for apps
return app permissions to their defaults
unblock app notifications

To reset app preferences on your S9:

Open Settings app.
Tap Apps.
Tap More settings (three-dot) icon at the upper right.
Tap Reset app preferences.

Reset settings

Should the issue still remains after doing all the solution options, make sure that you reset all software settings. This procedure has a similar effect to a factory reset without actually needing to wipe the phone. Basically, resetting your S9’s settings will bring all your settings back to their factory state.

To reset your S9 settings:

Open Settings app.
Tap General management.
Tap Reset.
Tap Reset all settings.
Tap RESET SETTINGS button.

Factory reset

Should the issue won’t go away at all at this point, consider doing a full factory reset. Make sure that you create a backup of your files before doing this procedure to avoid losing data.

To factory reset your S9 Plus:

Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
Tap Backup and restore.
If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
Tap the back button to the Settings menu and tap General Management > Reset > Factory data reset.
Tap Reset device.
If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
Tap Continue.
Tap Delete all.