Troubleshooting Spotify Black Screen Issues Easily

Part 1. Why Does Spotify Give Me a Black Screen?

The occurrence of a black screen while using Spotify can be attributed to several factors, often stemming from a combination of software and hardware interactions. Among the most liked culprits are software bugs or glitches that can emerge during updates or due to compatibility issues. Another common factor is corrupted cache or data, which may disrupt the Spotify app's ability to render content correctly. Additionally, network connection problems can contribute to the display anomaly.

Part 2. How to Troubleshoot Spotify Black Screen

There're various causes when it comes to the existing black screen. And here're some useful troubleshooting fixes. Now pick up the device and follow these steps for how to fix Spotify black screen issue.

1. Check Internet Connection

The most common Spotify black screen issue is the internet connection. You should check out these things based on the internet connection in use: Wi-Fi and mobile/cellular data connection.

For Wi-Fi connection:

Before restarting the Wi-Fi connection, feel free to have a simple test with other apps to see if the Wi-Fi in use work fine or switch to another available Wi-Fi to start the app.

Tips: if using home Wi-Fi, more help can be found on the router's support site.

1. In the device Settings, switch Wi-Fi off.
2. Wait 30 seconds, then switch the Wi-Fi back on.

This should reestablish a connection that work fine to fix the black screen.

Note: If in some shared or public networks, including schools or offices, chances are that there are restrictions to access to full performance of the app.

For mobile/cellular data connection:

Check that there are enough data allowance in the device's settings.

2. Clear the Spotify App Cache

Cached data can sometimes cause issues. Depending on your device, you can clear the cache for the Spotify app even when it blacks out.

For Android:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and find the "Apps" or "Applications" section.
3. Look for "Spotify" in the list of installed apps and tap on it.
4. Tap on "Storage".
5. Tap on "Force Stop", then "Clear cache".

3. Update the Spotify App

Updating the Spotify app to its latest version can help fix the black screen issue, as the outdated app can sometimes exhibit unexpected behavior.

4. Check for System Updates

Similar to the outdated app version, an outdated operating system can potentially cause compatibility issues with various applications, including Spotify. You can check for any available system updates on your devices.

5. Disable Hardware Acceleration

Hardware Acceleration is a feature used by many applications, including Spotify, to offload certain tasks to the computer's hardware for improved performance. However, it's possible that enabling Hardware Acceleration can sometimes lead to compatibility issues or graphical glitches on certain systems, thus causing a black screen issue on Spotify.

1. Open Spotify for desktop, go to Settings.
2. Scroll down to Compatibility.



3. See the Enable hardware acceleration tab and switch it off.

If the Hardware acceleration settings are tried with no luck - Spotify is just a black screen, there're more troubleshooting steps that can fix this Spotify black screen issue as expected for all platforms from app for desktop and mobile to web player.

6. Run the Spotify App as Administrator

Running the Spotify app as an administrator might help if the black screen issues is related to permissions or conflicts with other applications.

Note: Before running Spotify app as administrator, make sure end the app process with the Task Manager.

1. On desktop, right-click the Spotify app icon, then scroll down to Run as administrator.
2. In the Use Account Control pop-up, click Yes to tun the app as administrator.

7. Delete Duplicate Spotify App Processes

Sometimes, multiple instances of the Spotify app running in the background can cause conflicts and display issues, such as the black screen.

1. Close the Spotify app.
2. Open the Task Manager. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc and then choose "Task Manager". Or right-click on the taskbar > Task Manager.
3. Under the "Processes" tab, look for any duplicate Spotify processes.
4. Select them one by one and click the "End Task" button.

8. Allow the Spotify App through Firewall Settings

Allowing the Spotify app through firewall settings is also valid troubleshooting steps that you can try to resolve issues with the app, including the black screen problem.

For Windows:

1. From the Windows Start search bar, go to Check firewall status.



2. In the pop-up, click on Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall option in the side menu.
3. Also see the notification: "Block all connections to apps that are not on the list of allowed apps" next to Incoming connections.
4. In the lists, scroll down to the spotify.exe and allow it for Private and Public connections.



5. Click OK.

9. Grant the Spotify Access to Controlled Folders

On some versions of Windows, there is a feature called "Controlled Folder Access" that restricts which apps can access certain folders. If Spotify is being blocked from accessing necessary folders, it could result in issues.

For Windows:

1. From the Windows Start search bar, go to Settings.



2. In the pop-up, click on the Update & Security section.



3. Click Windows Security in the side menu and then Virus & threat protection under Protection areas.



4. Under Virus & threat protection, scroll down to Virus & threat protection settings and click Manage settings.



5. Scroll down to Controlled folder access and click Manage Controlled folder access under it.



6. If the Controlled folder access is on, switch it off.

Note: If the issues still exists the app is made as an exception to the firewall and the anti-virus software, also make sure this address http://spclient.wg.spotify.com is added as an exception.

10. Clean Uninstall the Spotify App

I bet users can reach this step before reading this post to uninstall and reinstall the app with the black screen issue at hand, but chances are that the previous uninstallation is not clean enough to fix the issue.

Note: You'll need to redownload all the downloaded music and podcasts after reinstalling the app. Please make sure there's a backup or have screenshots of them before uninstalling the app. From here our software can help with a safe download - no Premium subscription requires!

Tips: Settings in the app will be reset to the defaults, also make sure to make screenshots.

From here to fix Spotify black screen issue, steps to clean reinstall the app are different on platforms.

For Android:

1. On Android, go to Settings.
2. Scroll down to the Apps & Applications, then Manage applications.
3. From the list of apps, scroll down to Spotify and tap it.
4. Tap Storage, then Clear Data.
5. Now from the Settings, go to Storage > Android > Data and delete com.spotify.spotify.music folder.

For Windows:

1. Close Spotify.
2. From the Start search bar / Start menu on desktop, click Settings to go to Control Panel.
3. In the pop-up, see Programs section and click Uninstall a program underneath it.



4. Scroll down to Spotify or use the search tool to locate it, click Uninstall.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen.
6. Back to the Start search bar, enter %AppData% and hit enter.



This should open up AppData\Roaming



7. Delete the Spotify folders.

Or open AppData\Local or C:\Users\*USERNAME*\AppData\Local and delete and Spotify folders.

Tips: In the app's Settings page, also check out the Offline storage location and locate it on the computer.

Now restart the computer device and reinstall Spotify app to check if the issue has been fixed.

For Mac:

1. Close Spotify.
2. On desktop, go to Finder.
3. In the menu at the top, click Go then hold the Option/ Alt key and select Library.
4. Open Caches and delete the com.spotify.client and com.spotify.client.helper folders.
5. See and click the black arrow icon.
6. Open Application Support and the Spotify folder.
7. Delete the Spotify folders.

Part 3. How to Listen to Spotify Music without Black Screen Issue

Normal case is that the issue has been fixed within the steps above. However, if the fixes from above are tried with no luck - the black screen issue is still existing on one or several platforms, there're other methods to listen to Spotify songs without Spotify black screen.

1. Switch to Another Platform

Leave the platform that introduce problems and switch to another platform. This can work for those experience Spotify web player black screen issue because most fixes work fine to desktop app, while seems useless to the web player.

If the service works with another platform, switch to that platform and wait until an availble update including fixes to black screen.

2. Switch to Another Device

If the Spotify blacks out on one device but works on another one, you can use the Spotify Connect feature to connect two devices and play songs on the one you want.

Tips: This feature requires an active Premium subscription.

1. Open Spotify on 2 devices.
2. Click the Connect Device button and choice a device to listen to songs.

3. Download Spotify Songs across Devices

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