'We’re aware of some issues right now' — live updates as Spotify confirms outage, with thousands of users reporting that they can't access the music streaming service

12 May 2026, 17:40 by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/marc-mclaren · TechRadar

'We’re aware of some issues right now' — live updates as Spotify confirms outage, with thousands of users reporting that they can't access the music streaming service

Spotify is currently experiencing problems…

News By Marc McLaren Contributions from Lance Ulanoff, Roland Moore-Colyer, David Nield, Jacob Krol last updated 12 May 2026

(Image credit: © Shutterstock)

Everybody panic! Spotify is currently experiencing issues, with thousands of reports that the app is not working.

The music streaming service has confirmed that "We’re aware of some issues right now with the app and are checking them out!", but there's no word yet on how widespread the problem is, or how long it might last.

The problems began at around 12pm ET / 5pm BST, with the first reports of the outage hitting Down Detector. Reports grew steadily over the next 20-30 minutes, peaking at around 14,000 at 1.20pm ET / 6.20pm BST — then appeared to drop off.

However, more than 2hrs later there are clearly still some issues, with users in both the US and UK struggling to get the app to load on either desktop or mobile — though offline tunes do seem to work.

We'll continue rounding up all the info on the outage as we get it.

This is a developing story…

Refresh Get notified of updates 2026-05-12T20:23:11.380Z

This post on X likely sums up the day pretty well for Spotify users who are still experiencing issues with the platform — especially if you're keen to see the first song you listened to on the platform.

2026-05-12T20:16:04.220Z

We're still waiting for further comment from Spotify, as it's been several hours since the initial confirmation that the service was aware of some issues. Even with it returning for me, a colleague, and some friends, it's clear from social posts that Spotify is not back to 100% operation for everyone.

Even with some sharing that Spotify is down on X (formerly Twitter) and on Threads, others are sharing the first song they listened to on the platform as well as how many minutes total they've spent listening.

Certainly an interesting day for an outage.

2026-05-12T20:09:33.268Z

Here in the United States, Spotify appears to be mostly back to normal for both my premium account and my colleague, Lance Ulanoff's, free account. Search has resumed normal, and isn't immediately erroring out. I'm also able to play music, quickly jump between tracks, and browse full playlists.

I did ask a few friends, both on the east coast like myself and on the west coast, who are reporting it's working on mobile – iOS and Android – as well as desktop. It is back up and running for my Sonos system as well.

But please do let me know in the comments below if Spotify is working for you and if it isn't where you are.

2026-05-12T19:19:05.561Z

Hello there, Jacob Krol stepping in here to keep tracking the ongoing Spotify situation. And the situation is still best described by the music streaming service's original notice: it's 'aware of some issues right now.'

In the US, Down Detector is hovering at around 3,400 reports of issues, and in the UK, the number of reports is higher at around 6,100 as of the most recent update. Spotify still shows an active, ongoing issue on its own blog-like status page here.

2026-05-12T19:07:26.306Z

There's still no word from Spotify since its initial message that it was experiencing problems, but reports on Down Detector are dropping, in both the UK and US.

Lance says that it seems largely recovered, but that it's still suffering from what could best be described as buffering issues.

"I've bought up a pair of playlists, but instead of instantly playing the songs when I hit play, the streamer appeared to be buffering," tells me.

"The only way to get music playing again is to select a different song in the same playlist. It's surely a quirk of the recovery."

2026-05-12T18:51:46.289Z

Search is back on Spotify

Here's Lance again in the US:

"Even though the center screen on the Spotify Web Player has been spotty at best, I have now successfully completed a web-based Spotify search.

"My subject: Best dance music of all time, of course. Can't say I'm thrilled with the results. Spotify gave me my playlist and when I clicked on the "songs" tab, I got, "No Songs found for "best dance music of all time"

"That has to be a mistake, no?

"In any case, search functioning is a very good sign, as the Spotify team scrambles to bring all of Spotify back on line."

(Image credit: Future)

2026-05-12T18:45:51.704Z

Here's Roland again with a helpful tip:

"If you have songs downloaded on Spotify they’ll still work as expected, so there’s one way to access some of your playlists. But I’m not 100% sure how many people do this, especially as, I believe, if you do this on multiple devices Spotify will then delete some downloaded songs on some devices; you can only spread the downloads so far.

"I tend to have a couple of downloaded playlists to get the best audio quality without sucking up my useless home internet bandwidth. But I could be in a minority with that. Still it means I have some music to listen to while I’m at my desk."

2026-05-12T18:40:18.037Z

Stick with mobile

(Image credit: Future)

Here's another update from Lance in NYC, who seems to be having a slightly better experience with Spotify than some people right now.

"In my neck of the woods, mobile is now the most consistently trouble-free Spotify experience. The web player tries to keep pace, but can't seem to display anything in the main window.

"It knows I'm listening to Franz Ferdinand, but Spotify can't serve up whatever is supposed to appear front and center.

"The good news is that we still seem to be on the mend. Spotify should soon be back for all. I think."

2026-05-12T18:36:47.175Z

I said earlier that I no longer have a Spotify subscription, so none of this is directly affecting me — though I do, of course, feel bad for those of you who are unable to listen to your tunes right now.

I made the decision to leave the service in December and now subscribe to Qobuz instead — and I can't speak highly enough of it. Sure, it's not quite as slick as Spotify in some ways, but it fixes many of the personal issues I had with the better-known platform and — most importantly — it sounds absolutely fantastic. Seriously, if you love music and haven't given proper hi-res audio a go, I urge you to give it a try.

As it happens, we have a guide to how to switch from Spotify to Qobuz without losing your playlists.

2026-05-12T18:26:09.230Z

Party off

(Image credit: Spotify)

So here's a thing: it’s Spotify's 20th anniversary today and that saw the company announce its new Spotify 20: Your Party of the Year(s) feature.

This is effectively a tool to show you your data from across your entire Spotify journey, starting from the first day you joined the service until now. it includes your most-streamed artist, the total number of streamed songs, and more.

We have no way of knowing what's caused the current outage, but could the implementation of this new feature have been a factor? I guess we'll find out later…

2026-05-12T18:21:40.245Z

Spotify continues to struggle in the UK

Spotify looks broken... (Image credit: Future)

Back to the UK, and this is what you see when you try to load up Spotify on the web right now. The interface partially loads, but music and podcasts are inaccessible, and everything is very slow.

If you're a Premium user, hopefully you've downloaded some of your favorite playlists for offline use. If not, you might have to wait a while to resume streaming (or just switch to YouTube).

2026-05-12T18:18:26.386Z

Is it up or down?

Spotify is still mostly working for Lance in the US, but he says he's hearing otherwise from people just a state away.

"Perhaps I have all the bandwidth," he says. "I guess I'll enjoy it while I can.

"Still, not everything is A-OK. I'm currently streaming Bohemian Rhapsody from my iPhone, but the website is not quite in sync."

(Image credit: Future)

2026-05-12T18:14:25.925Z

We're definitely still experiencing problems in the UK, where my colleague Roland Moore-Colyer is based (as am I). Here's Roland's update:

"Well dammit. I was just enjoying some old-skool rap, courtesy of my broken Spotify algorithm trying to work out my eclectic music tastes and searches, when Spotify ceased working for me on my iPhone.

"While the outage was brewing US-side, I thought we’d missed it UK side, with Downdetector showing a slowing down of outage reports. But whatever is messing with Spotify seems to have blighted those of us in Blighty once again.

"So right now I’m writing with no musical assistance… someone pray for me."

We've reached out to Spotify for an update, and will let you know if we get a response.

2026-05-12T18:07:06.372Z

Okay, you know where I said it was working? Well it now seems not to be again.

Strap in, folks, this could be a long one.

2026-05-12T17:58:02.988Z

What do you do when Spotify goes down?

It looks like this outage may be a relatively short-lived one, thankfully — because it can be hard, being cut off from your favorite music source.

Of course, this isn't the first time, nor will it be the last time, this happens. What do you do with yourself in these situations? Tell us in the poll below.

2026-05-12T17:56:13.426Z

Right, big news… Lance says it's coming back. I'm still seeing reports on Down Detector, but they are indeed starting to drop.

2026-05-12T17:52:58.262Z

And problems in the UK too

Meanwhile, a colleague in the UK, David Nield, confirmed that it's not working for him either, and that "only offline downloads will play."

(Image credit: Spotify)

2026-05-12T17:48:29.293Z

Spotify sputtering in the US

(Image credit: Future)

I no longer subscribe to Spotify myself, but I asked my colleague Lance Ulanoff to try it, and he sent me this:

"Even though I can still open the app in the US, Spotify is struggling to respond to any of my requests. I can't play or search for music.

"The situation is even worse on the desktop. After a long wait, I got Spotify to open in Chrome, but when I tried to log in, I got an error message. No music for me."

Poor Lance, he'll have to do some work instead.

2026-05-12T17:46:55.004Z

Spotify has responded to users on X, admitting that it is "aware of some issues" and that it is checking them out.

2026-05-12T17:44:39.679Z

You can see in the screenshot below that the numbers climbed steeply, with more than 14,000 users reporting problems 20 minutes ago.

(Image credit: Down Detector)

2026-05-12T17:42:48.736Z

Okay, so what do we know? Well, outage reports started growing on Down Detector just under an hour ago.

Hi everyone. I'm going to dig into what's going on with Spotify, so stay tuned for updates as I get them.

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