Phone Guide: Keep Spotify Playing in the Background While Using Other Apps

Background music doesn’t always mean background noise. Sometimes, it’s what sets the mood and keeps the moments alive. However, when you open a game, switch to TikTok, or start scrolling Instagram, and suddenly, the Spotify music stops. Annoying, right?

Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can keep Spotify playing in the background no matter what app you’re using on both iPhone and Android. We’ll show you different ways to make it happen, so you can choose what works best for you and keep your favorite Spotify songs playing uninterruptedly.

Can You Keep Spotify Playing in the Background on Your Phone?

Yes, Spotify should continue playing in the background on both iPhone and Android while using most apps. If you're browsing WhatsApp, scrolling Instagram, or playing a casual game, your Spotify music should keep running without interruption.

However, when you open another media app or a game that takes full control of the system’s audio, Spotify will pause automatically. This happens because the system prioritizes the new app’s audio. Regardless, if you want uninterrupted Spotify music playback no matter the app you’re using, there’s a solution here.

How to Keep Spotify Playing in the Background While Using Game Apps [iPhone]

Keep in mind that games that rely on voice chat or take full control of system audio will cut off Spotify immediately. This includes: Roblox, PUBG, Free Fire, and Call of Duty Mobile. That’s not a bug, it’s simply how iPhone manages game audio. In such a case, you’ll have to use StreamFox for Music, which is explored later.

However, not all games block Spotify. Some casual games should allow music playback without issues: Chess.com, Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, and Subway Surfers. If Spotify pauses even when using these games, then it’s a system setting causing the problem. Here’s how to fix it.

Step 1: Turn on Background App Refresh for Spotify

• Open Settings on iPhone and go to General.
• Tap Background App Refresh.



• Locate Spotify in the list.
• Ensure the toggle for Spotify is switched on.

Tip: While in Settings, navigate to Battery and confirm that Low Power Mode is turned off. When this is enabled, iOS will limit background activities, which causes Spotify to stop playing music when switching apps.

Step 2: Listen to Spotify While Playing Games

If your game has voice chat, disable it before launching Spotify.

• Play a song on Spotify and switch to the game you want to use.



• Some games can still override Spotify audio while launching. In such cases, swipe down to open the Control Center and manually tap Play to resume your music.

How to Keep Spotify Playing in the Background While Using Another App [Android]

Android’s default battery optimizations are designed to save power by limiting background activity of apps. That includes Spotify. So, your Android phone might be stopping Spotify when switching to a non-media app because of Battery restrictions.

Let’s fix that.

Step 1: Set Battery Saver as No Restrictions

• Open the Settings app. Scroll down and tap on Apps or Applications. 
• In the App list, tap Spotify.



• In Spotify’s App info page, scroll down to the Battery section and select it.
• Make sure that the Unrestricted (or No Restriction) option is selected and saved.

Step 2: Play Spotify While Opening Another App

Now that Spotify has no background restrictions:

• Play any song on Spotify and open a game or any non-media app normally.



• The music should continue playing without interruptions. However, if the game itself has embedded voice chat or a built-in media player, it will override Spotify’s sound.
• In such cases, turn off the in-game media audio or voice chat.



• You can always resume Spotify playback via the Quick Settings menu.

If you are using a Samsung Galaxy phone, there are 2 ways for you to listen to Spotify while using a media app.

Way 1. Use Inbuilt Feature

Galaxy phones come with a built-in Separate App Sound feature that can allow you to Spotify run without interruptions while using other apps. Here’s how to activate it on your Samsung Galaxy phones:

Step 1. Go to Settings and open Sounds and Vibration. Scroll all the way down and tap Separate App Sound.

Step 2. Tap Turn on Now. A prompt will appear, asking you to select an app and an audio device, tap Select.

Step 3. Under App List, choose Spotify. 

Step 4. And the key step: under Audio Device, you’ll have to choose where Spotify’s sound should play. You’ll need to select a paired external device: a Bluetooth speaker, a wireless earbud, or any connected external speaker.

Step 5. Once set up, connect the external device to your phone. Now, start playing Spotify and open any other media app.

The music will flow uninterrupted through the external speaker while your phone’s speakers handle in-app sounds separately.

Way 2. Use Third-party App

A dedicated app for using the separate sound feature with some extra perks is Sound Assistant on the Galaxy Store. With this, you can play Spotify at full volume while lowering or muting another app, like Games, YouTube, or TikTok, at the same time. Plus, it doesn’t need external speaker connection to work. Here’s how to install and use it:

Step 1. Install Sound Assistant from the Galaxy Store. Once installed, open the app and grant the necessary permissions.

Step 2. On the main settings page, tap Individual App Volumes.

Step 3. Tap the plus (+) icon at the bottom-right and select Spotify along with any other app you want to control separately: like YouTube, TikTok, or a game. Then, tap Add from the top-right to confirm.

Step 4. Enable Multi Sound in the Sound Assistant app. This is the feature that negates the need for external speakers.

Step 5. Once enabled, Spotify can play alongside other apps. You can also control each app’s sound individually through the volume buttons. To do this, go to Sound Assistant > Customize Volume Panel and turn it on.

Step 6. Now, whenever you press the physical Volume Up/Down buttons, the usual sound panel will appear, but it will display separate volume sliders for each active app.

Spotify Not Playing in Background [Ultimate Fix]

The above methods don’t work for you to play Spotify in background? A direct way to solve this is by using StreamFox for Music, the Eassiy All-in-One Music Converter. In fact, it lets you skip Spotify’s limits altogether. StreamFox for Music allows you to download your playlists and albums as MP3, WAV, or AAC. Once downloaded, you can add them to any media player that works the way you want and listen to music while playing games and using other apps.

And here’s the best part: StreamFox can download the music without requiring Spotify Premium. You can also choose your preferred audio quality (128 kbps, 256 kbps, or 320 kbps). Plus, there are also no restrictions on how many songs you can save. In fact, StreamFox’s 50x speed and batch processing aid you to make your downloads quick and effortless.

Steps to Use StreamFox to Download Spotify Songs

Step 1. Get StreamFox for Music on your Mac or Windows computer. Once installed, open the app and select Spotify from the main screen.

Step 2. Log In to your Spotify account within StreamFox. Whether it’s a free or premium account, StreamFox works with both.

Step 3. Simply drag and drop any song, album, or playlist onto the plus icon at the top right. Add everything you want: whether for offline listening, background play, or keeping your favorites forever.

Step 4. Once all your tracks are queued up, click Convert All to start the download. The songs will be processed instantly and saved to your device.

Play Downloaded Spotify Songs in Background While Playing Games or Using Other Apps

The StreamFox downloads come in open formats, so you can easily transfer them to any device for background play. Let’s see how to play them in background on the iOS devices first, then move on to Android.

For iPhone Users

You’ll need to copy the songs to the Files app, not Apple Music, so they remain accessible to any media player on your iPhone. To do this:

• Plug your iPhone to your computer.
• Open Finder. Click on your iPhone’s name in the sidebar.
• From there, select the Files tab at the top and drag the StreamFox downloads from your computer into your iPhone’s Files app section.

On iOS, Music Player v0.3. is a dedicated iOS shortcut for seamless background playback that can override nearly any app: whether it’s YouTube, TikTok, games, or even Apple Music and Spotify itself.

Once you’ve added the Music Player v0.3 to your Shortcuts app, you can run it anytime you want to listen to Spotify downloads in the background. Simply:

• Open Shortcuts.
• Tap the Music Player v0.3 shortcut.
• Choose the StreamFox folder that you copied to the Files app.

The music will start playing automatically immediately while you continue playing games, browsing, or using any other app.

For Android Users

You can copy the StreamFox-downloaded Spotify songs to any location on your Android device’s internal storage and play them via native media players. To do this:

• Connect your Android device to the computer.
• Open File Explorer.
• Copy the StreamFox downloads.
• Navigate to Android’s internal storage.
• And paste them in a dedicated folder.

Now, you can play your Spotify downloads in the background using Samsung Music or any other built-in media player. And play almost all games while listening to music uninterruptedly.

Spotify Keeps Running in the Background [How to Fix]

While this guide is about keeping Spotify music running in the background, sometimes it is also a problem. For instance, Spotify can keep playing the music even after you close the app, force-stop it, or restart your device. In such problems, the ultimate fix is to perform a clean reinstall, which will ensure all Spotify-related files are erased before reinstalling:

On iPhone:

Step 1. Clear Spotify's cache by going to the Spotify Settings page: navigate to Storage and select the Clear Cache button.

Step 2. Completely uninstall Spotify by opening iPhone’s Settings app, selecting General, tapping iPhone Storage, accessing Spotifyand choosing Delete App.

Step 3. Once deleted, power off your iPhone for 2 minutes. This will wipe out any lingering processes. Restart again.

Step 4. Reinstall Spotify from App Store. Finally, log in Spotify and your background playback issue will be resolved.

On Android

To perform a clean reinstall of the Spotify app on Android, simply open the Settings app:

Step 1. Scroll down to Apps or Application Manager. From the app list, find Spotify and tap on it.

Step 2. Head to Storage and tap Clear Cache and Clear Data at the bottom. Go back to the App Info page and tap Uninstall.

Step 3. Turn off your phone. Keep it powered off for 2–3 minutes. Then, restart your Android device. Go to Play Store and install Spotify again.

How to Keep Spotify Playing in the Background on Windows/Mac

On your computer, Spotify should continue playing even when you switch between apps, minimize the window, or work on other tasks. Still, there are some small tweaks you can make if Spotify isn’t running in the background.

On Spotify Windows/Mac

One setting that affects background playback on the computer is the close button behavior. By default, clicking the close (X) button on Spotify doesn’t quit the app: it keeps it running in the background on Windows and Mac. If this behavior isn’t working as expected:

• Click on your profile icon at the top-right.
• Choose Settings.
• Scroll down to Startup and window behavior section. Here, make sure that the Close button should minimize the Spotify window toggle is turned on.

On Windows

Windows provides more flexibility than macOS when it comes to individual app volume controls. So, when you’re gaming or using other apps, you can manually adjust the Spotify’s app output and volume levels. For this:

• Play music on the Spotify app.
• Open the desired game.
• Right-click the Sound icon in the system tray.
• Select Open Volume Mixer.
• In the Apps section, locate Spotify and the game or media app.
• Ensure that Spotify’s output audio is optimized to your desired speakers. Plus, you can control the volume of both Spotify and the individual app you’re trying to run alongside it.

Final Words

It doesn't matter what's happening on your screen: gaming, scrolling, or even watching a movie, now you can make sure that Spotify is playing in the background. On iPhone or Android, there are external players that can override system settings. Of course, you’ll just have to bring Spotify music outside its app. And for that, the best solution is StreamFox for Music.

StreamFox for Music lets you download high-quality Spotify songs in open formats like MP3 without the need of a Spotify Premium account. This makes your music remain truly yours, playing when, where, and how you want.