Spotify, the world’s leading music streaming service, went offline for thousands of users Wednesday morning, April 16, halting playlists and searches for nearly an hour. The company confirmed the issue was fixed by midday, but not before fans took to social media to vent.
The outage began around 8:45 a.m. ET, with users reporting they couldn’t load the app, stream songs, or search for artists. Downdetector, a site that tracks tech issues, logged over 48,000 complaints at its peak, with problems hitting the U.S., U.K., and beyond. While downloaded music still played for some, most features were frozen.
“It was rough,” said Alex Carter, a college student in Chicago. “I’m in the middle of studying, and my whole vibe just stopped.”
Spotify acknowledged the problem on its status account, saying it was “checking things out.” By 12 p.m. ET, the company gave the all-clear, confirming services were back online.
“All clear—thanks for your patience,” Spotify posted on X.
A spokesperson told reporters the outage wasn’t a security hack, dismissing rumors that swirled online.
The cause remains unclear. Spotify, with over 675 million users worldwide, didn’t say what sparked the disruption or how many were affected. Some users reported lingering issues, like missing listening history, but most said the app was working again.