My partner recently switched from Android to iPhone. And, for a music lover like her, the transition to iPhone can be tricky because iPhone notoriously does not allow users to play stored music. The solution was to subscribe to an audio streaming service or to be more specific, Spotify. 

We subscribed to a two-person Spotify package and have been more than happy ever since, especially its vast collection of songs, even regional ones. But as they say, happiness doesn’t last forever; nature conspired to invent a new problem: whenever she opens the Facebook app, Spotify stops working—or it simply exits. 

How to prevent Facebook app from interfering with Spotify

Clearly, I assumed, the problem was with the Facebook app. After all, Spotify would stop working only when the Facebook app is opened. So, I tried some obvious fixes, to no success:

First, I closed all running apps including Facebook. It didn’t work.

I restarted the phone. It didn’t work, either.

I turned off Facebook’s Video Autoplays completely. No luck.

I also disabled Facebook’s ‘Videos Start With Sound’ option. Still no luck.

But then I did something that finally worked: I removed Facebook’s access to iPhone’s camera. For those who don’t know, here’s how you can do it, too:

  • Open iPhone’s Settings
  • Scroll down and below iPhone’s own settings, you will have a list of all apps installed on your device. Find Facebook from the list and tap on it.
  • The first option is called “Allow Facebook to Access” and below it is a list of things the Facebook app does or doesn’t have access to such as Location or Notification, etc.
  • There, simply disable the permission for Facebook to access your Camera. If it’s green, it means the access is granted. When you tap on the toggle or the button, it will turn gray, meaning it’s disabled. 
Spotify Stops on iPhone Facebook App Fix
On iPhone’s Settings page: 1) Facebook is the first app in the list of apps, and I tapped on Facebook. 2) On the second image, see Camera? 3) On the third image, I simply disabled the Camera access by turning the green-button into gray.

Just a note of caution before you disable camera access.

In our case, I kept Facebook’s Video Autoplays or the ‘Videos Start With Sound’ options turned off before I removed its access to the iPhone’s camera. So just to be on the safe side, you should do that, too.

Once I verified that Spotify continues to play music even when I scroll on the Facebook app, I tried reversing the options (such as enabling camera access again), and there was no problem at all. 

So I don’t think you will have to keep Facebook’s access to Camera turned off forever to listen to Spotify music. I think it’s just an iPhone glitch, which will soon be fixed in future updates.

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