Spotify “Hide Song” & “Unhide Song” Not Working? (7 Known Issues)

With a vast array of music and podcasts to listen to, an affordable price plan, and bountiful unique features, there’s no question as to why Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services out there.

One highly notable and useful function that Spotify subscribers love is the ‘hide song’ feature.

As great as this feature is, some users have reported that the button fails to work properly on their app or web player.

Below we will cover the most commonly known reasons why the ‘hide song’ function isn’t working and what can be done to solve the issue.

1. Your Power Saving Settings are Interfering with Spotify

Power-saving mode is a function available to nearly all smartphones, tablets, and computers.

This handy feature enables owners to get the most out of the battery life of their device in-between charges and works by reducing any background activity that may be draining power unnecessarily.

Power-saving mode is incredibly useful when you want your device to go that extra mile.

However, some Spotify members have found that when they have power-saving mode enabled on their devices, certain features such as the ‘hide songs’ option become unavailable or grayed out.

This interference between the device’s power-saving settings and Spotify’s ‘hide songs’ feature is a known issue amongst Spotify listeners, but luckily it can be easily rectified.

All you have to do is go onto your device’s general settings and disable any power-saving mode that you may have unknowingly activated.

2. You are Using a Free Spotify Account

Spotify Premium comes with many more additional features and benefits compared with a Spotify free account. T

his includes the ability to use the ‘hide songs’ function to get rid of songs that you are sick of listening to, or that aren’t really to your taste.

If you are currently signed up for a Spotify free account, you will find that the ‘hide song’ feature isn’t available for you to use, meaning you will need to sign up for a Premium account in order to access it.

Fortunately, Spotify Premium comes at a very reasonable monthly price.

You can sign up for as little as $9.99 a month on the individual plan, granting you access to all of Spotify Premium features, such as ad-free listening, offline playback, and of course the ability to hide as many songs and artists as you like.

3. You Need to Restart your Device

Some Spotify users have found that when their ‘hide song’ or ‘unhide song’ feature becomes grayed out or unavailable, it is because their device simply needed a quick reboot.

Restarting your device is an incredibly quick and easy way to fix any minor glitches or bugs that may be occurring when you go to listen to your favorite music.

It’s best to properly switch off your device, wait a few minutes, then turn it back on again as opposed to simply using the ‘restart’ option.

Once done, you should be able to use all of the features available on your Premium account and hide away again!

4. You Need to Update the Spotify App

Nowadays, our smart devices tend to automatically update both their operating systems and any apps installed whenever a new update becomes available.

As useful as this is, it means we have grown reliant on our devices doing all the updates for us, and sometimes this isn’t the case. If you notice that your ‘hide song’ feature has suddenly disappeared, or isn’t responding, a known solution is to check whether the Spotify app needs an update.

An old version of the app, or a pending update, can cause multiple playback and performance issues with Spotify.

Simply go into either the Google Play Store or the App Store, depending on whether you are using an Android or an Apple device, check for any updates with Spotify and install them if available.

It’s also worth checking whether your iOS or Android OS needs an update too, as this has been known to cause similar issues with Spotify.

5. Spotify Needs a Clean Reinstall

Many users have found that a clean install was the best way they could solve their non-functioning ‘hide song’ button.

It’s worth noting that when you perform a clean reinstall of Spotify, your settings will go back to default and you will need to re-download any music and podcasts.

Follow the steps below to learn how to do this on Android and iOS devices.

How to run a Clean Reinstall of Spotify on Android (6.0 and above):

1. Open your Android device’s ‘Settings’ app.
2. Navigate to the Apps section.
3. Select Spotify, then choose to clear ‘Storage & Cache’
4. Once this is complete, tap on ‘Uninstall’
5. From File Manager, go to ‘Internal Storage\Android\data’
6. Delete the ‘com.spotify.music’ folder.
7. Restart your device, and visit the Google Play Store to reinstall Spotify.

How to run a Clean Reinstall of Spotify on iPhone or iPad:

1. Open Spotify.
2. From Spotify’s Home Screen, navigate to ‘settings’ which is located in the top right corner of your screen.
3. Scroll and tap ‘Storage’ > Tap ‘Delete Cache’.
4. Now head to your iPhone’s ‘General Settings’ by opening the big gear icon on your Home Screen.
5. Select ‘iPhone Storage’ or ‘iPad Storage’ depending on which device you are currently using, then tap on Spotify.
6. Choose to ‘Offload’ the app and tap ‘confirm’ when prompted.
7. Now tap ‘Delete App’ followed by another ‘confirm’ prompt.
8. Once complete, restart your device.
9. Now that the app has been properly uninstalled, you can visit the App Store to reinstall Spotify.

6. Your Anti-Virus Software May be Affecting the ‘Hide song’ Feature on Spotify

Although not incredibly common, some Spotify users have found that when their anti-virus software is enabled on their computer or laptop, the Spotify app fails to work properly.

This includes certain Premium features such as the ‘hide song’ feature disappearing or becoming grayed out.

If, when you disable your antivirus software and Spotify works fine, it can be an indication that there is a firewall blocking Spotify’s ability to perform at its best.

You should also check whether Spotify is listed as a trusted app for your antivirus software because if not, the software might be blocking or limiting some of the traffic coming through.

Please check out our article, Virus vs. Antivirus – What’s The Difference?

7. The ‘Unhide song’ Option is Unavailable because the Content is No Longer on Spotify

Some Spotify users have found that if they have hidden a song in the past but later decide to unhide it, it isn’t always possible to do so.

When the ‘unhide song’ option is grayed out, it may mean that that particular song is actually no longer available to listen to on Spotify.

This known issue can be pretty frustrating and, unfortunately, has no real solution.

All you can do is hope that the song will be re-released on Spotify’s in the near future, and in the meantime, you should try finding the song on another platform.

General Pros & Cons of Spotify ‘Hide song’ & ‘Unhide song’ Button

Pros

Every avid Spotify user will agree on just how useful the ‘hide song’ feature on Spotify Premium accounts is.

It allows listeners to hide certain songs they don’t particularly like that may come up in weekly playlists, or even just hide songs that they have listened to, perhaps one too many a time.

Cons

• ‘Hide songs’ can be affected by antivirus software
• Sometimes a clean reinstall is needed to reactivate the feature
• Only available for Spotify Premium users
• Unhide song button will not work for songs that have been removed from Spotify
• An updated app will be necessary for the hide/unhide buttons to work
• A device’s power saving mode can prevent ‘hide songs’ from functioning

Sources

The 10 most common Spotify problems with simple fixes

How to Hide and Unhide songs on Spotify