Connection diagnostics¶
When recent listening is missing from your profile, this check tells you whether your plays are reaching Musicat — and where they stopped.
Where to find it¶
Settings → Spotify → Connection diagnostics → Run diagnostics
The card only appears when Spotify is connected. Nothing runs in the background: the check happens when you tap the button, and you can run it again whenever you like. The result always shows how long ago it was checked.
What the result means¶
Every check ends with one of these:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Everything is in sync | Your latest Spotify plays match what we've saved. Nothing to do here. |
| Catching up | We've spotted newer plays on Spotify and they're on their way in. This can take a little while. |
| No recent plays | Everything looks fine, Spotify just hasn't reported any recent listening yet. Play a track and check again. |
| Sync delayed | Spotify has plays we haven't saved yet and syncing looks stuck. Try again later, and reconnect Spotify if it persists. |
| Spotify is busy | Spotify is temporarily limiting requests. Please try again shortly. |
| Spotify unavailable | Spotify couldn't be reached right now. This is usually temporary, try again in a moment. |
| Reconnect needed | Spotify has revoked access. Please disconnect and connect Spotify again. |
| Spotify error | Spotify returned an unexpected error. If it keeps happening, try reconnecting Spotify. |
| Not connected | Spotify isn't connected to your account. Connect it to start tracking your listening history. |
The details¶
Under the status you may see your Spotify profile — the name, e-mail and picture Spotify gives us — and a few extra rows. Only the rows that apply to your result are shown.
| Row | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Plan | Your Spotify subscription, as Spotify reports it. |
| Recent plays on Spotify | How many recent plays Spotify is currently reporting. |
| Last play on Spotify | When Spotify last recorded you listening to something. |
| Last synced by musicat | When Musicat last checked Spotify for new plays. |
| Last saved play | The most recent play saved to your Musicat history. |
| Sync delay | How far your saved history is behind Spotify. |
| Streams being processed | Plays that have arrived but are not on your profile yet. |
| Retry after | How long Spotify has asked us to wait before checking again. |
Reconnect every 6 months¶
Spotify makes you reconnect musicat every 6 months.
The diagnostics card shows your exact deadline and how many days are left. Once it passes, your plays stop being tracked until you connect again.
Now playing works, but history stays empty¶
A frequent report: Musicat shows what you are listening to right now, but those tracks never turn up in your history.
Seeing the right track in now playing does not mean the play has been saved. On Spotify's side these are two separate things, and one can work while the other does not.
Run the check. It looks at your saved history rather than at now playing, so it shows you which side is stuck:
- No recent plays while you are definitely listening means Spotify is not reporting your recent plays to us.
- Catching up or Sync delayed means the plays are on their way and should appear shortly.
Sometimes Spotify simply stops reporting recent plays for one account. It usually starts working again on its own after a while. We cannot change that from our side — reconnecting Spotify is worth one try, but it does not always help.
Listening through Stationhead? See Stationhead — those plays are often never reported by Spotify at all.
Still missing plays?¶
Disconnect Spotify and connect it again. That clears up most problems, and it is what the check itself suggests when access has expired. If plays are still missing afterwards, get in touch and tell us what the diagnostics reported.