Spoticast no longer working towards Echo

[Jerome]

Hello,

I bought Spoticast for my Windows 10 Mobile a couple months ago and it has worked fine until a few days ago.
Whether I use it from my phone or my Windows 10 laptop (it's a UWP app) to "Spotify connect" the music to my Echo, no sounds comes from my Echo any longer.

Spoticast does show me the Echo as being available among the devices I can stream to (they're on the same wifi network) and it lets me launch a track.
I see the timeline moving on but no sound coming out from Echo 
If I ask Alexa what's playing, she tells me what played before from a previous source and I don't see the music listed in the web app.
It's just like it's totally ignored by Echo...

The weird thing is Spotify Connect does work to my Echo if launched from https://open.spotify.com on my laptop.
I rebooted my router and unplugged/replugged Echo to no avail.
According to the very responsive creator of Spoticast (http://twitter.com/poppyto), no changes have been made in the 2 recent latest versions that could have brought a regression (I'm not sure he owns an Echo though)

Has anyone experienced such a loss or does anyone have an idea of what I could troubleshoot ?
Thanks !

[mike27oct]

It may just be a volume level setting of the Echo got changed, so tell Echo to set volume to level 5 (mid way) so you can hear if that was the problem.  Now, try the app after setting volume.  Listen to anything but the app first of all so you have a reference point.

[Jerome]

Thanks Mike, I thought the Echo's volume was playing trick on me indeed and I had tested like you said.

I did it again : I vocally set volume to 4 then invoked music from Spotify : it started loud and clear.
But as sound as I switch to Echo/Spotify Connect from my phone (to launch any kind of music), the sound shuts off.
The fact that the Alexa app does not "register" in its history music coming from Spoticast/phone (or PC) seems to prove the connection between the phone and Echo is not complete.
I tried Spoticast with 2 Windows Phones with the same failure...
It's very frustrating and I don't know where to look :-/
I tweeted about it, I'll see if anyone else has an idea.

[mike27oct]

It may be a bad app, and I know that apps for Windows phones are rather scarce since lots of companies don't make apps for a phone that has barely 3% market share.  And, in case you haven't heard, Microsoft recently took a reality check and has decided (once again) to abandon the cell phone market.  "Coming soon"; the Windows phone will be extinct.

Since the Apple and Android platforms rule the cell marketplace (with 90% market share) I strongly suggest you swap over to one of these platforms if you expect good app support from your phone maker.

[Jerome]

I've been in direct contact with the developer (French like me) through email during the past weeks.
He has been super fast to reply and release a couple of fixes I had reported (but not specific to my device).
He is one of those remaining dedicated developer on the Windows Phone platform (see Webrox quality apps) and he claims the issue is not on his side (although like I said he probably couldn't test my exact situation since he does not own an Echo)
Spotify Connect on his app worked for my specific scenario (ie Echo) just fine when I tested the trial and after I bought the unlocked version for a couple of months but then suddenly stopped.
It's just too bad the official Spotify app on Windows 10 does not feature Spotify Connect

I'll change platforms (Android ?) the day I'm in a total dead-end and I fear that day...

[mike27oct]

Sure, get your Spoticast working if you can, but don't waste time switching platforms for phone.

Android or iPhone?  Everyone has their preference. Our family on both sides use iPhones. One reason is we use FaceTime and we also have iPads.  I really prefer the iOS devices because of the great and stable apps I use, some of which do not have Android versions.  I do like the prices of the Android phones over the iPhones, but cost is not always the deciding factor here.