topic New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old? in Desktop (Windows)

New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

KingGodCurse — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 07:04:19 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I signed out of all accounts and came back to my desktop app looking like the Web Player Version, when right before it was the old interface. I can't stand this new interface and have already tried to change it in the "prefs" file, but I may not have entered it right. Is there any way I can get back to the old UI, I despise this one as a frequent Spotify Desktop user since 2013. This UI is much more difficult to roam.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

dinomight — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 03:14:25 GMT

Hey there @KingGodCurse, your feedback on the UI is appreciated, but I'm sorry to say there is not a way to revert to the previous design. Please feel free to continue to comment on any changes you'd like to see, and especially to vote on or submit ideas about the new UI here.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

IAmGilipe — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 16:12:49 GMT

As this board is preventing my from sharing a URL, Google "reverting_to_the_classic_desktop_ui" to find the answer.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

KingGodCurse — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 02:25:19 GMT

Thanks for that! This works.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

RealNC — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 22:06:48 GMT

That is not correct. You can switch to the classic UI in the prefs configuration file.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

acidjunkie — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 00:43:14 GMT

How does that work?

I love Spotify but this new UI is absolutely garbage.

Search functionality often fails.

Super difficult to find out what albums an artist has.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

RealNC — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 00:59:00 GMT

I added this line:

ui.experience_override="classic"

To the "prefs" file of Spotify. On Linux, the file is in the folder:

~/.config/spotify/

On Windows, it should be in:

%APPDATA%\Spotify

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

bluntestpick — Mon, 03 May 2021 18:47:36 GMT

I loath the new UI too. Why approve such a downgrade, Spotify? I hope that workaround posted won't be blocked.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

acidjunkie — Mon, 03 May 2021 19:08:51 GMT

Confirmed that this works - great to have the old UI back 🙂

Thanks a lot!

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

multi — Tue, 04 May 2021 07:37:46 GMT

YES! Thank you!! That new UI was making me nuts

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

sbebiwan — Tue, 04 May 2021 09:36:41 GMT

Thanks a lot !

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

n1kke — Tue, 04 May 2021 10:38:59 GMT

You're a lifesaver! The new UI is missing playlist filtering when adding a new song to a playlist. In the old UI you could just type the first few letters of the name of the playlist and it only showed the matching playlists. The lack of filtering makes adding a song to playlist a nightmare when you have dozens of playlists..

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

cethlol — Tue, 04 May 2021 13:02:37 GMT

It's an absolute disaster from a User Experience point of view ... not sure why I should pay if this UI continues like this....

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

acidjunkie — Tue, 04 May 2021 13:18:07 GMT

Could not agree more. New UI is just a step back in all areas:

- super hard to figure out what albums an artist has

- can't view the entire discography in one list

- search functionality is hidden away

But anyway, happy that with a simple one line hack, can go back to the old UI. Works for me 🙂

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

tlh119 — Tue, 04 May 2021 15:37:13 GMT

I, too, switched back to Classic mode. I would list out everything I despise about the new UI but I don't have all day. I'm sure the developers will remove the ability to use classic mode soon (Spotify is good at removing features). I will just have to enjoy it while it lasts.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

ranoa513 — Thu, 06 May 2021 16:02:02 GMT

This is absolute gold, thank you so much!
btw, the location on Mac is
/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Spotify/prefs

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

CheckTheFlo — Fri, 07 May 2021 08:21:08 GMT

Ahah THAAAAAAANKS!! It works!! 🙂

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

Visben — Fri, 07 May 2021 17:14:02 GMT

Many thanks!

Windows users should look after the .../AppData/Roaming/Spitfy/prefs file.

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

tn1197 — Sat, 08 May 2021 22:03:08 GMT

And for those who installed from Microsoft Store:

%localappdata%\Packages\SpotifyAB.SpotifyMusic_zpdnekdrzrea0\LocalState\Spotify\prefs

Re: New desktop UI, how do I change it back to the old?

Nonoyerbiznez — Thu, 13 May 2021 15:41:13 GMT

It appears when you make the change to the mac version and save the file and reopen Spotify, it removes the newly added ui.experience_override="classic" from that file. This is sucking so bad.