The ♡ Heart button is being replaced with a (+) Plus button

[MattSuda]

In March 2023, the ♡ Heart button will start being replaced with a (+) Plus button for saving things to Your Library. Things that have been saved to Your Library will now show a green ✔ Check icon instead of a green Heart icon.

This new experience is now rolling out to the mobile and desktop apps first and will then come to the other apps (watch, TV, etc.) at a later time.

You can check out this Spotify news article for more information:

Save Your Favorite Songs, Podcasts, and More With Spotify’s Plus Button

In this post, we will show you how to use the new experience and answer your questions. You might have already seen this change being discussed in the Community recently.

New Experience:

                                   

Old Experience:

                      

How does the (+) Plus button work?

• The experience will remain similar for you. When you tap the (+) Plus button from the Now Playing View, songs will be saved to your Liked Songs. The only difference is that now you can quickly tap the (+) Plus button again to add the song to your other playlists too! When you tap the button again, you'll also see the other playlists that the song has already been added to with a green ✔ Check icon.

• The experience is the same for Podcast Episodes. You can tap the (+) Plus button to save podcast episodes to Your Episodes, and then tap the button again to add the podcast episode to your other playlists too.

• Once you tap on the (+) Plus button, the icon will change to a green ✔ Check to let you know that the track has been saved.
  
  
• The green ✔ Check icon also shows up next to the songs that are saved to Your Library on Album and Playlist pages. (but not when viewing your own playlists, only other playlists)
  
  When you see a green ✔ Check icon on a song, it means that it has been saved to Your Library. A song added to either (or both) Liked Songs or one of your own playlists counts as being saved to Your Library. Before with the heart button, the green heart icon meant that the song was saved only to your Liked Songs.
  
  If a song has a green ✔ Check icon because is has already been added to one of your playlists, you can still add it to your Liked Songs playlist. Tap on the green ✔ Check icon and select your Liked Songs playlist from the menu and it will be added.

• The (+) Plus button will also still let you save Playlists, Albums, and Audiobooks to Your Library.

• This change will not affect the things you have already saved to Your Library. The songs you've previously saved will remain in Liked Songs. The Playlists, Albums, Podcasts, and Audiobooks you've previously saved will remain in Your Library.

• The "Add to playlist" icon in the options menu will also become a (+) Plus, but the functionality remains the same.

FAQ:

This section will answer your frequently asked questions and will be updated with the latest answers.

Why are the 💚 green heart icons next to songs I've already liked missing? I used to be able to see the songs I've previously liked when viewing songs on Album and Playlist pages.

• The green 💚 Heart icon has been replaced with a green ✔ Check icon
  
  
• The green ✔ Check icon shows up next to the songs that are saved to Your Library on Album and Playlist pages. (but not when viewing your own playlists, only other playlists)
  
  
• When you see a green ✔ Check icon on a song, it means that it has been saved to Your Library. A song added to either (or both) Liked Songs or one of your own playlists counts as being saved to Your Library. Before with the heart button, the green heart icon meant that the song was saved only to your Liked Songs.
  
  
• If you don't yet see the green ✔ Check icon next to songs in track listings (Album and Playlist pages), you should see this once it rolls out to more users.

I want to add a song to a playlist from the Now Playing View, but I don't want to save it to my Liked Songs. Why do I have to save the song to Liked Songs first?

• The (+) Plus button will let you edit the destination of the song you liked. After you have tapped the button from the Now Playing View, you can tap it again to change or add it to more playlists.

• Alternatively, you can still add a song to playlists without saving it to Liked Songs. Go to the options menu by first tapping the "..." icon and then tap on "Add to Playlist" to select the playlist(s) you want to add the song to.

How do I remove a song from Liked Songs or my other playlists now?

How do I remove a podcast episode from Your Episodes or my other playlists now?

• Songs: This same function can now be done by tapping the green ✔ Check button on the Now Playing View or by going to the options menu and tapping on "Add to playlist". After tapping the button or the option in the options menu, uncheck the "Liked Songs" playlist and then tap on the green "Done" button at the bottom. You can also use this menu to remove the song from your other playlists.

• Podcast Episodes: This same function can now be done by tapping the green ✔ Check button on the Now Playing View, on Podcast pages, or by going to the options menu and tapping on "Add to playlist". After tapping the button or the option in the options menu, uncheck the "Your Episodes" playlist and then tap on the green "Done" button at the bottom. You can also use this menu to remove the podcast episode from your other playlists.

What happened to the "Like all songs" menu option on Album pages in the mobile app?

• This same function can now be done by tapping the "Add to playlist" menu option on an album page and then selecting the "Liked Songs" playlist.

What happened to the "Swipe left to Like" gesture to quickly like and unlike songs in the mobile app?

• When you use the "Swipe left to Like" gesture on songs in playlists or in album pages, the song will still be saved to Liked Songs. However, now when you swipe again, the "Add to playlist" menu will open up so you can now quickly add to or remove from Liked Songs and your other playlists all in one step.

Why can I no longer add a song to a playlist more than once using the "Add to playlist" menu in the mobile app? There used to be a popup telling me if a song was already added to a playlist and there was an option to ignore that and add it again.

• Right now the ability to add a song to a playlist more than once using the "Add to playlist" menu in the mobile app is currently not possible. As a workaround you can still add songs to a playlist more than once using the desktop app. In the desktop app, you can drag the song into the playlist, or use the "Add to playlist" option in the right click menu.

Feedback:

Where can I give my feedback about the new (+) Plus button?

• We welcome your feedback about this change. The best way to share your feedback is to comment here in this thread.

[MuzikManDan]

Please, please please, put the heart shape, or any shape "Like" button back so I can see the songs I marked on my playlist without going to the Spotify browser or "Liked Songs" playlist. You have made the app a lot more difficult to use.  FIX it and put it back!  

[YzeRed]

So now the version 8.8.74.652 ( the last one with the heart button on Android) stopped working properly, finally they are forcing me to this + button BS

Why can't we see the songs we liked at a glance? why it's so hard to you hear the community?

At least give an option to choose between the new and the old experience, who likes the old stays in the old, who like the new use the new

[bolfh]

Although the "Bring back the heart button!" thread has over 1700 votes and is labeled "Good Suggestion" since January, Spotify has now switched even the web player to the checkmarks as well.

Are they kidding us?

[Samppa3]

This only proves that Spotify doesn't care about the feedback and opinions of paying customers.

For example they have been awefully quiet on the Hifi-matter and it has already 26818 votes..

Horrible way to behave and handle business..this ship is going to sink down and deep.

[yidamala]

I just noticed this change due to the recent web player update

It seems to me that this change is both good and bad and I have made a suggestion in the following comment for how the function could include the new features without spoiling the old functionality altogether, as it has:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/RETURN-THE-LIKE-BUTTON/idc-p/5987139#M286226

[mdavidford]

It seems like there's a relatively straightforward solution that would retain the 'one button to rule them all' approach (if Spotify insist on this) and satisfy users who want to see what they've liked at a glance - have three states for the button:

1. Not added to anything (as current)
2. Added to a playlist but not liked (a toned-down version of the current tick - probably green tick and green outline circle - to make it more distinct from 3)
3. Liked (green heart - as previously)

[shape5]

I’ve also been a premium user for about a decade.  This new change makes anything involving likes so much more time-consuming, confusing, and frustrating.

Removing features almost always causes problems for the users who depend on them.  At the very least, add a preference to enable/disable the feature rather than remove it, so that those who use the feature can still enable it if Spotify for whatever reason no longer recognizes its usefulness.

Firstly, there are discrepancies w/ this feature (and others too) between the iPhone and Mac desktop apps, when functionality and layout between all platforms should be consistent with each other in order to maximize universality/usability.  

On both the mobile and desktop app, you can no longer tell which songs in a playlist are liked without another few steps: tapping the “add to playlist” option to see whether they’re in Liked Songs (3 steps on mobile!) or clicking on the song menu icons (desktop), since all the non-liked songs are also checkmarked on both platforms (confusing enough?).  Obviously, this backwards process is completely ridiculous and nonsensical b/c it requires extra convoluted steps (rather than 0 steps before) to simply view an icon which you’d normally be able to see next to every song.  So now, rather than being able to see in a few seconds which songs out of potentially hundreds (or thousands) in a playlist are liked, you have to click on each individual song’s menu (desktop) or tap 2-3 other options (mobile), which nobody would even bother doing for this many.  Plus, you can’t remember which ones are liked or not liked if the icons are hidden from plain sight.  The checkmark is also very confusing b/c you can’t tell if it means the song is liked or just added to a playlist, since it represents both.

The “like” and “add to playlist” functions and icons also need to be independent of each other, b/c not all songs you add to playlists are necessarily ones you also want to heart.  This makes the “like” option pointless and unnecessary if every song added to a playlist is also liked.

To make this ideal for all users would be to add a preference to show/hide these 2 separate icons: one for likes, and another for playlists.  Both should be enabled by default, and when disabled would exist in the drop-down menu only.  Both of these are needed for the large majority of users, they often do not overlap, and should appear next to each other by every song in all playlists and albums, and be visible at all times, like the heart icon used to.  Likes should then be removed from the drop-down menu when enabled, since this is redundant.

Also be sure to vote for these ideas below which address the same issue, although they should all be consolidated into the same Idea.  The total vote count for all 5 Ideas is now 4,175!!  In addition to this are 55 pgs of negative feedback in the official announcement.  Talk about blatantly ignoring user requests and preferences.

Bring back the heart button! - The Spotify Community

[Mobile][Browse] Bring back like indicator on album/playlist - The Spotify Community

[Mobile] Change like button back to a heart but keep the + button too - The Spotify Community 

New "likes" system is a mess - The Spotify Community

RETURN THE LIKE BUTTON - The Spotify Community

I highly recommend also voting for this new feature to improve the checkmark icon.  This can still be used in conjunction w/ the heart icon:

Additional Green Checkmark for Same Song on OTHER ... - The Spotify Community

[ezdmanx]

I can no longer see my fav likes songs (marked with a green heart) among all the other songs in my playlists. This is terrible and greatly reduces the user experience. End of.

[Crenips]

The heart button is more useful

We can press and hold the heart button for extra options or it can be managed from the settings to choose between the "heart button" "plus button", instead of adding a song directly to the favorites list with the heart button the plus button wastes a lot of time, I don't want to deal with it while walking, driving or working

I also don't want to see a tick next to a song added to any playlist, I just want to see a heart next to the songs I like 😕

it would be much better to add a setting to go back to the old familiar features at least when changes are made.

[Sandil]

Please. I really liked it. now that it is just a plus button it doesn't give that friendly look. now it has a more robotic look. yes, because of that one tiny little button your whole app looks more robotic. I love spotify, i loved that heart button to add to liked songs, please bring it back. thank you.

[Puglifiled]

@Crenips

I have found that seeing the green checkmark on songs/tracks elsewhere (albums, search results, playlists of others), that are already in any of my playlists (meaning, in my library), to be extremely useful. Unfortunately, some dunce at Spotify decided to spoil this great new feature by removing something else, that is also extremely useful, at the same time.

For me, the heart "tag" was a very useful tool for managing playlists. I never listen to my Liked Songs playlist and often clear it out, completely. I still do this, but only because my Liked Songs playlist is set to Downloaded, so the download symbol is now my new heart; clunky, but workable.

I have not used the Plus button (for adding a track to a playlist) at all yet, and probably never will. It does the same tedious serial navigation of folders that the "right-click + add to playlist" function does, which I also never use. (I prefer doing all playlist management from the desktop app only, where I can drag-drop between the main panel and navigation panel.)

[justlikemichael]

Please restore the heart button. It makes it far more complicated to organize my playlists as I cannot see what songs I've liked without clicking each track. Does anyone on the Spotify UX team actually use the app?

[butthole3]

There's always ways to get spotify premium for free FYI just gotta know where to look and they keep the like button. Happy pirating!

[Egregius]

I don't understand what the problem still is with this? The current checkmark, with a second tap to add to playlists works perfectly for me. I wouldn't wan't to go back to the old heart icon!

[Globalmitch]

The problem is that you cannot see which tracks you've liked without having
to click multiple times, whereas before you could see which tracks you
liked at a glance without having to press any buttons.

Seems fairly simple to understand, no?

[Reiszecke]

@Egregius

If you enjoy individually clicking 200 songs to see if they are in your "Liked Songs" then this update is right for you 🙂

We on the other hand have jobs so we can't allocate a whole afternoon just to see what songs we've already "Liked". This is why the update is awful if you value your free time. What works for us may not work for you and vice versa but taking away an existing feature (seeing what songs we've liked) makes an awful customer experience, especially since we've been promised that we get this feature back.

[Fidgital]

The problem is the other way around. Things that are in playlists (say, for
example, my "released in 2024" playlist, or my "Christmas music" playlist)
that I do NOT love look the same as things that I do. When I publish album
reviews, or tabulate my top 10 albums list, or whatever, I have to click on
every single song in every single album being considered to determine how
many and which songs are loved. That is thousands of songs, out of which I
maybe love 10-20%. This makes it unworkable, whereas the previous system
was easily workable. The only thing I can think is to stop using playlists,
or set up a second account that keeps the playlists so that I can more
easily track what I love.

[lprox112]

The heart button has a distinct purpose that the + does not fulfill and actually complicates further. A Heart means "this is a song I l like", versus adding to a playlist can mean many things like "this is a song I want to save for later, or this song has a certain mood that I want to curate, or this is a song I am listening to at a certain time in my life, or this song belongs to a theme of other songs, or maybe I'm going to put this in a joke playlist that I will never open again, who cares!" I regularly add entire albums to a mass playlist of things I will listen to later. I do NOT want to see a green check next to every song from all of those albums. The heart was a way to differentiate WITHIN playlists of which songs are the most important to me. If every single song within a playlist is marked, then none of them are! there is no hierarchy! 

Also, the fact that I have to go through the whole + menu to add a podcast to My Episodes is annoying, as podcasts used to have a + that was just a single click. Spotify, please please understand. a SINGLE CLICK. 

[siramand]

Unfortunately, it feels like our time here might not be effectively utilized. It seems as though the developers may not be taking our opinions into account. Despite it being a year and a half, we haven’t seen significant changes. It would be appreciated if they could value their users more and consider our feedback for improvements.

[chrisrr]

Agree. Spotify always asks for feedback, but then completely ignores it. It's not just here, it's about everything to do with the app and the service. It is a horrible, nasty, self-centred company that only listens to numbers and money. I am not keen on the Apple Music app, but each time I read intelligent and constructive feedback on here that gets ignored totally, I become more tempted to go with Apple - or any other competitor of Spotify. One day, Spotify will go under, or it will be purchased by an owner who will very quickly make some adjustments to the Customer experience and it will then become top of the league. Until then, we wait and we wonder.