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.

[bloom11c]

Problem is that you cannot make playlist of songs to listen to. If you do
then are unable to easily see what songs you like.

[JohnSmiththeAnon]

It's not just a problem of being able to find what songs are liked either, though that is a huge annoyance. If you've added something to a playlist, it's also entirely inconvenient to add them to the liked playlist afterwards, if you have a lot of playlists, and especially if you pin certain playlists without enough to pin liked because spotify allows only 4 pins, you have to click the button, scroll until you eventually find like songs, then rinse and repeat every single time. 

Hard to be too hard on them though, since they are either volunteers or apprentices that made this change. Or I'd hope so at least, no one paid properly should be making ui design this bad. 

Edit: And don't get me wrong, I don't think all negative changes are made for bad reasons. If searching were to get worse for example, it's because searching gets increasingly expensive, and compromises eventually need to be made, so I'd believe it was that and have no complaints. Where needs must. But this change isn't changing functionality, it's just putting that functionality behind extra clicks and tedium, it's a wholly bad design choice. 

[am8622]

Why is this after 14 MONTHS OF COMPLAINING OF ALL USERS still not solved. What kind of company is this that ACTIVELY WORKS AGAINST THEIR USERS.

I WANT TO SEE MY LIKED SONGS IN MY PLAYLISTS!

What kind of product policy is it to tell its users what they should want. YOUR USERS KNOW WHAT THEY WANT. AND THEY ACTIVELY AND LOUDLY DISAGREE IN THE THOUSANDS. Imagine the thousands of silent sufferers that start hating you more with every day.

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Bring-back-the-heart-button/idc-p/6023829#M287464
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Mobile-Browse-Bring-back-like-indicator-on-album-playlis...
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Mobile-Change-like-button-back-to-a-heart-but-keep-the-b...
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/New-quot-likes-quot-system-is-a-mess/idi-p/5818991
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/RETURN-THE-LIKE-BUTTON/idi-p/5654309
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Community-Blog/The-Heart-button-is-being-replaced-with-a-Plus-butto...

FOUR THOUSAND VOTES! IT'S RIDICULOUS WHAT YOU ARE DOING HERE!

[DMoSt]

So cool #illthinkers

[ChicPammy]

Maybe it’s time to go to rolling stone and ask for an article or take to twitter? I have noticed there is nothing out there in the public forum. 
At this point - ignoring the client base is a business choice and there is a story here. 

anyone have that connection? Anyone open to doing that work? They have an email address for tips at the RS site - it won’t let me post that address here. LinkedIn as well! 

and ..,, this outcry  would give Apple a chance to recognize the want and create the option…

**bleep**

[siramand]

Developers ignore us on purpose. You don't want to pay a company that thinks you're garbage.

[PurpleFan]

So many bugs I feel I need to fight! I thinking really every day to cancel my subscription 

[Vipala]

Seriously, can you bring back a indicator to see whether a track is "liked" or not ? The fact that you ruined the most important quick-glance indicator is just baffling. Why would i care if a track is SOMEWHERE in my library, out of potentially hundred(s) of my playlists over the indicator of whether its in my liked songs or not ? Plus you increased ur subscription price ? the **bleep**.
Either the default indicator should be whether its in liked songs or not, or there should be a separate indicator for it, or just have the indicator be a different colour, IF the song is in the "liked" playlist (that overrides the general indicator colour for the rest of the library)
Literally would probably take like an hour or 2 to do and im not even working professionally in the field, just a curiosity-hobby type thing,how can a 56 billion dollar company not manage ??
If i wasn't lazy and had more time and could be arsed going through the hassle of transferring, i would potentially be elsewhere already.

[ChicPammy]

Go to LinkedIn - rollingstobe or x to share your thoughts. ##- Please type
your reply above this line -##

[mauricevdberkt]

GIVES US BACK OUR HEARTS!!!!!

[julien230]

GOOD NEWS is you brought with "+" button an efficient way to manage tracks over playlists.
BAD NEWS is removing the loved mark; you downgraded (again) Spotify.

With you since 2012... remember when we had star marks and true shuffle?
The stupid smart stuff you added ever since is just commotion and disturbance.

When there is no problem, you don't have to look for solutions!

> back to spotify-1-2-24-756.exe for the loved marks

[-j_bprlj88fb]

This doesn’t help me as I use the Apple CarPlay Spotify player every day on the way to work and back to like songs I want to add to playlists later when I’m not driving. The heart is missing from the cars screen and is replaced by a ticked box that doesn’t work when I press it to ‘like’ a song as it’s already on a playlist. I’ve made a 10200 song playlist with the old heart button and I’m pretty annoyed now that I can’t continue 

[lprox112]

Continually coming back to this thread every time I have to interact with the dumb + button. It has made it exceptionally more annoying to like songs, add to playlists, or differentiate between favorites. 

[Lanciano007]

Hello I posted this message in march 2024 in another thread about what I was experiencing already for months. I think more than 4 months now. I got advised to place the same question here, because the moderators could not do anything...This was my message:

I found another strange issue now:

*One artist I was looking up doesn't get/have the green checkmarks behind his songs. But I have multiple songs in My Playlists (from exactly the same albums) and even liked 1 of his songs. No 'heart', no 'green dot'...

Other artists have the green marks behind their songs...

UPDATE: There are many more artists that don't have the green dot behind their songs, that I already have in My Playlists. The system doesn't work. No guarantees at all! Have to double check everything now...

*Why my Recommended songs don't have the green check mark while they are in 'my Playlists' or even 'Liked' already?

Why do you recommend songs while you know I already have them in my own playlists?

I try to get used to the green 'Spot', but now I experience this registration of added to playlists is not guaranteed and has flaws. 

With the usefull 'Hearts' i never experienced something like this...

*When I click on a green dot it has a list of my Playlists but it is totally messy and it doesn't have the same order as 'my Library'. It's Disordened.

What could be the issue?

Kind regards,

FOLLOW UP MESSAGE:

The easiest and quickest way to get an overview of which artists don't have the green dot is when you use your desktop app or browser (mobile doesn't have this option):

*go to your Profile.

*Click Top Tracks This Month.

My list shows about 5% songs without green dots...but this list is created automaticly with the songs from my playlists. All the songs listed there are in my Playlists. So this should not be possible, right?

Last week (list of last months Top Tracks) 10% didn't have the green dots. So...why some songs/artists have the green dots, some don't?

I also don't get green dots when I go to the artist pages of the ones that didn't get the green dot while in my playlists and/or Liked.

Some Artists:

-Goldkimono

-Patrice Rushen

And many more....

So when I go to these artists in my mobile app these same artists don't have the green dots. Nor in my desktop app. I have the issue in all devices...

I gave you the example of Goldkimono above...I have maybe 10 songs of him in my playlists and I even "liked" a song. When I go to the artists page I see the songs listed and it says I liked one song. Only the songs don't show any heart, green dot, or whatever in his Discography...Even the song I "Liked' doesn't have anything behind it.

UPDATE FOLLOWUP MESSAGE I PLACED IN ANOTHER THREAD:

If someone copies my entire playlist there's always around 10% of the songs that don't have/get the green dots..I have all these songs in my playlists. It's an exact copy... SO WHY THERE IS NO GREEN DOT?

It's frustrating that so many artists don't get the green dot. Fix the database, please. Now it's a worthless system.

It happens so many times i listen to a song, but i don't see the green dot that supposed to be there because I have the song in my Playlists. I have to check all those songs all the time now...And guess what..They are in my playlists, exactly the same versions from the same albums. But no green dot!? Green dots have their own mind and I never experienced this with the hearts.

In your Spotify desktop browser and app you can see your TOP TRACKS THIS MONTH list of songs...they are all in my playlists...that's why they appear to be in my monthly TOP track list, but since the hearts had to be substituted for the green dots, always around 5-10% don't have or get the green dot. When I try to put these songs in my playlists in which they belong, Spotify tells me they are already added. That's what I say! But the song doesn't get the green dot. Fix this Bug please..

Why we have the same option 2 times in one line...? I use desktop app, and with each song I have a double option to add songs to playlists...WHY IS THERE A DOUBLE OPTION FOR THAT and NO OPTION TO SEE MY LIKES THAT MAKES IT USELESS NOW TO LIKE SONGS? The Green dot and the three grey dots are not even a centimeter distance from eachother.

Another thing is that Spotify moved the back arrow on desktop and browser app. Now we have to scroll your cursor over our back arrow from Your Library and ignore it, to go the the far left corner if we want to go a page back in our Playlist...It keeps confusing me and feels unlogical. Put the Library back arrow at the left side and put the back arrow above the Playlist we are playing, please.

I have not 'liked' any song since december 2023 when the hearts dissappeared. It's useless now and I don't understand the purpose of 'liking' songs anymore. (three frustrating steps and...we can't see our likes?)

WHY I'M PLACING THIS MESSAGE HERE NOW? (IT SEEMS OPPOSITE IS HAPPENING TOO. And this is even worse... Someone posted a message, the last one on page 23):

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Bring-back-the-heart-button/idc-p/6094920#M290707

It says:

"I’m switching my family account over to apple. Completely ruined my 15 years of use. I’m getting green checks on songs I don’t have on ANY playlists. The dumbest thing they’ve ever done. Fix it for others but I’m out."

Hope someone finds a quick solution for this...

Kind regards

[Lanciano007]

PS. This thread has a description that is super confusing and not correct:

'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.'

The Heart Icon didn't have this fuctionality described above! It was an indicator. The visible hearts were not a sign of that they were saved to Your Library. They were a sign we 'liked' a song and were added to 'Liked Songs' playlist. So this are two totally different things. The Visible Heart is not been replaced how you announced it, but substituted and eliminated.

Besides, a little bit lower in the description of this thread it says:

*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.

This last sentence explains everything about the purpose of a 'like indication', so you exactly know what we had and what we need...

And on desktop players it is super unlogical to have 3 grey dots a fingernail from the green spot that have the same options. Why the green spot is not changing colour when its song is 'liked'. Gold for liked songs, for example. Is it difficult? Maybe Spotify had the intention to replace (merge) the 3 grey dots with the green dot, instead of eliminating the visible (heart)?

Even the Youtube video added to this thread's description confusingly says: "We're upgrading our heart to a plus". (in fact, taking away something is a minus, not a plus... so it's a downgrade, right?). Something went terribly wrong here...

[Lanciano007]

Found another thread that describes a part of the issue: green spots , not working ... Please Spotsify, please do something about it...🙏

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Your-Library/Inconsistent-Checkmarks-for-a-Song/m-p/6065238#M48871

[Sagqad]

BRING THE HEART BACK wth

[Louisfromonline]

Bring back the like button, I put up with this for too long. This makes no sense as everyone here has pointed out.

Just so happens I like Techno & Jazz that might blow the minds at Spotify but now they're all mixed together, perfect for killing the mood.

Please listen to us. 

[vaajy]

I have the same issue. Once clicked on album, the heart / check mark is not here. This was an issue already when hearts were a thing. It's just the same now with check marks and it is related to the release URI. If it's added from different one than the song added from a list, the check mark is non-existent. Try to like that release from album and you'll see there will be double track on Liked tracks list. Once you remove one, another goes as well. You can fix it by deleting like and liking song / adding to a playlist where it points you from current row in playlist. You will also see that duplicate message will not be there, as you will add a same song with different URI in the repertoire of Spotify, it's a bug no one wants to fix for years. They are busy with UI 😄

[Fidgital]

I have discovered a partial work-around, though it only applies reliably to the last 10,000 songs I "liked". This is still enough for my purposes of tracking and rating recent releases and may help many of you.

On my MacBook desktop application (not on iPhone or on web), any "liked" songs have a green ⬇️ (in a circle, not exactly like the emoji) just to the left of the artist name listed immediately underneath the title of the song. This indicates that the song has been downloaded, which appears to be automatic whenever I "like" a song, and is independent of songs being in playlists. I can look at any of my playlists and see that just some of the songs have been downloaded / "liked". This works just as well for my rating albums as the old "liked" heart icon did, though it is of course less intuitive.

I'm attaching a screen shot to make it clear. You can see green checkmarks on the right, which indicate that I have added all songs from this album into my "2024 Albums" playlist. But on the left, you can see that I have "liked" three of the those songs as being especially good.

I hope this is helpful to some of you. Perhaps someone can confirm if this also works on Windows or other platforms.