Removal of desktop notifications

[Rorey]

On May 15th, we will be turning off the in-app notifications "bell" on desktop. We are continuously working to improve and simplify our notifications features, and this change will allow us to shift our focus to email and push notifications. We are also working on completely new ways of keeping you up-to-date with new album releases, helping you discover new music, and know what your friends are up to.

To make sure you have your email and push notifications set up the way you'd like, check out the steps here.

Please share any feedback you have here in the Community. We're listening, and will pass it all on to the team.

[crazzyryley]

This is stupid, you get a bug you can't fix and you cop out and just remove the feature all together? Come on, this is not good service! 

[rocket_fish]

Final thoughts:

After seeing an artist I am following have a new album show up under Browse/Discover/New Releases For You, yet never receiving any sort of notification. I then go through just the first couple of artists I am following and am finding there are several other albums released this year that again I never received any sort of notification of. It is clear to me that Spotify’s notification setup (bell, email, or push) is unbelievably F’d up.

I have two guesses for why this is. Either Spotify wants to tailor exactly what you see (regardless of who you are following or the notification code is really messed up.  If the code is messed up, I am guessing they just don’t want to through money at it to fix it. If they remove it, they get less complaints about how it is broken. If they are tailoring the notifications, then again, they would get less complaints about not getting all the notifications. Either way, it looks like a decision has been made and we are not to be heard (or responded to).

For the same reason I have turned off push and email notifications, I am unsubscribing from this thread. The constant email bombardment of frustrated Spotify users has become too much of a distraction and it is all too clear to me now that Spotify has no intention of addressing either this issue or its frustrated users.

Any loyalty to Spotify I had is gone. Not because they removed the bell notification, but because of the way they are treating their customers. It is deplorable that with so much outrage this issue has caused, we can’t get a response from Spotify as to a replacement of features (which was eluded to with the very first post from Rorey) or an explanation of why they removed this feature.

What can be taken from this? That Spotify cares absolutely none for what its users think and it’s long term goal is to make bank on feeding off its large number of users. I joined Spotify for the reason that I saw it being a great place to listen to music and find new artists. What I have seen as of late (with this and other issues) is that Spotify is looking to shove the music they want down your throat in mass to accommodate the large labels.  Welcome to the Wal-Mart of Music!

-Peace out

[laurahemus]

Hi there. Sorry to be blunt, but this is an utterly stupid move. Resorting to only offering email alerts / push notifications to update people about album releases will only serve to irritate people (if they actually sign up for it) as they will receive yet more annoying marketing alerts and emails - most likely at a time when they can't listen to the music anyway... Without the Desktop notifications available to check at a time when they have time to listen, they'll forget to check out new releases - this hurts your artists as well as your customers. Why no earth would Spotify do this????? How many people have you met who want to be bombarded with more emails / alerts on a daily basis.

[shaiBLN]

i also have to stop following this thread and go back to life. still, super disapointed and meanwhile mainly because of Spotify's own absence in this discussion. a short headsup could help to reduce frustration. all that will not be count on their behalf, thats for sure. 

i do want to believe that Spotify is working on something. very looking forward to those "completely new ways of keeping you up-to-date with new album releases".  

i am "married" to Spotify and invested in a way, so probably wont jump the boat just yet. it's just sad to see them neglecting the communication side of their customer care.

[lugarshz]

This is crazy.

[WhiskeyJack89]

Seriously? Bring it back. Going to looks for a company that will add features the I want instead of removing them for now.

[striner]

Please bring this back, devs.

Example: I get the notification on my phone at work and think "oh, I have to listen to that when I get home".

When I get home, no way to check what it was again.

It was a good way for me to check new music of artists I follow!

[cali-tpk]

+ 1

[user-removed]

+1

Getting tired of features being removed and poor application performance on android.

Currently looking for alternatives.

[rednblu]

FYI as of July 25, 2016 14:10:23 GMT: Bell Notifications currently are working as they always have-- on my Spotify player 0.9.15.27-- both *NewFollowersToMyPublicPlaylists and *NewReleasesByTheArtistsI_Follow.

On Friday GMT, I got notifications for the July releases from the Artists 888, MUNA, Maren Morris, Tom Misch, and Charlotte Cardin.

Accordingly, I suggest that "rumors" of Bell Notifications being dropped are OffTheMark. You can wait for the hypothetical "improvements" to that Toy Spotify 1.0.X player I have installed on my Windows 10 machine but never use.

Or you can have Bell Notifications right now on your Spotify player-- working as they always have-- Up to you.

[ocommodityo]

Ugh, months and not a word. Pretty disappointing.  I use the app so much less than I used to.  Seems pretty silly to keep paying for a service that's only going up in price and is offering less practical functionality as it develops.  Email notifications aren't working properly, and I have the feeling if they did, I would probably shut them off again. Going to explore some options and drop this service.  Using an old player is a pretty poor solution if I'm going to pay monthly.  Time to start going through the catalog and buying/saving elsewhere.  

later, hul-... wait, spotify.   

[nickbishop]

This is f**kin ridicolous...this feature was fully functional and used thoroughly...the notification feature on your web page has NEVER sent me an email or push (I don't even use Spotify on my phone!) about a new album release.

I will give Spotify a few more weeks to fix this problem or else I will switch provider, this is seriously the most aggravating way to treat your customers.

[richardm]

All: Is 0.9.15.27 the most recent version that still has the bell?  I seem to recall having a version installed from about six months ago where the bell worked just fine....

Edit: I just checked an old backup... It was 1.0.20.101 that I was running on my old system.

[Pone]

No, I use 1.0.25.127 and have the bell. I received 5 notifications 3 days ago.

[machinemade]

This whole thing is just mindnummingly stupid. Spotify themselves don't even know why they want this feature removed.

The notification icon disappeared for me and a friend of mine months ago, but it reappeared for my friend about a week ago.

I emailed their support and this is the respons I got:

Thanks for getting in touch with us. We're sorry to hear you're unhappy with the changes in the recent Spotify update. No worries, we'll have it explained.

We're always testing things by adding or removing features to make Spotify better overall. We’re sorry that this means you’re not able to use the app like you could before.

I then asked what the reason was for removing it and got this respons:

Our technical team are the ones who exactly knows why it was removed, but like we said on our previous message. We can't say when this feature will be back, but we'll let you know.

 So, they pretty much don't know themselves? Is this a joke?

It really boggles my mind that a nice feature like this is even considered removing. What possible reason could they have? Is it a resource hog? Is it straining the servers? Are people complaining that they are getting too many notifictions?

And what's even worse is that there's not a single explanation (as far as I know) to why it's gone. Not a peep from the developers. Just "we're removing it".

Spotify, please. Get your act together and reactivate this feature!

[gareth8]

---

@richardm wrote:

All: Is 0.9.15.27 the most recent version that still has the bell?  I seem to recall having a version installed from about six months ago where the bell worked just fine....

Edit: I just checked an old backup... It was 1.0.20.101 that I was running on my old system.

---

0.9.15.27 is the last half-decent version that had the bell. V1.0 took out a load more functionality in the name of improving and simplifying the program.

[55lattery]

Bring back the bell, plain and simple. 

No, seriously Spotify, bring the **bleep** bell back. 

"New Releases" section in Discover is stupid, I don't care about artists I don't follow. 

Email Notifications are a nuisance and have no place in 2016. 

Push Notifications on app do not work. 

"If it ain't broke, don't break it" 

[ankirschner]

What is the point of having a "Follow" feature if you're unable to get updates on the artists you follow? Seriously... can someone explain that to me? I'm very curious.

[killakye]

This is an absolute terrible move for multiple reasons. the first being that I follow many artists and this was the primary way for me to be aware as to when they released new music and or shared playlists or updates. The other reason is that it was my back up to following people who recently followed me ( the search feature is a little less than trusty to say the least ). Please bring the notifcation bell back! 

[killakye]

The most ironic thing about the removal of the bell is that when you scroll to the top it gives you a notification for a "reply badge"...is this a joke?