[Desktop][Connect] Remove the facebook panel

[GubmentCheez]

This is now mandatory for people who aren't interested in using it. Clicking the button opens a facebook login page which facebook uses to track, even if you are not a facebook member.

My idea is to remove this forced feature from spotify. At the bare minimum make it opt-in only. When we first open the app, ask if we want to connect to Facebook in the pane, then have the pane go away if we decline. In the options have a setting for facebook login that will re-enable this pane if anyone wants to use it.

[Xenia · Accepted solution]

Hey there @GubmentCheez,

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community!

If you don't want to see the Friend Feed you should be able to switch it off completely in the app Settings:

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any further questions 🙂

[NameImKnownBy]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

PC

Operating System

Win10

My Question or Issue

Recently my desktop Spotify UI updated and now there is a sidebar telling me I can "Connect With Facebook."

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe I don't want to connect my facebook or I don't have one to begin with? Why is the side of my screen filled with a sidebar that tech support can't tell me how to get rid of when it isn't even something I want to do?

Don't bother with the canned 'clean reinstall' response. Already did that. Sidebar is still there. How do I get rid of this thing?

[Eni]

Hi there @NameImKnownBy, 

Welcome to the Community and thanks for reaching out about this. 

Would you mind sending us a screenshot of what you're seeing on your end so we can take a closer look? Make sure not to send any private info.

On another note, we suggest that you try disabling any antivirus or ad-blocking software on your PC, and turn off the VPN if in use.

Keep us posted on how it goes 🙂

[Bondra81]

He means that freakin facebook friends bar you get with the new update.

I also got it and i found no way to remove it. Just one of the annoying "improvements" of the last update...
So, how do we remove it?

[Eni]

Hey @Bondra81, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this and for the screenshot you sent.

You can remove the sidebar heading over to Settings > Display > and toggling off See what your friends are playing option.

You can find more info about the Friend activity section here. 

If you have any questions, just let us know 🙂

[Bondra81]

Thank you, that worked.

[Ver]

Hey @Bondra81,

Thanks for getting back to us 🙂

Glad to hear that it worked. 

If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We'll be happy to help.

[dchipy]

This should be default off

[Jahf]

Turning this on and not giving a stupidly obvious option in the settings (ie, there should be a toggle OFF for Facebook connect next to the Facebook icon in the settings) put me in a short rage mode today.

Stop doing this kind of thing. I don't care you added it. I care the UI was enabled by default. If you want to present new options to users make it an option to turn it on. If you want to enable it on first install, fine, but don't turn it on when upgrading an install.

All you're doing is proving you CAN update the UX but that you're ignoring some of the most upvoted UX requests going for years now.

[Ozito]

Why is it now obligatory to connect to effing facebook to see what the people I'm following on spotify is listening to!?!??!?!

WHY DO YOU HAVE TO IMPLEMENT SUCH STUPID FUNCTIONS SPOTIFY DEVS!!!!!?

[Jeremy]

Hi there folks,

Thank you for your posts and feedback.

We're always testing things by adding or removing features to make Spotify better overall and we’re constantly aiming to improve our features. We’re sorry that this means you’re not able to use Spotify like you wish to do at the moment.

You can read more about how your feedback reaches Spotify here.

Once again - thanks for the feedback, we appreciate it. Let us know if we can help you with anything else. 

Take care!

[_jyut-uvqj4o]

Sorry but your explanation rings fairly hollow. This comes down to Facebook paying Spotify to put this there and not allow users to remove it. If it is a "added feature", Spotify would allow users to make a choice. As a paid subscriber, it's REALLY annoying to see it sitting there.

[GubmentCheez]

Hi. Original poster here. I don't think Facebook pays to integrate with services. Additionally there are options available in the settings, as indicated in Xenia's answer, to control the visibility of the facebook panel. Please follow those instructions before judging Spotify for implementing a feature that some people find useful. 

As of writing this message I still see the option to enable and disable the panel as I desire. If you do not see that option, please post a screenshot here so the developers can see exactly what you are experiencing.

For example, here is a screenshot showing my settings that show the Facebook panel disabled.

 

[CarlosE]

Hey there @_jyut-uvqj4o,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community.

As @Xenia mentioned in her reply above, which is marked as a solution, you can completely remove the Friend Feed panel from the right side of the app by going to Settings and toggling the option See what your friends are playing off.

In case you don't see the option, let us know and send us a screenshot of the options you have so we can take a closer look and further investigate.

Cheers!

[GubmentCheez]

Hi Stonejudge. I don't understand what you're saying. Cursing makes it very difficult to listen and understand the ideas and experiences you are trying to convey.

I think what you are asking is, Where did the Spotify friends activity go? It used to be where the facebook friends panel is now.

You also say something about a playlist, but that's a real head-scratcher to me. I don't understand what the problem is. Can you help us understand what the problem is?

[GubmentCheez]

Hi again, I think I understand part of your problems. Please make your own thread regarding your issues so they can be properly addressed.

[Eni]

Hey there @Stonejudge717uh, 

Thanks for your reply. 

Keep in mind that in order to see you friends activity it's necessary that you follow them first and they need to share their listening activity on Spotify. For more info, you can check this article.

Regarding the issue with the songs being added to your playlists, we suggest that you create a new thread since it's different from this thread's topic.

We'll be happy to help you there. 

Cheers!

[-Webxorcist-]

Wow! Xenia's reply is the first real reply from Spotify I've seen here!
So there are actual human beings in their team after all? 😄

I have diabetes and this makes me very happy!

The thing with the reply. Not the diabetes.

[sweeth0lic]

Hi! This solution, at least since the newest UI update, doesn't work! The damn thing still sits there covering a fifth of the app and it's extremely infuriating 🙂