Issues with Spotify Home Page

[potatoes23]

Plan

Premium

Country

Ukraine

Device

Desktop, phone

Operating System

Windows 10, Android 11

My Question or Issue

Since the UI update I am having troubles understanding the idea behind some of the sections of the home page, for it defies all logic. So much that I think something is wrong with my account.

I have already tried reinstalling both desktop and android apps and resetting the cache - no effect.

Attaching the screenshot for reference and I'll list the issues and questions below.

Good Afternoon List:

1) Daily Mix 1, there are two issues with it. Firstly, why it is displayed there, but not in the "made for me" list along the others? Secondly and more interesting, this mix is now static, it has not updated for some months and is exclusively occupied by my man Aesop Rock.

2) Other entries in this list are not refreshed, for quite some time. Months maybe, I did not pay attention to it. Basically the list is stuck in the state as on the screenshot. The only kinda new entry there is Revolution in Limbo.

3) How is it filled in terms of logic? There are one or two entries that I have listened quite frequently, but most of the others I've touched like just a few times and quite a long time ago. I don't even remember listening to RTJ4 as of late but it hangs out there for an eternity. It's okay to introduce people to something that they've listened before, but at least it should be refreshed from time to time.

Jump back in:

1) Just like with the first one, the list there is really outdated. I have not listened to those records for a long time.

2) Why is the Daily Mix 4 there? Firstly it duplicates the mix from "Made for me" section just above, secondly the Mix is updated daily while the "Jump back in" is not. So, I will be "jumping back in" to something new each day. The mix listed there now is not the mix I've listened for some time ago, so it makes no sense for it to be there.

3) What is the difference between this one and Good Afternoon section anyway?

Recently played:

This list actually updates in time and shows accurate info on what I have listened in chronological order.

We now have three sections that are filled based on my activity: Good Afternoon, Jump Back In and Recently Played. Each sounds similar on paper but with different logic, two of them fail to update and are filled with mostly irrelevant content. It is INSANELY confusing and makes no sense to me.

Summarizing this ramble (so sorry 😄 ) I have the following issues/questions:

1) Good afternoon and Jump back in sections have not refreshed for quite some time;

2) Daily mix 1 is misplaced and static;

3) Daily mix 4 is duplicated in Jump Back In and it makes no sense for it to be there as the mixes are updated daily while the list is not;

4) Good Afternoon and Jump Back In are unclear in terms of logic used to fill them in and their purpose seems redundant.

Something I can suggest is checking for issues with DB replication which might explain the issues with updates to the lists and maybe removing the Jump Back In section as it feels super redundant.

Hope it helps 🙂

[Amayy]

I think that is how it works now. Cannot really see what is wrong but you are free to share feedback.

[potatoes23]

The problems are a broken, static daily mix (which is not normal by any means), seemingly frozen contents on the homepage and unclear layout. I can understand weird algorithm logic behind the UX but only as long as it works, and in my case it does not.


Like, what is the value of the homepage to a listener if the contents there are irrelevant AND static? It's like shooting your service to the knee and saying that it's a feature now, so I hope think this is not "how it is now" but just a bug that should be communicated via feedback.


By the way kudos to Spotify for replying to these threads because so far they have been really helpful and responsive. The last thing I ranted about was fixed in like a week 🙂

[Elena]

Hi there @potatoes23,

Thanks for reaching again on the Community.

The Daily Mixes are based on a few factors but their general idea is to mix around your favorite songs, and songs you listen to frequently. About 75% of the songs will be familiar to you as the main goal of the mixes is not purely for discovery. If you're getting the same songs, we'd recommend trying to add some new song to Your Library either by adding them in your playlists or to Liked songs. Also if you're using Private session a lot, this could also affect the lists.

We also understand that you are unhappy with the current user experience that you get from the shelves placed on your app's Home screen. Other users have also gathered their opinions about making changes to those features in a similar idea here. By following this thread you'd remain updated on this topic and you could also show your support by voting for it as well!

Please note that even if a suggestion didn't gather enough votes in order to get prioritized right now, you can still add your vote and comments there and we'll look into it once the idea reaches the required amount of votes. You'll also find all the relevant info about our Idea Exchange and how the Community feedback gets implemented here if you'd like to know more about the topic.

Hope this clears things up. If you have any questions or need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[potatoes23]

Sorry but you seem to have misunderstood the topic 😞

I allowed some time and got a few updates since this post, the only fix so far is that the Daily Mix 1 has been updated and is no longer stuck. All other issues are still there.

"Good Afternoon" is filled with irrelevant and now even older entries, Daily Mix 1 is missing from the section it belongs to, Daily Mix 4 is duplicated and Jump Back in is filled by albums I last checked moths ago.

This is not the issue with your new UX paradigm (though I really do not like it), this is the issue with stuck sections. They are not being refreshed. I listened to those albums literally months ago and since then listened to many others, and they are still not there.

Please check the new screenshot and the older one to get the idea. If that's how it supposed to work then I am really unsure that your UX team is doing a good job since the home page has 0 value in this state.

[Alex]

Hi @potatoes23,

Thanks for the reply and the info.

As Elena has said, these mixes are automatically generated and updates when the system gathers enough info about the user's listening activity.

Something that might help is Logging out Everywhere and back in. This will force sync your account with the servers.

Cheers.

[potatoes23]

Guys, if you are unable to help with the issue just say it, it is completely understandable and okay. Otherwise it sounds like you completely miss the topic or refuse to read more than a few lines of text.

You've described how the sections are supposed to work, and what I am trying to tell you is that they don't work how you are describing it.

I listen to Spotify every day and it does not push any new contents to the sections.

It does not update based on my listening activity. Nothing except daily mixes is being updated.

Reinstalling, cleaning the cache and signing out from everywhere did not solve the issue.

Just please pass it to whoever works on the your algorithms so they can see if it is an expected behavior or not.

[AeroZ]

If by nothing you also mean the shortcuts at the top then there are some threads here and in reddit where people say that the top section haven't updated for about a week.

[potatoes23]

The top shortcuts and the "Jump Back In" section, exactly.

If you look at the screenshots I've posted you see that both the top shortcuts and the "Jump Back In" are pretty much the same, only some of the albums just switched places. Screenshots are two weeks apart. And they look like this at least since June for me.

[potatoes23]

Also, just noticed, seems like Daily Mix 1 (at the top shortcuts) is stuck again. Mixes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are refreshed daily but it seems like Mix 1 I see right now is the same as it was since Tuesday (when I took the screenshot). Not just the cover of the Mix, but the tracks as well.

[Jeremy]

Hi there @potatoes23,

Thank you for your reply.

We haven't had many similar reports recently and it's possible the app doesn't have enough info to update parts of the Home screen selection.

With that being said, we'd also like to test for possible account related issues, since you mentioned that the issue persists since June.

Can you create a new account and use it for a while with your regular listening habits and see if the sections updates more regularly there? If that's the case we suggest that you head over to this article that provides you information on how to transfer your content

Keep us posted 🙂

Take care!

[potatoes23]

Hello Jeremy, thank you for the reply.

I'll update this thread when I have time to go account hopping, but not for now. Also it is not quite fair to make us go through this hustle to fix the problem of the platform but hey, at least that's a valid troubleshooting step, thanks!

Just to reiterate, attaching a fresh screenshot. Again, no changes in "Jump back in" and top shortcuts. I'm using Spotify daily and it shoooould have enough info to update but it shows the entries I last checked back in Summer.

[Elena]

Hey @potatoes23,

Thanks for your reply.

We really appreciate your valuable feedback so far.  If you decide to give it a go testing how the app would behave with a freshly created account, we'd appreciate to update us how this goes.

Another thing to try resolve the situation with your current account is to look in your account overview, under the Manage your data section,  if the option to process Facebook data is also enabled. You could try enable it even if you do not have or do not use Facebook, as this might also have an effect on limiting the content being pushed to the sections from your Home screen.

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on.

[potatoes23]

Hey Elena,

Thank you for reaching out. I'll try the facebook thing and let you know if anything changes.

Definitely not going to make a new account to fix the issue of your platform and I would rather move to different service if that is the only solution.

I also see that my previous post is now removed for some reason but there I linked multiple community posts describing the exact same issue with no solutions from your side but to create a new account. Which is a pain in the lower back for your paying customers.

I reached out to Spotify Support to see if they have any solutions for it but none so far.

[Kiril]

Hey potatoes23,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop here.

Sometimes, although very rare, accounts could break and that's why we've suggested for you to try with a freshly created account, to see if the issue is still apparent there and to give you a shortcut solution for this situation. 

You mention that the post that has been removed contained a lot links, so this leads us to believe that it was probably filtered out by our Spam system. Reports on this are being looked into but for most users we've reported so far the issue has been resolved based on their individual set-ups. We understand your frustration as a user, but keep in mind that this algorithms are dependent on various factors, and some of them are outside our control.

We'll be keeping an eye out for your reply, thanks!

[potatoes23]

Hello Kiril,

Thank you for the reply and some insight on the removed post, I appreciate it.

I've been trying to troubleshoot it further, so far the facebook processing trick did nothing. Also went ahead and removed the access from all the external apps connected to my account but a few essentials just in case.

I have noticed something weird though when I started to actually listening to stuff listed there. When I played one specific album (Devin Townsends' Empath), both the top shortcuts and "Jump back in" simply disappeared, see screenshot. Notice that there are no top shortcuts and no "Jump back in", and Daily Mix 1 got moved back to "Made for you" section where it actually belongs, when previously it sat at the top.

This was done on desktop Windows app, and (unfortunately) these sections appeared back again when I re-launched the app. So I do have a suspicion that this is something album-specific rather than account-specific. I'll continue poking these lists to see if anything changes.

Also I cannot agree with you on "some of them are outside our control" - this is precisely what should be under your control. Not your control personally of course but you get the idea 😄

[Kiril]

Hey again @potatoes23,

Thanks for your reply and continuous interest in bettering our app, we also appreciate this 🙂

I'd be happy to explain to you in greater detail, how updating your personal Daily Mix actually works. If a Daily Mix is ​​called up again within 8 hours, the playlist will pick up where it left off. If the mix is ​​inactive for more than 8 hours, then the playlist will be reordered and remixed. If you've played your Daily Mix continuously or played it and paused it, it won't be remixed for you until you actually switch to another playable content and then come back 8 hours later. Also note that the Daily Mixes are ​​not updated with fresh content every 8 hours, but they are curated using the existing pool of your already liked content (which in turn updates itself on a weekly basis).

Also, when exploring and adding new songs or artists to your favorites, you could expect them to start appearing in your Daily Mix playlists, a week or three later.
 
Hope this could clear things up a bit. If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.
 

[potatoes23]

Hey again Kiril, thank you for the info, that was quite insightful.

Just wanted to give an update. The issue still persists, but it kinda evolved. Around a week or so ago albums started disappearing from the top shortcuts and "Jump back in", see the screenshot.

The former one is now limited to 5 entries on desktop and 4 entries on Android app, and the latter has only 2 albums. In both cases the entries left there are old, nothing new appeared there.

I think this started happening when I started to actually listening to stuff in those sections. Did not work with the albums that are still there though. Now it really looks like those sections are freaking out, not only they are stuck but now entire chunks of them are missing 🙂

[Alex]

Hi @potatoes23,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

As we've mentioned before, these issue might be related to corrupted cache on one or more of your device, which in turn is causing issues with the synchronization between your account and the Spotify servers. The issue might also be related to your account in general. Hence, the recommendations you're seeing are not always in the right place and not updating properly.

This is not something that we can influence from our end. 

In cases such as this one, it's best to try creating a new free account and using that for some time. You can follow this Guide for helpful tips on how you can move your music library over, if everything works fine on the new account. On a new account, the recommendations algorithm will get generated anew.

Hope you find this info helpful.