New Design, Desktop

[Creatiive]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

Notebook

Operating System

Windows 8.1

My Question or Issue

I had to notice today that the design of Spotify has changed again. I guess this can't be undone, right? The previous design was much more compact, if I remember correctly. I think the top and bottom bars are too wide, it just takes up space, especially if you have a small screen. Is there anything I can do to change the design?

[Creatiive]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your input so far - we appreciate it!

We can confirm that this was a test that will be gradually coming to an end over the course of the next couple of days. Some of you might have already received the update - it should roll out to the rest of you soon as well.

Thanks again for your feedback. The suggestions you've submitted here will be taken into consideration moving forward.

The Community is always here if something else comes up.

Have a good one!

[lxrsg]

Hi! I always enjoy a refreshed update to a macOS app but this update seems a bit strange for a couple of reasons: the navbar at the top looks pretty empty and just pushes all the content down without adding any extra value for the space used for a home button and a search input.

Moreover, the Friend Activity button placement seems inappropriate because it has nothing to do with the music-related buttons around it. Given all that free space in the new navbar, it would make more sense to have it near the profile icon since it's about social stuff and your friends activity, rather than lyrics, queue or devices.

Maybe even more stuff from the bottom player could be moved to the top navbar, making room for a more clear player.

[lxrsg]

Plan

Premium

Country

Romania

Device

MacBook Pro 14

Operating System

macOS 12.6

Hi! I always enjoy a refreshed update to a macOS app but this update seems a bit strange for a couple of reasons: the navbar at the top looks pretty empty and just pushes all the content down without adding any extra value for the space used for a home button and a search input.

Moreover, the Friend Activity button placement seems inappropriate because it has nothing to do with the music-related buttons around it. Given all that free space in the new navbar, it would make more sense to have it near the profile icon since it's about social stuff and your friends activity, rather than lyrics, queue or devices.

Maybe even more stuff from the bottom player could be moved to the top navbar, making room for a more clear player.

[Marcelo-Alban]

Plan

Premium

Country

Brazil

Device

Dell Vostro 2020

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

On desktop app, the dot icon below lyrics icon is stretched

[bamberg_]

Plan

Premium

Country

Costa Rica.

Device

Windows PC

Operating System

Windows 11 21H2

My Question or Issue

Hello, I wanted to ask how to update desktop spotify to the most recent version, since a friend sent me that photo and I saw that the interface was new and had the group session function and that is why im interested.

 

[Yordan]

Hi everyone,

Jumping in to shed some light on the matter.

We can confirm that this is an ongoing test we're running for some users which aims to make some features like the Search bar and the Home button more accessible on the desktop app and the Web Player, with the left side panel being reserved just for your library.

The Friend activity on the desktop app has also been made easier to toggle on/off: instead of having to go to the app's Settings each time, the dedicated toggle has been brought forward in the bottom right corner for ease of access.

Your feedback on this is important, so do keep on sharing it here! Let us know what you think of this test and how you think the overall design can be improved in order to provide the best user experience possible.

Cheers!

[bcviau]

Can we please have an option to remove the search bar altogether? I never needed it in the first place, but at least it was small and unobtrusive. Now it is doubling the size of the top bar and stealing lots of extremely valuable space. 

As for the rest of the redesign, consider:

Black is the only available color for Windows users who disable desktop backgrounds in their Windows accessibility settings. So your choice to frame the app in pure black hurts accessibility because the window perfectly camouflages with the background. It is also far more common for a user to select a pure black background than any specific shade of grey, so the previous design with a grey frame was strictly better.

The new design generally adds more gutters between sections of the app, which further wastes space. Every year I have a new reason to say this, and I'll say it again: Please, please, please stop bloating the desktop UI without providing any settings to keep it compact. Many users have been expressing this for many years, but yet we keep moving in the opposite direction. Currently, I can only fit 11 songs on my desktop screen and it is beyond frustrating. I suggest putting the artist back into it's own column and adding the often requested option to decrease padding between rows (independently of font size).

[Roryjeo]

why did you remove the back button? such a basic but fundamental feature for navigation through artists discographgy. Please fix

[markspl_]

---

instead of having to go to the app's Settings each time, the dedicated toggle has been brought forward in the bottom right corner for ease of access.

---

Maybe it's easier now, but the button is in the wrong area. The bottom bar is for music handling, not for social stuff. Keep it as for only controlling music and don't flood it with other features (keeping it simple and clean + user-friendly).

About other new features. The upper bar doesn't work on Windows. The "alt" menu and forward/backward buttons are arranged so the upper bar looks unbalanced. Also, profile icon is behind the minimize button: 

It feels like the UI is designed on Mac only and released as a stable version without testing it on Windows.

[robigouk]

The friend button is pointless (or should be optional) I'm guessing most will never use it.

[quan11304]

Version

Spotify for Windows
1.1.95.893.g6cf4d40c

Device

HP EliteBook 2540p

Operating System

Windows 10

My Issue

These are minor problems, relating to the layout in the latest update that I've recently got, just to let the devs know.

1. In the picture below, my profile picture is partly covered by the Windows icons. This happens when I press Zoom Out twice (which is the zoom level at which my Spotify is usually displayed). It is fine when I reset my zoom level though.

2. In the picture below, it shows a keyboard shortcut for MacOS when I'm using Windows 10.

[ArnavToshniwal]

Plan

Free

Country
India

Operating System

(Windows 11)

My Question or Issue
I am having issue with the new update, that gives a new look to the spotify application. I have talked to Spotify Help through Live Chat. The problem is that, I have reinstalled Spotify several time, tried steps given on the website like clearing app data and all but nothing works. The application is updated to latest version as told to me in live chat by an agent but UI is still not updated. Same is the case with Spotify Web. Below are some related screenshots.

[Alex]

Hi there @ArnavToshniwal,

Thanks for the post.

It looks like the "Upgrade" button you see, is promoting to upgrade your account to Spotify Premium, rather than upgrading the app itself. You'll continue seeing this "Upgrade" prompt on the Desktop and web version, as long as you're using the free service.

You can check out current available Premium plans here if you're interested.

If there is a pending software upgrade, you'll see a blue dot next to your profile picture and name. 

Hope this clears things up 🙂

[Jonybtw]

Hi Alex, I'm having the same Issue I've tried both versions (Store and Website) and I see my friends having this new UI too.

 

[ArnavToshniwal]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for looking into my problem, but according to I have to purchase premium so that I can experience the new UI/update. I don't think that would be a solution to my problem as many of my friends are able to use the same even without Spotify Premium.

[OscarDC]

Hey folks,

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the info shared.

I think there might be some confusion about it. The message sent previously by @Alex was explaining that the Upgrade button is for subscribing to Premium, but not updating the app. The new UI is available for Premium and free users. In this case, since you are not seeing the new UI yet, it could be related to some damaged cache stored from previous versions.

Taking this into account we'd recommend performing a clean reinstall of the app by following the steps in this article. This is often an overlooked step, but it's more thorough than a quick one and can be helpful in getting rid of any cache that might be causing trouble. After this, restart your device and try again.

In case the issue persists, include in your next response the Spotify version you're currently running, along with a screenshot where we can see the old UI to continue investigating.

Lastly, would you mind checking if the Web Player also shows the old UI, or if it displays correctly?

We'll be on the lookout.

[Jonybtw]

Hi OscarDC, I've made a clean reinstall but it didn't work, the browser is the same as the as the app, you can see the reply above with the UI + version with a screenshot.

[1135618745]

Since one of the later Spotify updates revamped the whole UI. There have been some changes that are visually unpleasing. For example the Top bar icons do not neatly line up anymore. There is also just a whole lot of wasted space now, mainly enlarged boxes filled with small text and icons.

[ArnavToshniwal]

Hello, 

As in the first original post, I have clearly mentioned all the things, please read that.

Thanks

[namuuu]

Put it baaaaack.

Probably 99% of the time I want either Home or My Library which are now in different parts of the UI. Home doesn't relate to "Search" in any way, but very much relates to my library and playlists.

Old way was better.