[Android] Android Widget

[nicb19]

Having a home screen widget for Android would be really nice. All other media players have one on Android so it'd be great to see that in Spotify too. It'd make things so much easier to just be able control to Spotify from your home screen instead of swiping down for the notification bar or opening the app. It's really simple functionality so please can you add it.

[scoobs_doobs]

I'm literally downloading apple music and trying the 3 month trial tonight. 3 MONTHS TO ADD THE WIDGET BACK. 

[fc520155]

I don't understand why you had to remove the Widget, it was one of the best features here, very disappointed, I might close my membership  or get a different app.

[Librarian_the]

Why on earth would Spotify remove the Android widget? I use it every single day and it was so incredibly convenient  The fact that it would be removed with no consideration to the people who use it every day is quite a slap in the face. It seems like every time there's a feature I enjoy, Spotify removes it for some unknown reason. I am immensely disappointed. 

[don_tony]

going to have to pile on here and say that this is the silliest thing to remove from a UX or supportability standpoint. Either the APIs the widget uses are being deprecated, or someone decided that there were too many bugs on that plate to fix.

in either case, the metrics should show that there is a significant number of users that use it to justify giving the feature the devs it needs! as a fellow software engineer, when someone brings up "only 1% of users use this feature..." I roll my eyes and chime in because that 1% usually stands for hundreds of thousands, or even millions of users! when you're an app that's on probably half of all Android devices _in the world_ you have a responsibility to not deprecate features that are vital to how a user uses their device. especially when a lot of those customers actively pay you. You are no longer a startup. you can't just rearchitect your app every 3 years anymore when the bug backlog gets too large. The technical debt needs to be cleaned up AND legacy features should be supported, specially when there is large usage of it.

please reconsider the deprecation of this simple widget, give it to one or two debs that are passionate about it and give it a good polish instead! millions of people will be happy, even if that's only 1% of all Android users.

[Billstevens]

Please just bring back the widget, what is the point of not having it?

[Andrew_Lum]

Next up Spotify is going to remove offline music and set it up as a "new idea".

[EitoMan]

For those asking "why would Spotify remove the widget?" the answer is almost certainly that they want to force every user to open the app and see their "announcements" (aka "advertisements").  It's just another way for them to monetize.  It almost certainly has nothing to do with developer time as widgets aren't that difficult to produce.  Spotify is literally the #1 music streaming app on the planet--they certainly have ample resources to maintain a widget. 

Trust me, they just want to force every user (both premium and free) into opening the app so that Spotify can serve them an advertisement for whatever new album they're being paid to advertise.

[Brennaneden]

I primarily used the Android App Widget to boot the app when I get into my car. It is a lot easier than opening the Apps then finding the little Spotify app icon then pressing play on something. One click vs 3 clicks plus a scroll. If the devs don't want me to boot their app easily, I'm sure another streaming service will.

[pineconeface]

Google Music, Apple Music, Pandora, Sound Cloud.... The list goes on, guess i'm looking for a new streaming service now. 

We're Android users for a reason. We like customization and options. And you just took away one of the features from the Spotify app that is a crucial component for any Android Media Application. 

Such a stupid and poorly thought out decision. I used the Spotify widget daily, it acted as a short cut and a media controller. And i hate using the notification panel for media controls and i won't do it. I sometimes have up to 50+ notifications and i don't want to have to scroll through all of them to find spotify. And i don't use a lock screen. I use my finger print to immediatly unlock my phone. So you just took away the most convenient way for me to use spotify on my phone. 

[Allonsy]

Worst idea ever. Joined community just to say how how dumb it is.