Spotify UX Insight: The “+” Button & Playlist Intent

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Hi Spotify Community 

I noticed a small but interesting usability friction around the “+” (Add Song) interaction that affects users who actively organize playlists.

Current flow

• Tap “+” → song is added to Liked Songs

• Tap “+” again → playlist picker appears

This is great for quick saving, but for users who intentionally curate playlists, it adds extra steps.

What I looked into

I ran a small user survey (103 responses) and noticed:

• ~73% of users actively organize playlists

• Users are split between:

  • Fast savers (Liked Songs first)

  • Playlist-centric users (intentional placement)

Many users default to Liked Songs not because it’s ideal, but because choosing a playlist costs extra taps and effort.

Insight

The “+” button currently represents two different user intents with one action:

1. Quick save

2. Intentional playlist placement

The experience strongly optimizes for the first, while adding friction for the second.

A low-risk idea

One possible, backward-compatible improvement:

• Tap “+” → Save to Liked Songs (unchanged)

• Long-press “+” → Open playlist picker

This keeps speed for casual listeners while reducing friction for playlist organizers.

Note: One Time Educational Tooltip(Supporting Feature)

• “Tip: Hold “+” to add song to users playlist”
• “Tip: Tap “+”to add song to a liked song playlist

Display Conditions

• Shown 1–3 times after new update
• Dismissed permanently after interaction

So, Users Learn this feature.

Why this matters

• Less cleanup later (removing songs from Liked Songs)

• Better playlist engagement

• Same simplicity, better intent matching

This isn’t about saying the current design is wrong it’s about supporting different user behaviors with minimal friction.

Curious if others here experience this too, or organize music differently.