Introducing Smart Shuffle!

[Joan]

Introducing Smart Shuffle! 

We know that our users love creating their own playlists to capture key moments in time – in fact, playlists created by users often become their most-streamed playlist for the first several months but listening to these playlists slowly fades overtime, and users are eager to discover new music.

With this in mind, we’re excited to launch a new play mode called Smart Shuffle that keeps listening sessions fresh and provides personalized recommendations that perfectly match any listeners’ playlist vibe. 

This update will roll out to Premium users on mobile devices starting today.

How does Smart Shuffle work?

• You can use it in any playlist created by you, and your Liked Songs.
• To activate it, just use the Shuffle button to switch between regular play, Shuffle mode and Smart Shuffle.
• When Smart Shuffle is on, recommendations are added to your session automatically. You can find all the recommendations sitting in your queue.
• You will be able to recognize the music we are recommending with the sparkle (✨) symbol next to the track. For a playlist with more than 15 songs, we’ll recommend one song for every three tracks.
• And the best part, your original playlist remains untouched, so you can add any new track that catches your ear.
• If you like a specific recommendation, just save it using the plus button in the Now Playing View. If that song doesn’t hit right, just tap the minus to remove it from the recommendations. This is then used to better adjust the suggestions we put forward.
• Every time you turn Smart Shuffle off, a new mix will be available every time you activate it again.

Introductory pageHow the queue will look

Adding and removing recommendations.

Different playback options.

FAQ

What about the Enhance feature?

For now, Smart Shuffle will replace the Enhance feature.

What will happen to Discover Weekly and other regularly updated playlists?

For the time being, no changes to those will be made. Smart Shuffle aims to improve the listening experience for user curated playlists.

Does this mean that using Smart Shuffle will cause my carefully curated playlists to get cluttered with new recommendations?

No! Your original playlist remains untouched, so you can add any new track that catches your ear. Smart Shuffle won’t change your playlist without your explicit permission. What changes instead is what you'll hear during each specific listening session

🌟 I would like to disable Smart Shuffle permanently. Can I do that?

Yes, you can! Just go to Settings and privacy and then to Playback and toggle the option Enable all play modes to off. This will mean you will only have the regular shuffle. 

Note: This option is for Premium users only.

We hope you're as excited as we are about this new play mode. The official Newsroom announcement is out, you can check that out too. For any and all feedback on the matter you may have, you're more than welcome to comment in the thread below.

[tehyadeardorff]

I've had Spotify for almost a decade. The fact that I can't turn off this feature is going to drive me to a different platform. I'm tired of it.

[robpcar80]

Keep it up Spotify, one more shitty feature that can't be disabled and I'm heading to Apple music!

[pawkor]

Yes we love to create our own playlists and we hate when something breaks them.

How to disable it so it never comes back ???

[comradechrome]

My carefully curated playlists are getting cluttered with new recommendations. Please allow a setting that prevents smart shuffling from showing up at all. It's not shuffle, it's a completely separate feature. 

i hate u too, Spotify.

[Aristurtle]

This is the most corporate sounding comment ever. If you're going to astroturf the comment thread at least do a good job.

[meerow]

I appreciate how everyone continues to keep this thread of shame active. It's a persistent reminder of Spotify's disappointing response to our concerns. No, Spotify, we haven't forgotten that you removed features we loved, raised your prices, inundated us with irrelevant recommendations driven by paid promotions, and even reintroduced classic ads for premium users. I'm glad I made the switch a year ago to a competitor that offers an ad-free shuffle button.

[rednblu]

Great news!-- the Crossed bars presetting on both the desktop and the mobile are back sometimes to permit the quick EasterEgg quick setting to the NON-bad real shuffle on both desktop and mobile-- solving that horrible morass of system stalls and bad track forces invading our playlists-- pictures to follow and then quick pictures for Double-click, Right-Click, “Play” initializing of true random shuffling on 220,000 tracks in your one TrueShuffleFolder to follow quickly.

Congratulations to the Shuffle development crews!

I know there has been a lot of pain for all of us paying customers-- But things are looking up!-- because we Spotify users pull together to force these oppositional Spotify players to play for us exactly the picked music that we each individually wants to hear.  Thank you all!

[OutOfTown]

Just get rid of this, else you’ll lose more users like me. I left Spotify only for this! And I still continue to convince others. Have fun with losing customers and worst UX ever

[kevosb]

I would like to be able to disable this feature in settings.

[therealjelle]

I'm with all of you who want the Smart Shuffle option to be removed.

I have a Premium plan and I don't pay you for ruining my playlists. Seriously, the worst invention Spotify has ever made. I wonder how many users you have lost already just because of this.

[Mouse1234]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

Device

(iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy 9, Macbook Pro late 2016)

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

My Question or Issue

I'm a premium user and want to remove the song recommendations from my playlists. I listen on my desk top at work and make specific playlists for my office setting. I've tried turning off smrt shuffle but now it doesn't allow me to shuffle at all. Very frustrating for the price I pay for this service. 

[thyagofurtado]

Remove Smart Shuffle, this is terrible. What a disastrous idea, this is not serving the users at all, please remove it.

[hklawbill]

I hate Smart Shuffle. I only want to shuffle the tracks I've selected, not those of some bot. Please, please give us a way to disable Smart Shuffle. 

[1265283249]

So obviously a plant to make this comment section seem like less of a dumpster fire.

[Wraptah]

It is frustrating and I want to disable it in Settings. It is extremely poor user experience to not allow Premium users this option. You [developers] are not treating paying customers well and you know it.

[Mjaumjaumjau]

This is terrible. Give us the possibility to turn it off permanently in the settings. I don't want you polluting my carefully crafted playlists with your random **bleep**. This feature is not made for the users, it's made to help record companies push up their numbers. 

[Phantom309]

I've been dealing with this **bleep** for months. Smart shuffle is THE WORST idea you've had. As a premium member, I have a playlist with over 3,000 songs. I don't need recommendations for my playlist thank you very much. It's EXTREMELY annoying to have to press the shuffle buttons 15 times to turn smart shuffle off. All I want is a option to disable it. For the love of God this is miserable.

[Phantom309]

Crepe with a "a" and no "e" at the end is bleeped lol? 

[feistyla]

Playlists with 'instrumental' in the title (and only instrumental tracks)  are getting intruded with non-instrumental  tracks!  That is not smart.  It's disruptuve.

It  was also not obvious that "Smart Shuffle" was selected.  The visual distinction should be blaringly unique and clear whether you are on expected shuffle, VS opting-in to intrusive additions.
I will Always want to listen to purely my chosen cultivated playlist, and  I would *never* want presumptuous  automated additions to a mix I've chosen or created! 

But there's no  preference settings to prevent it wholesale.. so it should at least be its own button, and not a sneaky gremlin that happens when I hit shuffle.

thank you

[feistyla]

100% agree SkyHiii!  I just lost an hour of focus flow at work by the intrusions in an instrumental playlist I had in the background. Had to keep stopping work focus to click past vocal-added songs and didn't know why.  Didn't realize the sneaky 'smart' shuffle took over my shuffle setting!  
It should be a separate clear button to 'opt in' , which I would never choose. But that would be the only way to offer it without sideswiping the rest of us.