New Your Library view (iOS & Android)

[MattSuda]

Spotify is introducing a new version of the Your Library view to mobile users of the iOS and Android apps. When you open up the Spotify mobile app you will see this new view. 📱

Check out this Spotify news article for more information:

Listeners Can Explore Their Spotify Collections Faster and Easier With a New ‘Your Library’

This thread is your go-to destination for getting an overview of what's new, asking questions, getting help for issues you might have, as well as to share your feedback on this new version of Your Library. Also, do you have any tips for other users on how you are using the new Your Library? We'd love to hear them.

What's new?

• See your entire collection in one simple list
• Dynamic filters and better sort options for your collection
• Pinned library items to find your favorites, faster
• More control at your fingertips with a new grid view
• Universal search allows you to search through your entire collection and see your recent searches
• Faster settings navigation allows you to tap on your profile picture to get to settings faster
• Get to your downloads, faster

Here is a walkthrough of what's new:

One simple list:

Your Library is now one simple list. At the top, tap on the filters to filter the content you want to see and tap on the sort options to change the sort order of the list. To create a new playlist, tap on the + (plus) symbol at the top right corner.

Dynamic filter options:

At the top, tap on the filters to filter the content you want to see. Tap on the X and then chose another filter to see another type of content. Having no filter selected will show all types of content in the list.

• Playlists
• Artists
• Albums
• Podcasts & Shows
• Downloaded

Sort options:

At the top, tap on the sort options to change the sort order of the list.

• Recents
• Recently added
• Alphabetical
• Creator

And in the "Playlists" filter view, you'll have this option to see your playlists in your own order like in the desktop app and web player:

• Custom order

📌 Pinned library items:

If you tap and hold on the screen on any item in the Your Library list or swipe right on it, an option will show up allowing you to pin it and it will stay at the top of the Your Library list.

You can pin anything in Your Library such as playlists, playlist folders, artists, albums, and podcasts. The limit is 4 pinned items. You can unpin "New Episodes" to free up a pin and still get to that using the "Podcasts & Shows" filter or by searching for it. Same with "Liked Songs", you can unpin it and still get back to it at the top of the "Playlists" filter when it is sorted by "Custom order" or by searching for it. You can also pin the "Your Episodes" list to the main library view in addition to the "New Episodes" list if you also want to be able to access "Your Episodes" from the main library view without having to filter to "Podcasts & Shows" first.

To pin more playlists when you run out of the 4 item pins, you can make a playlist folder in the desktop app or web player and then move multiple playlists inside it and then pin the folder in the mobile app. Then tap on the folder at the top and there you go, easier access to all the playlists in that folder and that can be your 4th pin. However, you can't pin a specific playlist if it is in a folder, so you will need to pin the folder instead. Tip: In the desktop app or web player you can also move playlist folders inside of another playlist folder. That means you can pin a playlist folder that contains a whole bunch of other playlist folders if you want to get super organized.

To easily find the item you want to pin, the best way is to use the universal search. At the top of Your Library, tap on the search icon and search for the item you want to pin. The universal search searches your entire library for playlists, playlist folders, artists, albums, podcasts and also shows you your recent searches.

Grid view:

Are you a visual person? You're in control. With the new grid view you can view Your Library with bigger artwork if that's your jam. This is great for when you're on the go or in the car so you can find what you're looking for faster. To switch to the grid view, tap on the squares icon to the right. Tap on it again to go back to the list view.

Universal search:

The new universal search can be accessed by tapping the search icon at the top right corner. The new search allows you to quickly search through your entire library for playlists, playlist folders, artists, albums, and podcasts without having to go to a specific content section.

Recent searches:

The new universal search also shows you your most recent Your Library searches so you can quickly get back to what you previously searched for.

Faster settings navigation:

Tap on your profile picture in the top left corner to get to settings faster.

Downloads: (Requires Premium)

When you are in offline mode you'll see your downloaded content faster upon app launch in the home tab.

In Your Library, tap on the "Downloaded" filter either in the main list view or after tapping on a filter to view your downloaded content.

How the new version of Your Library (iOS & Android) evolved over time during testing:

When the new version of Your Library on mobile was being tested with users, a few of the main points of feedback were the following:

• Add a custom sort option for the playlists filter like in the old library view
• Add a way to see a feed of new podcast episodes like in the old library view

These two options were added during the testing phase. Other points of feedback were also made by users during the test, but Spotify is always looking to improve the app so hopefully the new library experience will improve over time.

I personally like being able to see my playlists in the same custom sort order I have them arranged in the desktop app, so I was glad to see that issue was addressed. A bonus feature was also added which is the ability to pin a few of your favorite items to the top of Your Library. I really like being able to have my favorites one tap away at the top of my library. A few other new features that I like are being able to quickly search through my entire library, being able to see my library in a new grid view, and being able to get to settings right from the library view.

Feedback:

Now that the new version of Your Library on mobile is rolling out to all users, what do you think? You can leave your feedback as a reply in this thread. If your feedback is suggesting certain changes, it is best to also post each individual idea in the Community Idea Exchange where users can vote and comment on your ideas and it'll be easier to track each idea. You can read more about how your feedback reaches Spotify here.

[ET_phone_home22]

It seems as if no logic was used when combining things like single songs with, complete albums, podcasts, and artist pages; they are all fundamentally different and serve different purposes.  Especially podcasts, they come out on a schedule basis, yet spotify has given us no way to sort by release date.  With the options they have given us I can sort by creator (which is literally the exact same thing as artist right? like isn't redundant since the threw artists into this mess as well), alphabetical (how does this make any sense on spotify's platform as most people are well into the thousands in their library), recently added (not the release date that would actually be helpful or logical, but when the user added it to their library. I liked the content I added, that's why it's in my library, I surely don't remember when I started to like it), and lastly we have recently played (this is nice for music, but has no functionality for podcasts).
The little touches like pins for your library, settings shortcut, and cleaner home page are great additions. However, I feel like those all could have been added without completely changing the "your library" section.
Also very ironic that it's my library, but I have almost no control or say as to how it's formatted

[garrettlucero]

Yep agreed as well. They keep making stupid decision after stupid decision, constantly releasing updates that just make things more difficult and less intuitive.

So frustrating.

[spookerhooler]

Before the UI update, my unfinished podcast episodes would be shown at the top of the podcast area of the Your Library. Please find a way to either separate the music and podcasts or a way to implement this idea somehow. Or do the best thing and revert the update.

[orphanpog]

@mattsuda, thank you! Much appreciated! I subscribed to the thread for the dedicated issue.

[pegasus25]

I would also like to add that I make a lot of playlists, so, in order to separate the genre and mood ones (such as "dance", "friendzone", "metal") from the artists ones, I put a dot before the name of the artist: ".Coldplay", ".Linkin Park", ".Muse", etc. But now, every single playlist is sorted by Alphabetical order, whether it has a dot or not.

[Teamtrax]

I'm really disappointed with this update on Android.

I listen to a load of podcasts and like to see what new episodes have been released in order of date.

As you can see from the attached image I have filtered by date added and they are still not in order.

Even If I click on New Episodes not all of them are showing.

Please help.

[aliene_]

the old version of sorting was so much better. having all the playlists, albums, and podcasts all being mixed together makes it so hard to navigate. the filters on the liked songs and now on the general page (like filtering your albums and playlists) is so troublesome; you always have to filter it rather than just switching from tab to tab like before. spotify, please change it back.

[HobbyBill]

I absolutely hate the new look. I don’t need all these things in my library when they are already in a different page. It’s super redundant and cluttered now.

[LulaMarques]

Regarding the playlists, downloaded items and the new UI...

Playlists that are organized in folders should appear outside of them when only "downloaded" (in Portuguese: "Baixado") items are selected. It is very hard to find the downloaded playlist inside the folders when you have a lot of playlists inside of them. So, when selecting "downloaded" items, the playlist should be showed instead of the its folder.

[harglebargle]

How long were the engineers working on this UI stuck in their quarantine huts? The My Library view is completely useless for any type of real world outdoor interaction with the app. Not only do I have to try and tap these tiny-ass little buttons to get to my playlists, I have to tap *an even smaller button* to clear the filter and switch to any of the other filters.

This design feels of a solution trying to find a problem

Please re-implement, at the very least, the ability to swipe across the screen to switch between filters. Small touch targets for literally the single most used screen in the app is just no good

[xnet4k]

This sucks. I cannot be objective on this one. There is nothing good about it. I wish I could just switch it back.

Maybe I am to stupid, but I cannot get a plain list of my downloaded episode... However:

Who came up with the idea that "recently added" does not mean "Order episodes by publication Date DESC" but "Order podcasts by subscription date" instead?!

I cannot get my head around this... 

[xnet4k]

Just too be fair: I really was too stupid. 

[Fiddledeedee]

If you click the "Playlists" filter, then and choose, "Custom order" for sorting, the playlists show in the same order as they do on OS X client. The "Custom order" sorting only seems to show when you have "Playlists" filtering selected.

This UX is certainly very odd. I don't know why all-of-the-things view would be useful to anyone.

Interestingly, if you have "Playlists" filter selected and sorted by "Custom order", then remove the "Playlists" filter, you get... nothing. Seems like a bug.

[Fiddledeedee]

100% agree with this. How do you pick up where you left off on a podcast started at some point in the past?

[davey_cakes_]

The new version of Spotify for iPhone is garbage. How am I supposed to navigate this? This is a great example of *If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.* A good update would be let us choose the customization. Please go back!

[jaylar]

Honestly, this is the dumbest update I’ve seen yet. What team picks and chooses what is going to be the final product, because they all need to be fired. Stop thinking that things need to be changed because they really don’t. I can’t even filter out downloaded songs in the stupid liked songs playlists that you all made. Putting everything in the same place doesn’t make it easier to navigate, it makes it harder. Now, I have to take the extra steps to search through multiple different categories of things just to find what I want to listen to. It's also a lot to look at which makes me anxious enough to gag. This is one of the only times I’ve ever considered switching over to Apple Music, and it’s looking quite possible that I will be switching soon.

[Dvdcd]

In my opinion, this update severely lowers the usability of the my library page.

For starters, the new UI makes it take more interactions to switch between the playlists page, albums, and podcasts. In the old UI, this was as simple as a swipe. In the new UI, I have to clear the old filter, click the new filter, and then make sure that it's sorting correctly. That's 3+ taps vs one swipe with the old UI.
As other users have mentioned this is also much worse for accessibility's sake. With the old UI, the swipe was easy as you could perform the action on any part of your screen, making one hand use very easy. Even if you couldn't swipe, there were large buttons at the top of the screen. With the new UI, one-handed use is significantly harder as you have to tap multiple times on small buttons at the top of the screen.
I'd also like to mention unity with the desktop app. With the new library, by default the sorting that you have on your desktop app is totally ignored in the mobile app. It's also much more confusing to transfer between the two because currently on desktop, your playlists, artists, podcasts, and albums are sorted into separate tabs, just like how the mobile UI used to work. With this update you made the transition between the two significantly harder than it used to be.

Another problem I have with the removal of the tabbed library is the fact that it just makes things more cluttered than it used to be. At its current state I can't see anyone using the default library view, as most people have a significant amount of albums and artists saved, it makes it unwieldy to scroll through.

Through all of this confusion and mess created with the new UI, there are some changes that I do like. The new universal search is great, and super useful. Getting to your settings on the library page is useful as well. I also like that we can sort out all of your downloaded content in one place, but I think that could've been implemented with the tabbed UI more effectively

Overall I think the removal of the tabbed library is a huge accessibility and usability downgrade from what we had and I don't see any reason for it to stay around.

[seaofdog]

Yep, agree with everything said here.  Just takes more clicks overall to get to where you need.  Much preferred the previous layout over this one.

Also, the max for pins is 4? I have hundreds of albums saved and a huge amount of playlists (about 100 that I care about) so a limit of 4 is pretty small.

[OldGreyWizard]

@Ivan 

"Spotify is the waiter who fills your cup with coke, when you asked for beer" Rupert Flipp

[rupert27]

I have just had a look at this new feature. It is actually very nice to have my downloaded albums and playlists together in one place, HOWEVER Spotify has forgotten to extend the feature to sub-folders. For example, all of my playlists are arranged into sub-folders. When I look at my downloads on the Android app, I have to click on the folder name as per usual, however now when the folder opens it shows ALL the playlists in that folder and not just the downloaded ones, with no option to further filter the folder into downloads only. It is very annoying to have to scroll through 40 playlists to find the one I have downloaded. Am I missing something here?