"Similar to X" sections in "Discover" do not work in desktop client (but do work in web client)

[lucsky]

Plan: Premium

Country: France

Device: iMac under MacOS 11.5.1

Client version: 1.1.64.561.g71bd09eb-a

My Question or Issue:

1. Opening the "Similar to X" sections in the "Discover" area of the web app does work as expected: it displays a list of albums related to artist X, with the first few albums shown previously plus a bunch of others. As expected.

2. Doing the same thing in the desktop client using the updated UI (which is nothing else than the same web client, embedded in a CEF shell) does not work, like, at all, and is a pure exercise in frustration: opening a "Similar to X" section up in the list will sometimes work (as in, it will display albums from artists similar to X, yay) BUT will display a totally different list from what was initially shown in the "Discover" page. But trying to open a "Similar to Y" or "Similar to Z" further down the list will systematically open a different section, either a different "Similar to W" (up or down the list) or as I just experienced today, a "Similar to A" that wasn't even in the list to begin with!!!

I didn't really mind the UI changes and kind of like the web UI visually, but the inclusion to the desktop client is catastrophically buggy.

[Alex]

Hey @lucsky,

Thanks for the post!

Spotify constantly strives to improve the user experience with its features and the easiest way to achieve this is by regular app updates. That’s why we appreciate you taking the time to share your suggestion with the Community. 

If you have ideas on how to improve the Desktop app, go ahead and create an idea on the relevant idea board. We always take new ideas and feedback into consideration to improve the app. Here you can read more on how ideas work.

We also suggest checking this help article for useful tips on how to submit an idea. As a heads-up, it's good to know that the higher the number of votes an idea gets, the more likely it is for the idea to be implemented.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions.

[lucsky]

Thanks @Alex, but you sound like a bot and your reply was completely useless, I wasn't making a suggestion I was reporting a bug. Now, whether it's related or not, my desktop client was updated a couple days after I posted this and low and behold things seem to have gotten a bit better in the "Discover" section, *BUT* at the price of the complete removal of the "New for you" subsection, which I was pretty much living in. My only alternative, as it seems, is the "Release Radar" list which only contains single tracks instead of albums, which I absolutely **bleep**ing hate.

So um, thanks I guess.

[Elena]

Hey @lucsky!

Thanks for posting on the Community!

You should still be able to see the New for you section in Discover, as well as the correct albums in the Similar to section. Sorry for any confusion we might have caused here.

We can suggest some troubleshooting here since we're not able to recreate this from our end. You can star by logging out > restarting your device> logging back in.

If you still don't see the section, we'll need to know if you experience the same behavior on the web player and mobile.

Keep us posted.

[lucsky]

Thank you for the help @Elena, but I can confirm that the process you suggested has failed to worked on all clients I tried:

1. on desktop (MacOS 11.5.2) using the Spotify 1.1.65.643.g2d707698-a client.

2.on mobile (iOS 14.7.1)) using the Spotify 8.6.52.1200 app.

3. on the web using whatever current version is provided.

On all three I: logged out, (on the web I also completely wiped out all cookies and local storage), quit, relaunched, logged in again, and still, the "Discover" section only shows:

- "Playlists made just for you"

- "Top recommendations for you"

- The usual bunch of "Suggested for you based on X", "Because you listened to Y" or "Similar to Z".

But the "New for you" is nowhere to be seen.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you track this down.

[CarlosE]

Hey @lucsky,

Thanks for your reply.

This may be related to your account since it's happening across devices. To check, could you log in to a different account, like a friend's or relative's, on any of your devices to see if that section is there for them?

We'll be on the lookout.

[lucsky]

Hey @CarlosE and @Elena, just to let you know, I re-did the whole logout-quit-relaunch-login process again on my Mac and lo and behold, the "New releases for you" block is back in the "Discover" section!

No idea who and what did it, but thank you for your help 🙂

[MafeG]

Hey @lucsky,

Thanks for letting us know that everything is working fine now.

It seems like there was a synchronization issue, but we're glad it's back to normal. Remember to always keep your app updated, so you don't miss any fixes or new features.

And don't hesitate to give us a shout if you have more questions.

Have a great day!