Sunsetting New Episodes

[Vasil]

Hey folks!

You may remember that a few months back we tested removing the ‘New Episodes’ from ‘Your Library’. Starting today, we’ll gradually be rolling out this change in order to simplify finding new releases from your followed podcasts and artists! Use the ‘What's New’ feed (the bell icon on home in mobile) to find the latest episodes from your shows, as well as releases from your favorite artists 🙂!

‘What’s New’ is the best place to keep up with the latest releases from your favorite artists and podcasts as they happen. Take a look at these steps to make the most of it:

• Follow all the artists and podcasts that you want to see in your feed. You can do so by searching for them and hitting the “Follow” button from their artist or show page.
• You can access the What’s New feed by tapping the bell icon at the top of Home.
• When you see a blue dot on the bell icon, that means there is something new to check out in your feed.
• You can filter between new releases for music and podcasts.

For any additional questions you may have - take a look at the below mentioned FAQs:

What happened to New Episodes?

We removed New Episodes. You can now find the new episodes of shows that you follow by tapping the bell icon on Home. The What’s New feed makes accessing your new episodes quicker because you can find it right from the home tab.

New Episodes had a section for episodes that were in progress. Where can I access episodes that I want to continue listening to?

There are a few places you can find your in-progress episodes on Home:

• What’s New (for newer episodes that will still be there)
• Recently Played (clock icon on home)
• Within your shortcuts (at the top of home and the podcast feed)
• You can always search for your specific shows too.

Will What’s New have the same features as New Episodes?

You can still take all of the same (and even more) actions by tapping the three dots (...) next to every episode in the What’s New feed, including:

• Mark as played
• Share
• Add to queue
  
  

Can I auto-download podcasts?

Yes, you can turn on auto-downloads for your podcasts so that you always have the latest episode to listen to, even offline. To do that, go to the settings on the show page of your favorite podcasts and tap ‘Auto-download episodes’. Then, you’ll find downloaded episodes in Your Episodes. You can manage your auto-downloaded shows in the settings for Your Episodes.

We’d be happy to hear your feedback about the change!

If any further questions come to mind, do let us know in the comments below.

All the best!

[Marea75]

Here’s my feedback on the change: I DONT LIKE IT. I would prefer Spotify stop with all these unnecessary changes and just let me enjoy my music and podcasts. I will be exploring other app options now. What do you think is better, Amazon Music or Apple Music?  

[dbenner25]

Actually, Vasil, it is NOT quicker. It's actually more button presses to get to the New Episodes than it used to be. Previously - press 'Your Library' select 'New Episodes' folder. Now, it is - press 'Bell Icon', press 'Podcasts & Shows', press 'Unplayed' (which doesn't always work and doesn't automatically update when a podcast is played). By the way - it used to be the case, that I could navigate to the 'New Episodes' playlist, and see a list view of my new episodes, including a snippet of the episode description, as opposed to just the title. Now, I have a tile view of just the episode titles and no easy way to mark podcasts as played, because Spotify has decided to hide the checkmark behind an additional button click. 

Please do not make some erroneous claims that this was a design to 'simplify' things. I work in UI/UX. Any time you are adding additional clicks, or hiding previously accessible functions behind additional button presses - is not simplification. I've been a Spotify Premium subscriber for a long, long time - and I have never been more disappointed in an update in the way I am with this one.

[WilsonTrooper7]

Definitely not quicker, when I play episodes they still show up there so now I have to see oversized tiles and shuffle through all of them that I would have 'marked as played' and made disappear. Oh and also I canf just hit play on a podcast then let it cycle through the new episodes that weren't 'marked as played' now I have to take migraine medicine throughout the day just so I can listen to all my podcast shows?? No it's dumb, don't have to take away your new fancy program here, but at least leave the new episodes tab in your library for the folks that still want it, because believe it or not for most of the hard-core podcast listeners, that was the best way to do it.  It was easy to see all the podcasts and filter out the daily unwanted podcasts and so on 

[DakotaRay]

This is the worst trail I've experienced. So long as it's not there I'll Iheartradio. There should be a way for me to select whether or not I wanted it gone for your test. I may be in the minority, but I won't be renewing my premium account. This was the easiest, simplest feature for me to use to access my subscribed podcasts.

I'll check in from time to time, bit if it stays gone, so does my subscription. Why are users never asked whether they want to patlrticipate in tests that change their user experience?

[mlinds]

User hostile decision making, the alternatives to the new podcast playlist are awful.

[Ianvf787]

Relay to stop removing this feature. Nobody wants to dig around to find new episodes. 

[Hampel]

My new episodes disappeared as well, the solution with the bell is annoying and not working correctly, the filter "already listened" is not working. I will the app 1 star rating until they change it back

[Hampel]

Just got an update AND: the new episodes thing is back, yeah!

[Raphscatdad]

Moved from Apple Podcasts to Spotify about 2 years ago. I’ll be moving back to Apple if this isn’t reverted. This change is so bad. I’m a product designer at a major tech company, here’s my feedback: this is significantly less accessible. I use my new eps feed as a way to save eps sequentially, choose what I want to listen to based on the truncated description, and revisit them when I have time. There’s no longer a canonical place for this, and extra taps are now required at the episode level. The directory level is effectively gone. Each ep in the “bell feed” requires an extra tap to the show, which is unnecessary, and if that was unintended, your tap targets are off. Highly unintuitive to move frequently revisited content away from a user’s library. A content library is a useful reference index, save the “feeds” for social media. Please consider reverting this. Core navigation functionality is table stakes for accessible user flows.

[deonetalevy]

Lucky you. Mine is still missing. Hopefully they change it back for everyone or at least give us the option to pin it in the 'Your Library' section. 

[deonetalevy]

Agreed. This is exactly how I used the feature as well and it was way faster for me. I get the idea of having a place to directly access the new episodes from the homepage but there's no reason to remove the playlist from my library. At least give us the option to access it from there as well. 

[PlzBeQuiet]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

Pixel

Operating System

Android

My Question or Issue

I understand you have retooled the new podcast episodes feed because people have settled in to the podcasts they like and you aren't seeing growth anymore, so you want to direct them to your 'new for you' ecosystem or whatever you are calling it, however, I don't care.

That's not my problem, sucks for you. You made podcast listening too annoying and I have left for another platform, so you've lost hours of daily listening stats, hopefully it was worth it. Depending on how much I use the app for music going forward I may cancel my subscription too. Nothing you can do to resolve this, since I'm fundamentally uninterested in your new design goals.

Bye

[joe161]

As a paid subscriber, this sucks!

[Podcastnight34]

This is the biggest disaster since titanic sank. Bring back my playlist now! I’ll thinking of going back to Apple Podcasts or another app. 

[SP3006]

Thank you! I thought it was just me... Yesterday, I briefly saw a banner/ announcement in my podcast library (new feature/ latest episodes or whatever

[Podcastnight34]

This  isn’t better. Why should I click on a small clock, then on podcasts, then on unplayed, then scroll to find which episode I was listening to?! Bring back my playlist!!!!

[Lovebel]

Right behind you if issue isn't resolved. Good idea.  May I ask what provider you moved to? Thanks! 

[Lovebel]

I think Apple is the way forward. 
It's sad when a service like Spotify forgets it's a service and its customers ..... time to vote with your subscription .... I totally get that. 

[Lovebel]

Great point - it is not quicker - it's another step. 

[Lovebel]

Excellent review by a professional .... maybe Spotify should hire you and stop these silly changes.