• Spotify is rolling out a new verification process for Premium Family members
• Users must now scan the account manager's QR code to confirm they're part of the same household
• Spotify will boot you back to the free tier and give you a 12-month Premium Family ban if you fail to verify

Update 10/21: A Spotify spokesperson has provided us with the following comment on Premium Family plan sharing:

'Household plans are for people who live at the same address as the primary account holder, as set out in our terms and conditions. We continue to look at ways to make sure our plans are used as intended.'

Original story follows.

The Netflix password-sharing crackdown is rubbing off on one of the best music streaming services — now Spotify is taking its own approach to putting a stop to Premium Family plan sharing.

Spotify is enforcing this via a new QR code verification system, which has started rolling out to a number of users if they’re not at the same address as the account manager. The QR code appears on the account holder’s device, requiring those under the plan to scan it in order to verify that you’re living in the same household. This code updates every few seconds, making it harder for users to use screenshots to bypass the process.

The platform goes into the verification process in detail on its support page, clarifying that it doesn’t use location tracking but instead checks your address to verify it’s the same one as the account manager’s. Additionally, Spotify states that ‘both the manager and member need to be in the same place to complete the scan’.

If you receive a verification prompt, you’ll have a 7-day window to complete the scan, but failure to comply comes with consequences. Spotify will boot you back to ad-listening on the free tier as well as banning you from joining another Premium Family or Duo plan for 12 months. It really does feel like a prison sentence.

As you can imagine, users are beyond frustrated with Spotify’s latest move, and despite not being on the Premium Family plan myself, even I can’t fathom the ridiculousness of it all.

We don’t know if this is region-specific, but a number of users on Reddit have received verification prompts despite there being no formal announcement from the company. ‘Self sabotage by Spotify. If I have to do this more than once for my kids that live at home I'm shutting it down,’ an angry Redditor posted.

One of the many users' frustrations is with, of course, money. By limiting Premium Family as a solely household plan, Spotify will drive a huge number of users out of the grouped plan and leave them with no option but to sign up to Premium Individual.

This plan is priced at $12.99 / £12.99 / AU$15.99 a month, while Premium Family is $21.99 / £21.99 / AU$25.99 a month and includes up to six individual accounts — which is roughly $3.665 / £3.665 / AU$4.331 per individual account. The more users Spotify can force into Premium Individual accounts, the more subscription revenue it can generate, but it’s so much more than money.

For me, the most ridiculous part is Spotify’s narrow definition of what a ‘family’ is, as a large majority of Premium Family users are members who have moved out of their parents’ home but are still on the same plan — for example, students who move away from home to study. So, in Spotify’s eyes, these types of families are essentially considered lesser than a family whose members still live under the same roof.

Equally, Spotify’s Premium Family plan has been helpful for adults to guide their not-so-tech literate elderly parents through navigating digital streaming, as another Redditor highlights. Someone takes control of the account, sets up a profile for their parents, shows them the ropes, and lets them listen away. Not only does the verification remove this, it also gets rid of the novelty of families comparing their music tastes and reminiscing about their old favourites together.

It has to be said that until now, Spotify has been on its best behavior and even rolled out helpful tools to exclude your kids’ music from your recommendations, which has been welcomed by Premium Family members — but the new verification process just feels like one step forward, three steps back. In that case, Spotify should rebrand Premium Family to 'Premium Household' to avoid confusion.

• Spotifast is a native Spotify desktop app that doesn't eat up all your RAM
• It stores all of your playlists, allowing you to browse, search, and play music
• You need Spotify Premium for it to work

I love using Spotify’s desktop app for a handful of reasons, but mainly because it’s a much easier way for me to create and manage my playlists — I’ve always preferred navigating larger screens for the best music streaming services.

Despite this, one of the biggest downsides to using Spotify in its desktop form as opposed to its mobile app is the substantial amount of RAM it eats up (it can use anything from 600MB to over 1GB). That’s where Spotifast comes to save the day.

Spotifast is a new lightweight native desktop app that connects to your Spotify account and imports all of your music. As its name suggests, it’s designed to decrease RAM consumption without compromising speedy performance, which its developer says loads "in well under a second and typically uses 100–250 MB of memory" on Spotifast’s information page.

To get started, you’ll need to be a Spotify Premium subscriber, and will need to grant two approvals; one for access to your Library, and the other to play music on your computer. Free accounts can only browse and search. The app is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows, but how similar or different is it to the official Spotify app?

Layout-wise, it’s not far off what you already get with Spotify’s standard desktop app. Your main Home and Search page rests in the center, while your Library and playlists make up the left sidebar and your Queue sits on the right — both of which are collapsible. But there’s more emphasis on design.

The playback bar, which sits horizontally at the bottom of the page, features animated EQ visualizers as a song plays, which you can easily turn on and off. With Spotifast, you also have the freedom to customize how your app looks, giving you the choice between light and dark modes, as well as a selection of custom themes allowing you to make the app your own.

There’s also a strong nostalgia element to Spotifast thanks to its support for the Milkdrop visualizer which, if you grew up being mesmerized by Windows XP music animations, might be the reason you abandon the standard Spotify app. Additionally, the app supports classic Winamp Miniplayer 2 skins, giving the listening experience another nostalgic flair.

What's missing?

The developers of Spotifast pride themselves on having created a faster alternative to the standard Spotify app, and it already has the stamp of approval from users on Reddit, but there’s a reason why it's so much speedier — it’s sacrificed a lot of native Spotify tools.

For starters you won’t be getting support for lossless audio. Instead, Spotifast supports up to 320 kbps which, for some users, isn’t a dealbreaker (the difference between lossless and hi-res is minimal). The app is also completely stripped of social features.

While you can still create playlists within Spotifast, it takes them back to basics. There are no AI-powered playlist-making tools, so that means no Prompted Playlists, Mixed Playlists, Blends, or Collaborative Playlists. On the bright side, this encourages you to make playlists using your own initiative, rather than relying on an AI to do the work for you.

So far, those who’ve migrated to Spotifast for a smoother experience have been overwhelmingly positive about its speedy performance, but everything comes with a slight caveat, as the developers note on Spotifast’s information page:

"Spotify limits how often apps can ask for information. Spotifast normally shares this allowance with other listeners and several other music players. When that shared connection is busy, your library and search results can take longer to load. The top bar shows a spinner while you wait."

You should also note that Spotifast is an unofficial app, and any changes made in the standard Spotify app can temporarily break features until Spotifast is updated.

• Spotify is expanding audiobooks to over 180 markets and 120 languages
• It's also bringing Audiobooks+ to students in select regions
• A fab update for audiobook lovers, but I'm still gunning for a music-only experience

Spotify has gone from one of the best music streaming services, to one of the most-used platforms for audiobooks — and now it’s taking its literary offerings to the next level.

Exactly three years after Spotify launched audiobooks, the streamer is marking the anniversary by launching an audiobook rollout process including market expansion, new languages, and more. Earlier this week, I attended a press briefing where Spotify unveiled the changes coming to audiobooks, and today (October 7) the company took to the stage at the Frankfurt Book Fair to make the public announcement.

Since Spotify introduced audiobooks, availability has been limited to just 22 markets across the world. By the end of the year, however, Spotify says audiobooks will become available in over 180 markets, meaning that over 750 million users across Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Chile, Norway, Peru, as well as regions in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia will be able to stream and purchase audiobooks right from Spotify — a massive jump to say the least, but it doesn’t stop there.

For upcoming audiobooks, Spotify will offer countdown pages similar to new album releases, allowing subscribers to pre-save an author’s work so that it appears in their Library on the publication day. ‘It’s incredibly effective at building anticipation and driving day-one listening,’ said Duncan Bruce, Director of Audiobook Partnerships and Licensing.

In addition to Spotify’s ambitious audiobook expansion, bookworms in the new regions will have direct access to over 350,000 titles, spanning new languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, and more. This will take Spotify’s audiobook catalog to over 120 languages.

Are Spotify’s monthly audiobook hours not enough for you? Users in the new regions will also have the option to purchase additional listening hours through Spotify’s Audiobooks+ add-on. If you have a Student plan, you’ll be able to take advantage of a discounted Audiobooks+ add-on, which is coming to Ireland, Belgium, Austria, and Finland in November.

Great for bookworms, less so for music fans

Spotify has truly achieved everything it can on the ubiquity front. Not only can you stream music easily through a variety of devices but the service has taken over the world of podcasts and audiobooks alike. As Owen Smith, VP of Audiobooks at Spotify, said during the press briefing; the company’s goal is to “build an experience that is intentional and meaningful”.

At its core, Spotify is a music-listening service — it’s how the platform built a reputation for itself during the crossover into the digital streaming era. It has pushed the boundaries by moving into other areas of audio streaming that users are growing increasingly drawn to, creating an experience that ‘no audiobook-only platform can match’, Smith added during the briefing.

Now, I do enjoy having these options, and I dabble in podcasts every now and then. But while I see how the audiobooks interface benefits keen readers, I’ve never got on board with it, and sometimes I just wish there was a tool that would allow me to disable this, allowing for a music listening-only experience. Unfortunately, Spotify isn’t doing this any time soon.

One of my dream features would be a customization setting that allows me to rid my Home page of all things audiobooks, keeping my in-app experience strictly music-only. I know deep down that other music enthusiasts would appreciate something like this, but it’s not on Spotify’s list — I should know, the platform told me straight-up.

‘We’re always exploring ways to give users the best possible Spotify experience and our focus is on personalization rather than creating separate experiences for each content format,’ a Spotify spokesperson shared with me. ‘Home is designed to understand each listener’s individual tastes, drawing on trillions of daily listening signals across music, podcasts and audiobooks to put the right content in front of the right person at the right time,’ they added.

I know what you're thinking, 'if you don't want audiobooks, just don't use them', which is true, but that's easier said than done — especially when there's audiobooks infiltrating every aspect of the app. They're inescapable.

Spotify has been working overtime these past few months, and when it comes to all the new features and upgrades the best music streaming service has rolled out, I've genuinely lost count.

This year has welcomed a slew of fresh changes, and Spotify has taken a leap of faith with many of them. Most notably, the platform's plan to tackle AI has gained even more wings, but smaller tools such as its 20-pin limit mean that you can be a lot more flexible with how you curate your Library of playlists, albums, podcasts, and more.

In the pool of Spotify's new additions, these are five stand-out changes, from tools that make your experience as a listener more engaging to industry-related upgrades.

1. Speak directly to your Taste Profile

For the longest time, your Taste Profile has been embedded within Spotify's algorithm, analyzing your streaming habits and sonic preferences to feed you recommendations across the app. Recently, Spotify has brought it out from under the covers and right to your sidebar.

Now, you can talk directly to your Taste Profile, feeding it prompts to shape the recommendations it gives. Don't want to hear a particular genre? Taste Profile will stop suggesting it. Want to find a new podcast show that explores one of your niche interests? Just let Taste Profile know, and new shows will appear in your Home feed.

Following a successful first run in New Zealand earlier this year, Taste Profile has now rolled out to Premium users in the US, but Spotify hasn't told us if and when it will come to other markets.

2. AI Persona tags are on the way

Users have long criticized Spotify's poor attempts at combating AI-generated music slop, calling on the platform to tighten the screws and be more upfront and transparent, just like Deezer. As well as Verified by Spotify badges, the streamer has rolled out AI Persona tags.

As expected, AI Persona tags differentiate human artists from those that are AI-generated. But aside from this, they're designed to give you added peace of mind that the artists and music you're listening to aren't a product of AI. Additionally, artists with AI Persona tags will be excluded from all personalized recommendations by default, ensuring that your music-discovery regime remains uninfected by slop

3. Spotify expands into fitness

Spotify's Fitness hub, which sits alongside its Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks hubs, started with a partnership with Peloton, bringing over 1,400 video workouts to the app spanning running, yoga, weight training, and more.

If you're unsure of where to start, a questionnaire pop-up will appear asking you what your fitness goals are in that moment, such as ‘what movement are you in the mood for?’ and ‘how do you want to push yourself?’. From there, Spotify will generate a workout pack for you to try out.

It didn't end there; Spotify also launched Running Mode, transforming personalized playlists across different musical genres into guided running experiences. Think of it as a Couch to 5k adjacent service. At the time of its launch, I spoke with one of the brains behind Spotify Fitness, Austin Lamon, who described the hub as 'a natural extension' of how people already use Spotify.

4. Learn more about the craft with SongDNA

Word that Spotify was getting a TIDAL-like song credits tool emerged in late 2025, but it wasn't until early this year that beta users started gaining access.

The best way I can describe SongDNA is that it's like Wikipedia on steroids. When you tap on the song playback bar and scroll down to where you can find lyrics, SongDNA sits alongside it, running like a mind map that spotlights all the creatives that worked on the song.

From producers to lyricists, and individual instrument players, SongDNA ensures that every piece of the puzzle is recognized. It goes a step further, allowing you to click through the different collaborators and see which artists they've worked with and the songs they've helped bring to fruition. If you love falling down Wikipedia black holes, this one's for you.

5. Secure concert tickets with Reserved

Whenever an artist announces a major tour, it no longer sparks feelings of excitement. Instead, fans everywhere see the ticket-buying process as a battlefield, because the demand for live music has surged exponentially in a post-pandemic time.

During Spotify's Investor Day in May, the company unveiled Reserved, which grants top fans first priority for purchasing tickets to their favorite artists with no additional fees. Spotify determines if you're a genuine fan by examining your overall Spotify activity, from your streams to your shares, and will also monitor the activity of Premium users. This will help show Spotify that you're not a bot account.

Once Spotify decides that you've listened to an artist enough to earn tickets to a live show, the platform will reserve two tickets for you, which you’ll then have the chance to buy within a dedicated window (Spotify says this will be around a day). That said, Spotify says that not every fan is guaranteed an offer for tickets, and ticket offers with Reserved will be based on the tour’s location, meaning that if a tour isn’t coming to your area, there’s a chance you may not receive priority access.

• French streaming service Qobuz is introducing tags to denote AI-slop music
• The firm also shared stats on how many people engage with this kind of audio
• Meanwhile, Spotify wants you to use its new AI agent to listen to music

When AI-made music is covered in the media, it's often painted to be an insidious success story; reports on artists including Velvet Sundown, Breaking Rust and Enlly Blue invariably mention high stream numbers, along with huge estimated revenues. If that rightly frustrates you, know that the problem is occasionally with the reporting, and not with AI music being popular.

French streaming service Qobuz has never been backwards about coming forwards when tackling what Managing Director Dan Mackta refused to call music at all, when we spoke to him earlier in the year. And now, Qobuz has unveiled a feature which adds tags to music it detects was generated with AI. This goes further than Spotify's opt-in AI persona label, by highlighting real artists' slop tracks. So expect to see it on Dr. Dre's new music, for example.

This continues a run of anti-AI moves from streaming services such as Qobuz, Deezer and Tidal, which have all identified sentiment to slop at being overwhelmingly negative. Highlights include Tidal giving no royalties to AI music, and Deezer adding a filter to remove AI tracks.

The major outlier is Spotify, which has made small steps to combat AI music, but some steps backwards too. Recently, it teamed up with Meta's AI agent Muse (no, not the Plug In Baby band, the chatbot that Meta kicked the band off its social handles for). This partnership lets you... queue up music, give voice commands to control your playlists, create playlists, and set up playing schedules. How did we cope before AI?

Time to decide whether you want Muse (band), or Muse (Meta)?

But perhaps the war against AI is all for naught? Because when unveiling its new AI tag system, Qobuz also shared some statistics on this kind of 'music' (word used lightly), which recontextualize the whole thing.

Case in point: apparently only 0.38% of streams on Qobuz are from AI-generated tracks. Yes, less than half a percent. For every 263 streams, only one comes from an AI track. If all the streams were represented by the population of the US, team AI would just about fill up Dallas.

There's more: over a third of all AI albums receive not a single listen. Not even from their creator. That's about four million songs, apparently, all of which are created just to take up space (and have been removed from Qobuz's library, so if you missed them, it's too late).

And if that wasn't enough, apparently 60% of all AI-music is demonetized by Qobuz's anti-fraud systems. This is based on the brand's AI Charter, unveiled in February, which detects AI music created solely for financial gain.

Qobuz is the original hi-res music service and as the connoisseurs' choice (devoid of many extra AI add-ons), one could argue that very few users are hitting up Qobuz for AI tracks, but still, the figures are telling. According to these Qobuz stats, you're largely all avoiding AI slop — well done you, take a pat on the back — and sticking to real music made by real people. Well, mostly. Looking at you, 0.38%...

Spotify Wrapped is roughly two to three months away (I know, I almost threw up in my mouth just at the thought of it), but not only does it show how fast the year flies by, but it also keeps you guessing which artists and songs will come out on top.

While pretty much all the best music streaming services have their own iterations of Wrapped — there’s Apple Music Replay and YouTube Music Recap — Spotify Wrapped is by far the one with the firmest cultural grip

It’s the surprise element that keeps us on our toes at the dawn of every year, but what if I told you there was a way for you to get a peek at your top songs early right within the Spotify app? Well, one user tried it, and the results are interesting.

A '3D chess move'

At the end of 2025 Spotify launched one of its most powerful playlist-making tools, Prompted Playlists, a feature that allows you to enter prompts to generate a hyper-specific playlist. You can also amend the settings so that the playlist updates daily, or on certain days of the week, sort of like Discover Weekly.

One of Prompted Playlists’ smarts is that it can compile a playlist of your most-streamed songs of all time, and you can even ask it to create playlists that reflect your Wrapped summaries from the past. Clever right? Well, one user has used the tool to get ahead of the upcoming Wrapped 2026 launch.

Redditor u/thosememes took to the platform to share images of a Prompted Playlist they created (see below), where they asked the tool to compile a list of their most-streamed songs between January 1 and September 17. One of the replies called it a '3D chess move' while others denied its performance, so I tested it out for myself — and I can confirm that it works.

My prompt was simple: "Create a playlist of my most-streamed songs between January 1 and September 21 this year, and present them in a Wrapped-style summary". It didn’t take long for it to birth a fresh list of tracks, and it even provided in-playlist notes telling me exactly how many times I’ve streamed my top songs this year so far.

It was almost too good to be true, but after refreshing the playlist and amending the prompt, the order of the songs in the playlist stayed the same, with each update showing that it does have some credibility. Though I respect the tool for its intelligence, I can’t say I’ll be using it much from now on.

Does no one enjoy surprises any more?

Now, this isn’t the only way for you to extract your music streaming data. Sites such as last.fm and stats.fm are leading third-party platforms for reviewing your most-streamed songs, artists, and albums, but having data features within the Spotify app is oh so convenient.

As well as Prompted Playlists, Spotify’s ‘Listening stats’ tab gives you a comprehensive overview of your most listened-to songs and artists over the last four weeks. It’s a fun way to see how your taste changes and listening behaviors shift, but it doesn’t give away who will be featured in your Wrapped results.

This is where my biggest concern with using Prompted Playlists like this lies: the surprise element is completely removed, which is the very backbone of these types of end-of-year recaps. If you remove the thrill of the unexpected, do you really have Spotify Wrapped? And yes, Wrapped is so much more than the artists and songs you stream, but at the end of the day, this is what the average user is most excited for.

Not only this, but there’s the risk of tarnishing how you stream music. What I mean by this is that having Prompted Playlists give you this information essentially ignites that urge to ‘fine-tune’ your Wrapped, which sits in your subconscious as you listen to music and brings out that inner saboteur that tells you, "your Wrapped must be perfect or else!"

It invites a listening regime that’s far more focused on aesthetics and creating false appearances rather than one that’s purely centered around enjoyment and discovery. The best Wrapped summaries are the ones that are varied and unhinged, because that’s when you know music fans are truly listening with the intent of being themselves.

• Apple changes playlists to give you more control over your library
• Spotify bans free listeners from hearing new music, for three days
• One's good, one's bad. Guess which!

September 22: this article has been amended to include comment from Spotify, towards the end of this first section. The rest of the piece remains as written.

A few years ago, a word was coined to refer to companies' attempts to make their products worse to increase profit margins — it's a profanity so I can't use it here, but some call it platform delay — and two fresh pieces of music streaming service news reinforce, and subvert, it.

Spotify and Apple Music are both making some moves, it seems. One is making a slight improvement, and the other is doing something that, depending on where you live, is plain annoying. You've read the headline, and even if you hadn't, you probably know it'd be Spotify making the contentious decision.

Let's start there, then. Listeners on Spotify's free, ad-supported tier have posted to Reddit with a new problem: they can't listen to new music.

Not all new music, mind you: a pop-up appears when you try to listen to a new release saying that only Premium listeners can hear a track in its first three days of upload. This is only being tested in India now, but obviously it is not impossible to think it may roll out to other places at some point in the future.

TechRadar reached out to Spotify for word on this and, although the company declined to comment on whether a more global rollout is planned, received this comment:

"Premium Early Access is a label pilot in India. Premium subscribers hear select new releases on release day. All other listeners get them within three days. No music is held back permanently.” — Spotify spokesperson

A representative speaking on behalf of Spotify also told us that the move is an industry-wide initiative (ie. not something only Spotify is doing), citing Universal Music Group's statement on a "72-hour premium window" for major new music releases in India.

Redditors commenting on the news — Premium and free subscribers alike — were critical, though none seemed very surprised. It further emphasises Spotify's desire to push its free subscribers to start paying, if they want to listen to new music.

You can read more about the rollout in Spotify's help center.

Apple Music making changes too

At the other end of the spectrum is Apple Music. iOS27 has an added an option which would be nondescript most days of the week, but which helps as a useful juxtaposition to Spotify's downgrade (and which, Redditors claim, fixes "one of Apple Music's biggest issues since forever").

Now, in the Settings menu, two new sliders exist, and are turned off by default. One is for playlist songs, and the other is for favorite songs, and toggling these means that you can add tunes to a playlist or your favorite songs, without it being added to your library.

The Apple Music library could sometimes feel like a dumping ground for just about every kind of music you'd heard or listened to even once. It's full of your owned songs, tunes from playlists you listen to, anything from a Smart Playlist, and so on.

This could be a problem if, say, you make a playlist for a Christmas party, because all these festive tracks would show up in your library when you were doing a general shuffle. Inappropriate, for July. If you deleted the tracks from your library, the playlist would become eerily empty next time December rolled around, because they'd be deleted from both spots.

Now, your library and playlists can function independently. If I'm being honest, I'm surprised this wasn't a feature before. It's not a huge change, but on Reddit, various commenters are describing use cases in which they'll appreciate it, so it's clearly gone down well.

And Apple could have simply added the ability to change the Apple Music logo color; if it was an improvement, it'd have gone down well. Yes, you always pay for Apple Music while Spotify does at least offer something for free. But don't forget, Apple casually upgraded all of its Music catalog to CD quality in 2021 without charging users more than they were already paying. So Apple Music fans might say that Spotify is continuing to show music streaming subscribers how not to do it, and its near rivals will benefit.

• New Spotify billboards hint at an upcoming collaboration with GTA 6
• Some believe the streamer is teasing new playlists inspired by new GTA 6 radio stations
• There's also the theory that Spotify integration is coming to the game, allowing you to stream your playlists in-game

There’s something cooking in the Spotify kitchen, and the music-streaming service is teasing some sort of involvement with GTA 6 and Rockstar Games — but it’s keeping its card very close to its chest.

Earlier this week, Spotify billboards started appearing across major US cities including New York, LA, and Miami featuring GTA 6 artwork and the Spotify logo (see below). The billboards follow Rockstar’s recent announcement of Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album, a limited-edition vinyl that has already sold out.

What this could mean still remains unclear, and Spotify has yet to tell us what it and Rockstar have in store — but there’s a handful of theories floating around.

Firstly, some users on Reddit believe the billboards are just an extension of Rockstar’s marketing push for the GTA 6 soundtrack.

Before the tracklist was unveiled, artists including Travis Scott, Pinkpantheress, Future, Morgan Wallen, and more teased their musical contributions by sharing GTA 6 artwork to social media, so some think Spotify’s cryptic billboards are simply a sign that the original songs will soon be able to stream on the platform.

The billboards have also fueled speculation that curated Spotify playlists based on GTA 6 radio stations are part of the soundtrack rollout, which seems like a natural way for Spotify to contribute to the launch of the game. But others are convinced the streamer’s involvement is much more than this.

For years, players have requested direct Spotify integration with GTA, which would allow users to link their accounts and stream their own playlists in-game instead of the radio stations. On paper it sounds like a desirable option, however there’s a lot of skepticism surrounding this.

GTA has gained notoriety for its curated radio stations. If anything, they’ve emerged as somewhat of a pop culture phenomenon outside the world of gaming — as one Redditor puts it, ‘the radio stations make the game’.

Not only this, but given the time, creativity, and money that Rockstar puts into developing GTA’s radio stations (because getting artists on board costs), I can see how music streaming integration could be placed on the back burner for now.

That said, I wouldn’t totally rule out the possibility of Spotify integration coming to future GTA gameplays. For now, however, the billboards remain ambiguous, so it’s pretty much a waiting game.

• Spotify's new setting lets you exclude kids and family music from your taste profile
• It's designed for parents who use their Spotify account to stream their kids' favorite songs
• Once enabled, your Discover Weekly and Wrapped will reflect your taste more accurately

Being a parent has its rewards, but your kids taking over your Spotify account certainly isn't one of them — thankfully, Spotify is rolling out a solution that lets you reclaim your musical personality.

Marking the next step in Spotify’s goal to give parents more control, the best music streaming service is introducing a new toggle that, when enabled, allows you to exclude kids and family music from your recommendations. It can be found in Settings under the ‘Content and display’ tab, and is rolling out to Free and Premium users globally today (September 15), so it’s not annoyingly locked behind a paywall.

If you decide to enable the feature, songs such as TV themes, nursery rhymes, and chart-toppers from animated movies will no longer contribute to the recommendations you’re fed. This means your Discover Weekly, Daily Mix, and yes, even your end-of-year Wrapped summaries will reflect your taste more accurately.

While your personal recommendations will be untouched, it doesn’t mean that kids music is a complete write-off. Even with the toggle switched on, you can still search and stream your kids’ favorite songs and even make playlists with family music at the center — they just won’t affect your taste profile.

But Spotify’s new toggle is smarter than you think. Once you exclude kids and family music from your taste profile, the tool acts retrospectively, removing the music your kids have already streamed, meaning they won’t be counted in your top songs for this year’s Wrapped. That said, Spotify says that it could take up to 48 hours for these changes to be reflected in your personalized recommendations.

It’s all fun and games giving your kids the freedom to stream songs from their favorite movies and shows, but there comes a time where your taste profile doesn’t become yours anymore. Spotify’s new toggle gives you a more robust way of reclaiming control over your profile while improving your music discovery experiences, so that not every other suggestion is from KPop Demon Hunters or Spotify’s The Bluey Time Playlist.

The lack of separation between family music streams and regular music streams has been criticized by parents for some time. In response to this, Spotify has doubled down on its taste-adjusting settings.

In October 2025, the platform introduced a feature allowing you to remove individual songs from your taste profile, which I thought was a great way to purge my Wrapped of guilty pleasures. Shortly after, Spotify rolled out Managed Accounts to its Premium Family Plan, giving each account under one plan its own experience, separating adult and kids taste profiles from each other.

Spotify isn’t the only streaming service that’s been hit with this issue — rival platforms like YouTube still face similar criticism. Just like Spotify’s Premium Family Plan, YouTube Premium Family gives households a cost-effective way for all members to make the most of ad-free viewing and other benefits, but it’s still possible for young kids to infiltrate their parents’ profiles.

As it stands, there’s still no option to filter out kids and family content from your video recommendations like you can with Spotify, which leaves a gap for YouTube to fill.

"Lyrics are where people find meaning in music."

So says Marco Paglia, Chief Product Officer at Musixmatch - the platform delivering time-synced lyrics and translations across all major music streaming services.

At a time when passive background streaming feels like it dominates the landscape, I spoke to Marco to find out how lyrics are changing the game for musicians and their listeners.

In an era of passive streaming, why are lyrics still an important tool for turning casual listeners into diehard fans?

Lyrics represent one of the few moments in streaming when the listener stops being passive. A playlist plays at you, while lyrics make you lean in, follow the words and recognise something about yourself in what an artist is saying. That moment of connection is often where a casual listener starts to become a fan.

This experience has changed significantly over the last few decades. Lyrics used to be a souvenir: you bought the CD, pulled out the booklet, and read along. Now they are a fundamental part of the listening journey itself - time synced, translated and available immediately on screen as the song plays.

The scale of that behaviour is significant, with 88% of premium subscribers actively using lyrics. People read along, search for a chorus to find a track, share a line on Instagram or TikTok and print it on shirts.

Lyrics are where people find meaning in music. We see that reflected in listening behaviour too: tracks with lyrics generate 3.5x more saves, one of the clearest signals that someone wants to come back to a track. None of that is passive.

Ultimately, that’s why lyrics are such a powerful connective tissue between a song, an artist and the people who become invested in it.

On social media, a track can blow up in 24 hours. How much momentum does an artist lose if their lyrics aren’t synced on day one?

More than most artists realise, and that loss isn’t recoverable! The first few days of a release are a unique window: attention is at its highest, fans are actively searching for the track, and the moments that shape its trajectory are starting to build. Once that window passes, you can’t recreate it.

There are three things happening all at once in that initial period. Firstly, discovery: 81% of listeners search for lyrics online, so if a track’s lyrics aren’t available, it risks missing people actively trying to find it through words they’ve heard.

Secondly, algorithmic weighting: days one to seven are when saves and completion count most, and lyrics drive both of these things.

Thirdly, social engagement: lyrics give fans something to interact with and share. If there is no lyric card to screenshot, no sticker, no karaoke moment, you’re leaving fan engagement on the table right as curiosity peaks.

Then the window closes. Add lyrics on day eight and the opportunity to capture that initial release-week momentum has already passed. At that point, the focus shifts to longer-term discovery - and there’s no way to recreate that first week.

That’s exactly why we built Pre-Release, which means lyrics, sync and translations can all be in place and live from the moment a track drops.

For example, when the Rolling Stones released their latest album it launched fully covered, with lyrics, sync and translations in eight languages. Day-one lyrics aren’t a nice-to-have. They have to be part of the release itself.

How much manual effort is actually required from an artist or manager to get their lyrics and metadata release-ready across all platforms?

Historically an enormous amount, and almost all of it is invisible, unglamorous work: transcribing, time-syncing line by line, getting the structure and credits right.

Our job is to collapse that process. Customers can get verified in one step, we then pull their catalogue automatically from distributor data and audit it against what’s live on every Digital Service Provider (DSP). That produces a coverage report showing exactly where lyrics are missing, and prioritising the tracks where filling those gaps will have the greatest impact.

From there, customers can use our AI tools to transcribe and sync lyrics, or hand it to our expert curators. Our transcription engine is built specifically for the singing voice, and is more than twice as accurate as general speech tools.

That technology is backed by a global curator network that can help with proofreading across 100+ languages. Once everything is ready, it can be distributed to 25+ platforms simultaneously, with live status tracking. What could have taken months, now takes days.

There’s another part of this that catalogue managers sometimes underestimate: the same process can power the campaign around a release. Once the lyrics are ready ahead of release day, that file can also produce the vertical video loops for TikTok, Instagram, Spotify Canvas assets, and the YouTube lyric videos ready to go live alongside the track. One deliverable, every surface, no video shoot.

You describe Music Lens as ‘the world’s first Music Agent’. What does that mean in practice, who benefits and how?

Music Lens allows users to stop querying a database and to have a conversation with their catalogue. In practice, that means four things.

It can match a catalogue to a creative brief, it turns global trends into readable insight so you can see a breakthrough moment while it’s still happening, it gives clear visibility into royalties, splits and DSP performance (market by market), and it generates campaign-ready visuals from songs in seconds.

I like to think of it as an agent that develops through four stages: first, a musicologist, reading lyrics and extracting meaning, moods and themes. Then a DJ, enabling search by feeling, rather than simply based on the artist or title. Then it becomes a music expert, reasoning through a brand brief in the way a human sync agent would. Finally, it is an analyst, mapping how an artist's themes evolve and identifying patterns across countries and genres.

The biggest beneficiaries are publishers and labels with catalogues too large to know intimately, sync teams doing the matching process from memory, and independent artists who’ve never had this class of analysis available to them at all.

And the part I care most about is that it’s non-generative: it analyses meaning, but it doesn’t write songs. It’s built on derived data, meaning new information created by processing a catalogue of over 100 million works. It’s permission-based, with no scraping, no unlicensed content and no raw lyric ever surfaces in the output. That was a hard licensing constraint and it shaped every architectural decision downstream.

Do platforms like this level the playing field for artists to build a career without needing the support of a major label?

We give independent artists access to the tools and the infrastructure that historically were much harder to access without the support of a major label. We can offer reach across every platform, control over metadata, professional-grade catalogue intelligence, a merchandising operation, and the one people often forget: translation.

For example, an independent artist can verify their profile, own their lyrics, sync them for free, distribute them to 25+ platforms, ask Music Lens which of their songs has untapped potential, turn a lyric into merchandise, and reach fans in their own language on day one.

More than 1.5 million artists already use Musixmatch Pro to do exactly this. Ten years ago, much of that capability would have sat behind a label services deal.

Translation is the most underrated part of that shift. An artist making music in a bedroom in Bologna with listeners in São Paulo used to have no way to close that gap. Now the words travel with the music.

There are of course elements of labels that we don’t replace, and which are still a real advantage, such as capital, generating radio and playlist relationships and dedicated teams focused on building an artist’s career.

But we have certainly helped level the playing field by putting more information, tools and infrastructure directly into the hands of independent artists.

Beyond backend metadata and licensing, how do you plan to turn your platform into an active community and a richer experience for fans?

Musixmatch has always been a community, a large one, made of people who care enough about a song to get its words right. That passion is our asset. What we’re building now is the layer where fans and artists actually meet.

Translation is one of the most powerful examples. Most people know lyrics in languages they don’t speak, and translation turns that from a novelty into belonging.

Last November, we powered Spotify’s first global rollout of lyric translations on Rosalía’s LUX: 14 languages on one record, 23 translations synced for release day. It became the most-streamed album in a single day by a Spanish-speaking female artist. When language stops being a barrier, fandom stops being local.

Merchandise, and specifically fan-personalised merchandise, is another opportunity. Our Lyrics Merch tool allows an artist to turn a lyric into something a fan wears: designed, printed and sold through us, with the artist keeping 100% of sales. But the part I find most interesting is what happens when an artist opens that experience up to their fans.

If they want to offer it, the fan can choose their own favourite line from the song and have that printed on a shirt. It’s a completely different relationship from buying tour merch. The fan isn’t picking from what the artist decided to print, they’re telling the artist which words mattered most to them. Every shirt becomes a small piece of feedback about which lyric actually landed, and the fan ends up wearing a line they chose themselves.

Finally, there’s participation. We have a global community made up of music lovers, who transcribe, sync and translate lyrics. Our curators help us to ensure lyrics are accurate, properly synced and accessible to fans around the world. The more credit and better tools we give them, the better the data gets, which improves the experience for everyone.

Spotify, I owe you a huge apology.

For the past decade you’ve been my loyal music companion, but despite my tumultuous relationships with some of your features, your unmatched ubiquity means I can freely use you across my devices — with the exception, until recently, of my TV.

My Hisense 43A6NTUK smart TV is one of my favorite pieces of tech, despite it not being in the same caliber as the best TVs we test here at TechRadar, but it had been letting me down because of one thing: VIDAA OS didn't support the Spotify app.

Until now that is. Spotify launched on VIDAA TVs at the beginning of June, but I wouldn't have known this if I hadn’t been casually flicking through my TV’s app carousel. After waiting for the best part of two years for it to arrive, you can imagine how excited I was.

Since the best music streaming service landed on my TV not a day has gone by where I haven’t used it, and it’s filled a huge void. And something miraculous happened in the process: I now enjoy viewing music videos on Spotify.

I've experienced a revelation

Prior to buying a smart TV, the Amazon Fire TV Stick was my streaming device of choice, and it has always supported the Spotify app. While I enjoy my playlists on mobile, streaming Spotify on the big screen offers an entirely different experience.

It’s not news that Spotify’s music video interface and I haven’t got along — its mobile experience is too clunky and disorganized for me — and I’ve always used YouTube to stream music videos as well as my favorite web shows. Even if it meant enduring a painful amount of ads, I’ve always stuck by YouTube’s side.

I’d gotten used to YouTube’s way of doing things in the absence of Spotify’s TV app, but as soon as that app arrived I fancied trying something different. The result? Goodbye YouTube.

Before now, I’ve never understood why I could never get along with the Spotify music video interface, but I could with YouTube; then it clicked. It wasn’t Spotify’s cluttered organization that was putting me off, it was far simpler than that: music video viewing isn’t necessarily designed for the mobile experience.

Though I only stream audio when listening through headphones, every song I play through my TV on Spotify is now more or less in video form, and I’ve been busy making the playlists to go with it.

Long live the music video

Music video viewing is a big part of my life, whether that’s for background listening, nostalgia indulgence, or for blasting on the big screen when I have friends around, and YouTube has always been my go-to.

What separates Spotify from the likes of YouTube is that, with the former, the focus isn’t on the music video itself. There’s the option to switch between audio and video of course, but YouTube put the music video on the map during the transitional period into digital streaming. This is what tempted me to sign up to a YouTube Premium free trial.

I began by making playlists to mimic the nostalgia of music channels, but creating playlists on YouTube is a little fiddly, and there are all kinds of issues with the queuing system. And though you can make playlists without a Premium account, the ad interruptions ruin the viewing experience. So when Spotify launched on my smart TV, I put the pedal to the metal.

Before I knew it I had made five monster MTV-themed playlists spanning from the 1980s all the way to the 2020s, each packed to the brim with songs and their accompanying videos. That was my one rule: if it doesn’t have a music video, it doesn't go in the playlist. I haven’t used YouTube to watch music videos since, and the ad-free experience still feels too good to be true, but the joy I get from it goes beyond simply watching the visual accompaniments to my favorite songs past and present.

I consider myself a pop culture historian, and evoking the nostalgia of music channels is one of the defining elements of my music video obsession. For me, there’s no other feeling quite like bingeing music videos from MTV’s VMA peak era — think Bad Romance, Hot N Cold, Maneater. If you were there at the time, you get it.

But the music video is so much more than that. There’s a huge educational aspect for me, allowing me to step into the past to learn more about pioneering artists who paved the way for bigger and more successful acts. Using Spotify to house my video-centric playlists has been perfect for enriching my knowledge, and it also means I get to visit my parents’ youth, all while streaming old favorites I never knew had music videos.

On reflection, I guess there was never really a reason for me to dismiss Spotify’s music video integration — I just didn’t know how to use it to its full potential. I’m still not a fan of the viewing experience for mobile, but now that I know how to optimize my music video viewing, there’s no going back.

• Spotify's Playlist Notes tool allows you to add background to the songs in your personal playlists
• It's also coming to editorial playlist, allowing Spotify's editors to give context behind their recommendations
• The best part is that it's not powered by AI

Spotify is enriching its personalization features once again, and this time, the best music streaming service is allowing you to add your thoughts in note-form to the playlists you make.

Playlist Notes lets you add short 250-character entries to the songs, podcast episodes, and audiobooks you add to your playlists, giving you a way to add context and background to your choices — because the personal stories behind your favorite songs deserve to be heard.

The tool builds on Spotify’s User Notes feature, which rolled out a short while ago, but only allowed you to add notes to songs and not other audio formats. Now, if for example a song or podcast episode reminds you of a specific date, a fun trip, or evokes a sense of nostalgia, you can keep a record of that memory and display it front and center in your playlists, kind of like a diary entry.

It’s also very easy to add notes. All you need to do is go to a playlist you’ve created or collaborated on, and tap the three-dot icon next to a track and select ‘Add note’. From there you can type your short entry, hit ‘Save’, and your note will appear under the track in a similar way to Prompted Playlists — except you’re the author, not AI.

It’s not just users who’ll be able to use Playlist Notes; Spotify is also encouraging its editorial curators to use it, giving you a glimpse into the context behind the team’s recommendations. This started with New Music Friday’s recent upgrade, and now Playlist Notes are being expanded to a roster of other editorial playlists.

From today, Free and Premium users aged 16 and over in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand will be able to read Playlist Notes in Spotify-curated playlists. This includes the following: Today’s Top Hits, RapCaviar, Hot Country, All New Pop, mint, and Fresh Finds Hip-Hop.

Savor and relive the good times

Listening to music is so much more than a leisurely activity — it connects us to our good memories, bad moments, and everything in between. Regardless of how much or how little you engage with music, everyone has auditory connections to specific moments in their lives, and Playlist Notes reinforces this.

Granted, Spotify’s existing roster of playlist tools and options is quite dense, and there’s also a focus on AI-powered ones, but Playlist Notes might be one of the platform’s most valuable additions yet — especially for those who like to get personal when making playlists.

For the past four years, I’ve been rounding up my favorite songs into annual playlists, starting a new one at the beginning of each year. It’s been my go-to way of keeping track of my favorite releases each year, but having a tool like Playlist Notes back then would have been even more helpful for keeping tabs on where I was when I first heard a particular song, or if a friend recommended it to me.

But it’s not just that. What appeals to me the most about Playlist Notes is that, for once, it’s not an AI tool. Every note you enter is written by you. There are no text prompts or suggestions getting in the way, it’s 100% your thoughts. It’s also a useful addition to Spotify’s editorial playlists.

I’m always on the hunt for new music recommendations, and navigating Spotify’s own playlists is just one part of my discovery regime. But I also have a thirst for knowledge, and reading the background of editors’ recommendations is oh so quenching. Luckily, not every song in these playlists have notes so it’s not overpowered with text, and you can easily toggle them off so they disappear.

Out of all the personalization features for playlists, Playlist Notes is one I think I could integrate into my listening habits. Perhaps not as much for my own, but there’s a whole world full of music out there that I’m dying to learn more about.

• Apple Fitness+ could be getting Peloton-style live workouts
• The fitness platform has been 'under review' since earlier this year
• Spotify recently expanded into fitness, so Apple might one-up its rival with live workouts

Something is going on at Apple Fitness+, the tech giant’s flagship fitness service, and it could be hinting at a new Peloton-style live workout hub.

A job listing posted by Apple advertises a Studio Producer role for Fitness+, implying there’s about to be a new upgrade coming to the health service, which is asking for a candidate with a "strong foundation in live or live-to-tape multi-camera production and a genuine curiosity about where live content is headed next."

Apple Fitness+ was introduced back in 2020, offering subscribers a one-stop shop of on-demand workout videos run by in-house fitness experts, integrating real-time workout metrics from your Apple Watch. Apple Fitness+ doesn’t host live workouts with live leaderboards in the way that Peloton does, so an upgrade could give the service the new lease of life it needs.

Despite its rich library of pre-recorded workout videos and guided meditations, Apple Fitness+ has been declining over the years. Earlier this year, we reported that Apple Fitness+ was ‘under review’, with the possibility of the firm merging with the existing Apple Health app to offer a combined subscription, but as it stands, the future of Apple Fitness+ is still undecided.

Bloomberg’s ($/£) Mark Gurman said that "there’s no telling what will end up happening," so not even seasoned leakers are able to predict where it’s going. A direct partnership with a fitness giant like Peloton hasn’t been hinted at, but since Spotify recently ventured into the fitness world, Apple Fitness+ might have some fresh competition.

A few weeks ago, Spotify expanded its services into fitness and I sat down with its developer, Austin Lamon, who described it as a “natural extension of how people already use Spotify today”. The new Fitness hub packs curated Running Mode playlists, as well as a section packed with pre-recorded workout guides from Peloton’s flagship personal trainers — and it’s all included in the Premium plan on top of access to music, audiobooks, and podcasts.

Though Apple Fitness+ got there first with its own roster of on-demand workout videos, Spotify has combined its Fitness hub with services that subscribers are already paying for, whereas Apple’s music and fitness platforms are separate entities. And yes, Spotify is prone to a price hike every now and then, but its new fitness content doesn’t come with any add-on costs.

The only thing that Spotify Fitness hasn’t jumped on yet is the idea of hosting its own live workouts, which opens a door for Apple Fitness+ to snatch an opportunity. If Apple started pumping out its own Peloton-style live workouts, it could give the service an edge over rivals and give iOS fans a new reason to stay put. Perhaps we'll find out more during Apple's upcoming product launch in September?

• Car Thing display dongles are currently e-waste...
• ... but this new software online lets you revive them
• Created by fan engineers to bring back old tech

It's been several years since Spotify killed off its Car Thing auto dongle, bricking devices which customers owned, and some users have never forgiven the brand for that 'Car Thing is being discontinued' pop-up on their displays. But, even though it's been four years since the brand announced the end of the road for Car Thing, fans have finally found a way to bring it back.

Over the last few months, an engineer has been working on a revival project, and they finally have it — in the form of Mira. This is a software you can download onto your old Car Thing, to bring back its functionality in your vehicle.

You can download the software via Github, and get it working on your Car Thing by connecting it to your phone or computer, but you don't need a permanent install of anything onto your device (other than Spotify, obviously).

Then, you'll be able to keep using your Car Thing to add Spotify playback to your smart system-less car, just as the streaming giant intended when it unveiled the thing.

It's not quite Car Thing...

... but it's close. The designer has shared a list of features available in Mira, and it's pretty extensive. You can use voice commands, see album artwork and lyrics, use gesture controls to navigate, use Car Thing's physical dial and see the transcripts of podcasts.

Apparently there are a few Bluetooth connection bugs in the current version of the software, and Reddit commenters on the announcement post are clearly waiting for Apple Music and YouTube Music support. But Mira's mere existence is great news in making up for Spotify's failings.

Perhaps best of all in this 'pay-for-everything' existence is that Mira is free to download and use, with no rolling subscription fee (so, just whatever you pay for Spotify and your device, obviously).

I didn't have 'Car Thing coming back to life' on my 2026 bingo card, but now that it has, I'm not surprised Spotify had nothing to do with it. The brand has been too busy essentially swerving the AI slop problem (then belatedly backpedaling and trying to contain the issue) to work on any hardware projects. So it makes sense that buyers would have to step in if they wanted to get their Car Things back on the road.

Spotify has always found ways to branch out beyond music, now the platform is a hub for all-things audiobooks and podcasts. So what do you do when you’ve got every audio format under your belt? You venture into fitness, of course.

The best music streaming service kick-started its new Fitness hub in April by announcing a partnership with Peloton, bringing a slew of video workouts from Peloton trainers right to the Spotify app. Just a few weeks ago, the platform launched Running Mode, a collection of customizable playlists across different genres to make soundtracking your workouts easier.

But Spotify’s new Fitness ecosystem wouldn’t be what it is without the watchful eye of Austin Lamon, Senior Director of Product, who helped build the hub from the ground up — and knows exactly where he wants to take it.

A 'natural extension'

Spotify’s Fitness hub didn’t just appear overnight, and the product team had to ask themselves one question: how can we integrate it into Spotify’s existing products?

“Our strategy has been to expand into formats that deepen engagement and increase the value of Premium,” Lamon tells me. “Music, podcasts, audiobooks, video, and now fitness all serve the same goal: helping users get more out of their time on Spotify and leave feeling better than when they opened the app”.

One of the best things about Spotify’s Fitness hub is that it’s not overly complicated and intimidating for beginners. Instead, it caters to budding and established fitness enthusiasts equally. Lamon tells me “Spotify Fitness is built for anyone who wants movement to be part of their day without adding complexity to it.

“That could be a dedicated athlete following a structured training plan, someone fitting in a walk between meetings, or a first-timer looking for a guided stretch or yoga session. Many of the most popular fitness experiences — like walking, running, yoga, strength and mobility — require little or no equipment, making them accessible to almost everyone”.

It’s clear that the Spotify team is full of ideas, and it’s always thinking about new ways to take the platform to the next level. However, not every idea makes the cut, but for Lamon, fitness was a no-brainer.

“Fitness is a natural extension of how people already use Spotify today — to get motivated, recover, and reset — and allows us to support more moments throughout the day,” he shares, but the fitness hub needed a bit of a boost to get the ball rolling. How do you do that? You enlist the help of a fitness behemoth.

Thank you, Peloton

Spotify’s partnership with Peloton gave the fitness hub the kick-starter it needed, turning it into a one-stop shop for guided workout videos for all fitness abilities.

“Peloton was a natural launch partner because it brought world-class instructors, high production quality, and a deep catalog of programming that allowed us to deliver a great experience from day one,” Lamon details. “Our ambition is to build an open fitness ecosystem where users can discover the content that's right for them, while making Spotify an even more useful part of their daily routines through experiences like Running Mode”.

Shortly after Peloton came to the Spotify app, Running Mode was born, enhancing the Fitness hub by transforming personalized playlists into guided running experiences. Lamon is confident this is the key to success and expansion, telling me “The early signals are very encouraging, and usage has grown every week since launch.

“We aren't trying to create a new behavior; millions of people were already incorporating Spotify into their fitness routines. We’re simply making those experiences more seamless and personalized. Running Mode is the next step in meeting that demand”.

After playing around with Running Mode, I get where Lamon is coming from — there’s a playlist for everyone depending on how long you want to run for and the genre you want to listen to, and comes with a voiceover that interjects every now and then like Couch to 5K.

It can be a bit intimidating for those who don’t know where to start, but Lamon offers his advice. “Running is how I reset, and Running Mode has fully become part of my routine,” he starts, but there’s one thing in particular he wants you to remember.

“One thing people don't always realize is that the presets are completely customizable. You can adjust the workout type—whether it's intervals, a steady run, or something more structured—the duration, your target BPM, and even the kind of music you're in the mood for,” he says. Despite being pre-curated, there’s still an element of control.

He continues: “The real power-user trick is hidden one level deeper: swipe across the playlist controls to "Edit prompt" and you can describe your exact session in plain words — your intervals, your warm-up length, whatever you want — and Spotify builds the run around it. I also recommend trying the optional audio coaching. It feels less like a coach barking instructions and more like a supportive friend helping you pace the run. And if you prefer to run without it, you can turn it off with a tap”.

A fitness future awaits

If there’s one thing Spotify has always invested in, it’s access. You can use Search to find an abundance of its own editorial playlists, as well as the Made For You hub. But I couldn’t help but wonder: does convenience eradicate the desire to curate your own playlists? Lamon doesn’t think so.

“Spotify has always been about giving people more choices, not fewer,” he says. “If you love building your own workout playlists, that experience isn't going anywhere. Running Mode is simply another option for the moments when you'd rather spend less time curating and more time moving”.

Lamon also believes that Running Mode’s personalization is the other redeeming factor, sharing with me that “Every session starts with the listener's own preferences — from the type and length of their run to the music they want to hear and the tempo that matches their pace. The result isn't a one-size-fits-all soundtrack; it's an experience tailored to that specific person based on their goals, music taste, and workout preferences”.

As someone who makes their own playlists, I’m quite satisfied with the soundtracks I’ve created for my different workout regimes. However, that’s not to say I don’t appreciate having access to playlists that are not only concise tempo-wise, but are the right running lengths. Running Mode is already a solid expansion of Spotify’s Fitness hub, but it’s only the start for Lamon.

It’s only been two weeks since Fitness launched on Spotify, and he’s already looking ahead, who shares with me “We see Fitness as a long-term investment and another way to make Spotify more valuable throughout the day”.

He goes on: “Just as we've expanded from music into podcasts, audiobooks, and video, we'll continue evolving Fitness based on how people naturally want to move, listen, and engage. In the near term, our focus is on expanding access.

In the short time Spotify’s Fitness hub has been live, the editorial brains behind it have noticed an encouraging shift in user engagement. And from here on out, Fitness is only going to get bigger, as Lamon leaves me with this: “Looking ahead, we're exploring additional workout types, deeper personalization, and ways to make the experience even more seamless across devices”.

This week Google debuted its Pixel 11 tech, and Honor wowed us with a Robot Phone. Though we doubt it's the next iPhone revolution, we did also celebrate the birthday of a phone that did spark one back in the 90s — the Nokia 9000 Communicator, which just turned 30 years old.

But that's enough nostalgia for now — to catch up on all of the freshest gadget news, scroll down for the seven biggest tech news stories from the past week, plus links to the wider picture if you're desperate to learn more.

And before that test your memory against last week's biggest tech news stories with our quiz.

7. We reviewed Garmin’s 5-Star smartwatch

We spent months with the latest Garmin Fenix Pro 8 smartwatch — it survived heatwaves, blizzards and 4,000m altitudes — and our reviewer decided to declare it “the pinnacle of multisport smartwatch performance.”

Why? Well, it boasts the full suite of Garmin functionality from sleep tracking to a bewildering array of activity tracking options, as well as the ability to follow stats like altitude and atmospheric pressure. Plus, it can operate as a full-on dive watch, and boasts satellite messaging for the extreme wilderness wanderers amongst us.

The only downside is that it costs significantly more than the AMOLED version and has a shorter battery life (it’s still four days, though, and turning the always-on display off will see it jump to over 10), but these don’t stop it from being the champion of the sports tracking world right now.

• Read our full Garmin Fenix Pro 8 microLED review

6. Spotify labelled AI music

Earlier this week, Spotify announced its new AI Persona tags, a new feature designed to differentiate human artists from those that are AI-generated. The tags are tipped to roll out in mid-September.

Once AI Persona becomes available, it will give users some peace of mind knowing that they’re listening to music that hasn't been generated by AI. Spotify added that artists with AI Persona tags will be excluded from all personalized recommendations by default — which is an added bonus.

Artists can disclose to Spotify if they are AI musicians, but Spotify will conduct reviews of profiles where it thinks an artist’s images have been created using generative AI to imitate a lifelike persona. The only caveat is that Spotify uses an artist’s image to determine if they’re an AI Persona, and not the music itself.

• Read more: Spotify is introducing AI Persona tags to differentiate real artists from fake ones

5. We spent two hours with Honor’s Robot Phone

Look. We love to call out marketing department hyperbole as much as the next tech news outlet, but while we must disagree with Honor’s attempt to position its new device as the evolutionary successor to the iPhone — the best-selling phone of all time — it is fair to say the Robot Phone is unlike anything we’ve seen before.

TechRadar’s Axel Metz was among the first tech journalists to touch and test the new phone, and the device’s unfolding gimbal is genuinely impressive as a content capture tool — effectively combining the DJI Osmo Pocket with Honor’s flagship Magic 8 Pro.

It also allows the phone’s assistant, YOYO, to express itself in a physical way. This is the definition of gimmicky, though controlling the gimbal with hands-free controls can be genuinely useful.

• Read more: I spent two hours with the Honor Robot Phone, and this ridiculous, remarkable device made me feel like a kid again

4. We photographed the solar eclipse

The peak of the Perseid meteor shower, with perfect viewing conditions and a rare six-planet alignment, was a celestial treat on August 12, but it was the total solar eclipse hours before that captured the world's attention. In select parts of Europe, northern Spain and in Iceland, totality lasted around 2 minutes while a partial eclipse could be seen as far afield as northern North America. Viewers lucky enough to get solar glasses could enjoy the phases around totality, while others came outside with their DIY pinhole cameras and colanders. Predictably, we've been treated to spectacular images in the aftermath of this once-in-a-generation show.

• Read more: 9 of the best photos from Europe's 2026 solar eclipse

3. Google gave us its answer to Apple’s AirTags

Apple’s AirTags launched over five years ago, and we now finally have a Google-made equivalent for Android fans. The Pixel Tag is a little tracker that weighs only 12g and helps you follow the location of your keys, luggage, or devices via a web browser or Android app.

Unfortunately, it won’t actually be launching until November, but when it does, you’ll be able to buy one for $29 / £29 / AU$49 for a single Tag or $99 / £99 / AU$169 for a four-pack. That’s pretty competitive considering the Pixel Tag is water-resistant and has ultra-wideband (UWB) support for more precise location tracking.

However, as you can read below, the Find Hub network still has weaknesses compared to its Apple Find My equivalent, which we hope Google addresses by the time its Tag launches in a few months.

• Read the full story: The Pixel Tag is here — but it won't be an AirTag for Android until Google fixes these Find Hub issues

2. Google’s Pixel Watch 5 debuted

Along with Google's cornucopia of new phones, the Google Pixel Watch 5 was also released in two sizes and with the same teardrop design as previous years. However, we've got a bunch of new features and improvements at play, with more accurate GPS, the redesigned Google Health app with its AI coach, better on-device Gemini, and a suite of Health Guardian features. These include Breathing Emergency Detection, which alerts emergency services and contacts if you have a consistent blood oxygen drop, and Insulin Resistance Trends, which helps users control their blood sugar levels. Apple and Samsung haven't quite cracked this technology yet, and we can't wait to test them for ourselves — although hopefully we don't have any breathing emergencies during our review.

• Read more: Sorry, Apple and Samsung — I test smartwatches for a living, and the Google Pixel Watch 5 specs beat the Series 11 and Galaxy Watch 9 in these five key areas

1. Google debuted its Pixel 11 lineup

Of course, the stars of Wednesday's Made by Google 2026 event were the debut of new Pixel 11 phones.

They boast the usual slew of updates you should expect from flagship refreshes by now, but also a brand new ‘HiLight’. This is an array of LED lights built into the camera’s flash module, which can alert you to calls from favorite contacts via customized color glows when your phone is face down and silenced. And these lights will also pulse when Gemini is listening, thinking, or responding.

Not everything is an improvement, disappointingly. You'll only get 12GB of RAM as standard rather than 16GB, perhaps a reflection of the surging computer memory costs.

• Read more: I’ve used the new Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, and Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Google's made nearly all the improvements I wanted to see

• Spotify is introducing AI Persona tags in mid-September
• The platform aims to improve user transparency by differentiating real artists from AI-generated ones
• Spotify only reviews an artist's profile and images, and not the music itself

Spotify has fallen short on the AI transparency front compared to some of the other best music streaming services, with users pining for a fix — and now the platform is taking its biggest step yet towards combatting AI slop.

The streaming giant announced today (August 11) the arrival of new AI Persona tags, which are designed to differentiate human artists from ones that are AI-generated. Spotify says these tags will roll out to mobile in mid-September, and will appear in an artist’s profile banner, ‘About’ section, in Search, and in song rows in playlists.

Once they become available, users can be safe in the knowledge that the artists they’re listening to haven’t been generated by AI. Spotify added that artists with AI Persona tags will be excluded from all personalized recommendations by default, ensuring that your music-discovery regime remains uninfected by slop.

Though AI Persona tags won’t roll out for another month or so, Spotify says artists can already disclose if their profile is AI-generated. If an artist declares this, a tag reading ‘AI Persona’ will appear next to their name. ‘We hope artists will be transparent, so we are giving them the opportunity to disclose,’ the service shared in its announcement — but it’s not putting all its trust into self-disclosure.

Instead, Spotify says it will take matters into its own hands if need be, and will conduct reviews of profiles where it thinks an artist’s images have been created using generative AI to imitate a lifelike persona. If Spotify detects that an artist profile might be AI-generated, it will display a tag that reads ‘Likely AI Persona’, and the artist will be notified and given the option to self-disclose or appeal.

It’s taken Spotify a long time to catch up to the likes of Deezer when it comes to improving its transparency on AI-generated music. Deezer was the first major audio streaming service to roll out tags that explicitly say if a track has been AI-generated, and recently its Head of Research told us why we need AI filters more than ever.

Spotify’s own AI Persona tags mark a big shift for the platform, and will certainly improve the user experience by giving listeners more peace of mind. However, Spotify’s feature comes with an important caveat.

It reviews the profile only, not the music

AI Persona tags are just one of the ways Spotify has been working towards improving transparency for users. Verified by Spotify was launched a few months back — this is a certification feature that shows if an artist is legitimate, but it’s not as watertight as we’d hoped it would be.

Additionally, Spotify’s SongDNA gives listeners a comprehensive overview of the creatives behind their favorite songs, while AI Credits give artists the opportunity to share where and how they’ve used AI in their music production. It’s not as upfront as Deezer’s methods, but the measures are in place nonetheless, and AI Persona tags are the cherry on top.

That said, AI Persona tags target an artist’s public image, not how the music was made, which could present some issues, as it still leaves room for AI-generated music to slip its way onto the platform.

If Spotify detects that an artist is human-presenting, how are we to know that artist won’t upload AI-generated music to their profile? There’s nothing stopping that artist from publishing slop, because Spotify reviews their name, imagery, and public identity, not the music they upload.

It’s a tricky one, because while Spotify has measures in place that evaluate music and artist image respectively, it doesn’t have a comprehensive tool that reviews both components simultaneously, which again isn’t as upfront as Deezer.

As far as AI-generated content in Spotify goes, I’ve been one of the lucky ones who hasn’t encountered this issue. Because my love for physical media and radio impacts what I listen to on Spotify, I suspect that my algorithm has been trained enough to push AI slop out of my recommendations.

I do think that on top of my streaming habits, Spotify’s anti-AI music measures have helped to keep the fence up and block out unwanted songs to a certain extent — I just wish its approach to tagging was a bit more robust.

• Spotify has added a new 'skip ahead' button for all podcasts on the platform, except for Spotify Originals
• It allows you to skip over built-in ads and other promotional content, but does not apply to ads sold by Spotify
• Ad-funded shows could be significantly impacted, now there's concern for the future of podcasts

One of the best parts of having a Spotify Premium membership is the ad-free music streaming experience, however some podcasts still come with ad interruptions — but the platform has quietly rolled out a solution users have been pining for.

Last week users spotted a new ‘Skip ahead’ button that allows listeners to skip through certain parts of a podcast episode more efficiently, including sponsorships, introductions, and any kind of promotional content. This doesn’t apply to ads sold by Spotify, however.

Though Spotify hasn’t formally announced the new tool, it’s been cropping up for more users (including myself) since it was first spotted. We reached out to Spotify, who shared the following statement with us:

“We regularly conduct tests at Spotify — some tests become permanent features, while others help inform future product development. We're exploring ways to make podcast listening and viewing more intuitive for Premium subscribers based on how people use the platform, with the goal of helping listeners spend more time enjoying podcasts. We'll continue to evolve the experience as we learn.”

If you thought that all podcasts in Spotify were ad-free like music playback, you’re mistaken. Basically, when creators record podcast shows they often receive sponsorship from brands which are mentioned throughout an episode, so these podcasts are delivered to Spotify with ads already baked in.

Prior to the rollout of the ‘Skip ahead’ button you could skip through ads by tapping the 15-second skip icon, but this required a lot of guesswork and you're more prone to accidentally skipping further than needed. With Spotify’s new skip function, it skips through promotional messages straight through to the beginning of the next section doing the work for you.

It’s safe to say that many subscribers will be thrilled about the addition of the ‘Skip ahead’ button, because skipping through ads is one of the most-shared pet peeves among podcast listeners. Besides, it’s frustrating to be paying for a ‘Premium’ experience and still having to sit through these segments. It also puts a lot of the control back into the hands of subscribers, but what looks like a mere skip button to users is industry-changing for creators and businesses.

For a large number of ad-funded podcasts, creators and hosts rely on users to listen to promotional messages in episodes in order to generate revenue. Not only is it one of the primary ways for podcasters to make money, it's a tactical way to sneak ads into the Premium experience.

While the tool is a big win for listeners on the one hand, others argue that it opens the door for a huge loss on the other — the more users skip through an episode’s ads, the less money hosts make. And because the ‘Skip ahead’ button appears when a creator promotes premium subscriptions for brands that sponsor them, they miss out on other opportunities for monetization.

In addition to the losses it could pose for podcasters, the hypocrisy of Spotify exempting its own shows and ads from the ‘Skip ahead’ tool has sparked criticism as it could have a serious impact on its competitors and their ad-funded shows.

Max Tani from Semafor dissects in his own coverage, sharing the following: “The new skip button underscores Spotify’s push toward premium subscriptions. It’s prioritizing steady, recurring revenue and cementing a two-tiered advertising system, in which marketing bought directly through Spotify can’t be skipped — while publishers’ own ads can be, devaluing them”.

With these concerns circulating, Spotify clarified to us that its new 'Skip ahead' button won't cause any long-term changes to podcasts and creators alike. The platform told us that its new skip button "has been designed to improve the Premium listener experience while maintaining the integrity of ad delivery".

The platform added that it's been "seeing audiences reinvest the time saved by listening to more content and spending more time with podcasts overall, so [we] don't expect these changes to impact monetization for creators negatively".

Spotify’s new skipping function is still very fresh, but one that's already proven to be quite divisive. It's unclear whether or not the company will device to build on this, but as far as the user experience goes, the tool seems to have improved it slightly.

The 2020s has seen a huge shift in music, and the thirst for new releases has never been this parched — we have the pandemic to blame for that. Now, artists are pumping out albums like never before, and it’s become quite the challenge to keep up with this sonic saturation.

Back in 2023, I decided to take action. I started recording my favorite songs released throughout the year by adding them all into one big playlist on Spotify, starting afresh and creating a new playlist at the turn of the new year. Three years later, I’ve kept up the momentum, and now I’ve got four stacked playlists (one each for 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026).

But as the years have gone by, my playlists have done more than simply record the songs that defined every 365 days. Not only can I immediately refer to them whenever someone asks me ‘what were your favorite songs of 2025?’ for example, but they give me a comprehensive overview of how my music taste has evolved.

It’s become integral to my music streaming regime, and Spotify folders have helped boost my playlist organization further — but I’m waiting for an easier way to group my favorite albums of the year.

Spotify locked playlist folders behind the desktop experience for 15 years, but since it rolled the feature out for mobile back in April, it’s been a huge help in grouping my playlists, especially for my ‘Year in Music’ series.

Following the launch of folders, Spotify increased its Library pins limit from 4 to 20, so now I can finally pin my ‘Year in Music’ folder to my library without having to scroll through the cluttered mess to reach it. It’s a win-win situation, but I still think there’s room for improvement.

While I love a hit single, albums are my favorite way to enjoy music, and New Music Friday has brought back the album release as an event (thank you, Beyoncé). Though you can now freely group playlists in folders in Spotify, I’m still waiting for the platform to roll out the option to do this with albums.

That said, there’s currently a small workaround. You can create album folders by adding all the songs from one album to a playlist, then adding that playlist to a folder to keep track of your favorite releases, repeating the process with each album.

It’s handy, but it adds more steps to the process and doesn’t look as neat or refined. Additionally, I’ve also tried adding several albums to make one monster playlist of my favorite yearly releases, but this ends up looking even more ridiculous.

For a music platform that prides itself on being the first one with social media-like features, Spotify sure needs to improve the organization of these tools. As a result of the messiness of my Library, I’ve resorted to using third-party services to group my favorite albums into chronological and concise lists.

Musicboard is one of my favorites because you can review music, curate your own lists, and interact with other music fans more smoothly. It’s essentially Letterboxd for music, and just like Letterboxd Pro, you can have access to additional features and customize your profile to reflect your musical identity. That said, it would be even better if I could do this from one place in the streaming platform that gives me my music fix.

It’s refreshing to know that there are platforms out there that understand what tools music enthusiasts want alongside access to the music itself. For me personally, my listening experience isn’t over as soon as a song or album comes to a close — I need to actively log what I’m listening to, and having a cluttered abundance of albums saved into one massive list in Spotify just wrecks my nerves.

Spotify wants to introduce new ways for listeners to engage with the artists they love the most, all while expressing their own creativity.

The streamer’s audio mixing feature for playlists has sky-rocketed in popularity, introducing a new way for listeners to modify their playlists. Now Spotify is working on a new AI-powered fan-made covers and remix tool — and it’s seeking the help of Merlin.

Spotify’s upcoming remix tool will come as a subscription add-on, though we don’t know when it’s due to drop or how much it will be on top of the current $12.99/ £12.99/ AU$15.99 monthly Spotify Premium plan.

Despite knowing very little about it, we do know that the remix feature will garner significant attention across the board of users, artists, organizations, and analysts alike. So what’s the end-goal for Spotify, and what are people saying about its potential knock-on effects for musicians and listeners?

What is the agreement?

On August 4, Spotify and digital licensing partner Merlin announced a new agreement that would give artists on labels under the Merlin name the option to lend their music to Spotify’s remix feature. Merlin is the second organization to sign on to the deal, following Universal Music Group in May.

For Spotify, the goal is simple: to ‘give listeners a new way to engage with the music they love from participating artists and songwriters,’ as stated in the announcement. Spotify also says the tool ‘will create an additional revenue stream for participating artists’.

However, despite knowing the tool will be AI-powered, Spotify hasn’t gone into detail as to exactly how it will allow listeners to create their own remixes of their favorite songs. The discourse around AI-generated slop is still a hot topic, and Spotify is still bearing the brunt of harsh criticism, so its venture into launching AI-powered music add-ons has left everyone scratching their heads.

What are Spotify’s competitors saying?

As far as rival music streamers go, it’s safe to say the top dogs aren’t too interested in integrating AI throughout their respective UXs. While the likes of Apple Music and Tidal use algorithmic recommendations to fuel discovery, the number of generative AI tools is nowhere near as saturated as Spotify.

Listening to an artist’s music in the way it was released is the only concern for most companies, particularly for Dan Mackta, Managing Director at Qobuz, who gave us the following statement: “Qobuz isn’t looking at anything like this. The finished music that great artists release is good enough for us and our community”.

The desire to keep the traditional listening experience in place is quite prevalent on the one hand. Some users just want to kick back with an album or playlist, hit the play button, and let the music do its thing. But as music analyst and founder of MIDiA Research Mark Mulligan points out, the yearning for active participation is growing.

Mulligan detailed this in a comment shared with us: “A growing share of consumers want to do more than just listen. Audio modification is an opportunity both to tap into consumer creativity and fandom. Playing around with your favourite artist’s song is an ultimate expression of fandom”.

Additionally, he backed this up with his own findings from the recent MIDiA Q1 2026 consumer survey: “The potential of audio modification is significant. Consumer demand is clear, with 54% of consumers interested in some form of audio modification, from changing speed to swapping vocals, rising to 80% for 16–19-year-olds”.

Participatory music is a rising phenomenon, and software labels like A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya want to create experiences that go beyond just listening to a song. However, AI is out of the question, and the creativity is placed in the hands of the user, not generated by a machine.

What are artists/ organizations saying?

In light of Spotify’s announcement, it’s not just competitors that are having their say on the AI-powered remix tool. Additionally, artists and music organizations are questioning the long-term financial effects the feature could have.

Musician’s Union is a UK-based organization that represents artists in all areas of the music industry, and its General Secretary Naomi Pohl views Spotify’s partnership with two minds.

“The Merlin and Spotify announcement sounds positive as it suggests artists will have the choice to participate in licensing deals or not and, crucially, that they will share in any revenue generated by the use of their works. This is better than the blanket approach taken by some major labels,” she tells us, but she also raises concerns about how artists will be paid, adding the following:

“However, as with music streaming royalties, there is a question over how artists signed to independent labels will be paid by their label. Artists should in theory get 50% of any revenue their label receives, but in practice this may not happen in all cases as it will depend on the label’s interpretation of the artist’s contract. Many artists signed before AI deals were even conceived of. And, as with music streaming, session or backing musicians on tracks currently stand to receive no share of revenue”.

When it comes to royalties, Spotify has faced severe criticism due to its payment model. Because Spotify pools money generated from subscriptions, it means the most streamed artists over the year will receive a higher percentage of the profits made. So, even if you spend an entire year supporting and streaming an up-and-coming indie band, your subscription money is still going to artists like Taylor Swift.

Royalties aside, the other concern lies within the protection of music in its original form. PRS for Music, who handle the rights and royalties behind music, feel this strongly. “More generally, streaming services are embracing new technologies, including AI, to give fans new ways to engage with the music they love,” a PRS spokesperson told us.

But despite these emerging consumer tools, what could easily get lost is the care for the music itself. PRS fears this will become less of a priority, adding “Creators, and their work, must be central to the development of these new tools. They must be designed specifically to protect the integrity of the work above all else, and to ensure creators are fairly paid for the value they bring to each and every platform”.

At the end of the day, these platforms are there not only for fans to listen and engage with music, but they're there for artists to allow fans to hear music the way they intended. Though Spotify's AI-powered remix tool would be a creative addition to the service, how long will it be before everyone reverts to streaming AI-generated mashups instead of the real thing?

The current state of music streaming is interesting, yet unpredictable. The shift from the CD era into the streaming era has made access to music more ubiquitous, but it’s also thrown up problems: some users aren’t interacting with music like they did before, and the explosive spread of AI is threatening the entire streaming model. Enter Mauhan M. Zonoozy, former Head of Innovation at Spotify, who has plans to tackle both these problems.

Zonoozy left Spotify in 2023, and since then has set up his own music software label, A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, a record label-meets-production studio that releases playful music apps the way labels drop records, including Drops and Stacks. Essentially, it’s creating digital music playgrounds.

While Shibuya’s products don’t have extensive libraries of music like typical streaming platforms, they offer users different ways to create new sounds, even if you only use them for a couple of minutes. But despite the label still being in its infancy, Zonoozy knows exactly where he wants to take it.

I chatted with Zonoozy about where his post-Spotify career is heading, and his ambitious plans to insert his music services into a streaming world in which AI is becoming a growing presence.

Music is participatory

In a short period of time, Mauhan and his “small team of creative technologists” have released a slew of casual, interactive music platforms across web and mobile — but this is only the beginning.

“I spent years at Spotify and I loved it,” Mauhan tells me. “Incredible company, incredible team. But I think I spent most of my time effectively thinking about what comes next. I started A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya around a simple belief that music is a verb, that the next major music platform should give people something to do with the music. It should be more participatory, more engaging”.

Streaming has certainly made music a lot more accessible, but there was always one thing missing for Mauhan: interaction. “With streaming, you can hear almost anything, anywhere instantly, but the dominant interaction is still effectively sorting through folders and pressing play,” he continues. “There's an entire generation that was growing up playing with music through different mediums and different devices. I think their relationship with everything felt a lot more interactive.”

This sparked a lightbulb moment for Mauhan, and his mission statement is simple: “to empower more people to express themselves with music, or feel self-expressive with music”. This is where his latest project, Bop, comes into play.

Bop is a pocket DJ app, currently in beta, that lets you mix, mash, and mess with music. Its interface is like an MPC workstation, allowing you to create remixes of popular songs by dragging and dropping effects and sounds onto its grid. “We're not all about replacing the creative process,” Mauhan adds. “We're more about building instruments and new ways to express yourself.”

When it comes to the best music streaming services, tools like this aren’t a new concept — Spotify has its own DJ-style mixing feature — but Mauhan believes there’s still more room for music services whose focus is user expression.

“I think there's a yearning for creative expression (in music platforms),” he says. “I think listening to music the way artists created and intended is absolutely a big part of it, but I also think having Legos that you play and interact with, engage with is also very important.

“The next step in our journey is packaging that up into something that is platform scale, and we can actually deploy it and build a larger community of users and fans around it.”

Next stop: a larger music platform

It’s clear that Zonoozy has had a blast developing Shibuya’s array of sonic playground tools, but what I want to know is if there’s a larger music platform on the horizon — and turns out, there is.

“I think there's a bigger platform at the end of the tunnel for sure,” he tells me. “A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya is working actively on building it. I don't think it's gonna look or feel like any streaming platform you've seen before.” Now I’m intrigued — how will this platform compete with the likes of the music streaming big dogs? Turns out Zonoozy has thought about that too.

“We believe it's going to be more participatory,” he shares. “We're not building something that puts the music in the background, we want to put it in the foreground”. And it's as simple as that. “The hints are in the products, and we want things that feel more playful and approachable. I don't think anyone's going to accuse us of building a DSP,” he adds.

Despite it still being in early stages of development, Zonoozy has a lot of faith in Shibuya’s bigger project; but music streaming tools are evolving rapidly as is tech in general, so he’s had to do a lot of thinking ahead.

“My personal belief was that a lot of the cues around where media is going were in the gaming space,” he continues. “And I think interactive media was always a little bit ahead of the rest of the world in terms of film and music. I think because it was closer to technology, it was exploring the more creative technological boundaries of what you could do with media.

“I think now with what's going on and how powerful these computers in our pockets are becoming, there's so much new, cool stuff you can do. It's a responsibility for all of us working in music and tech to figure out ways to do it that supports the industry, the community, and more than anything, the art form.” It occurs to me that Zonoozy is as interested in conserving as he is in innovating.

Will music streaming survive without AI?

It wouldn’t be a discussion about where the music-streaming industry is going without me bringing up AI, and Zonoozy sounds dismissive about AI at first, telling me: “You know what I like about AI? It's easy to spell”.

AI is having a big influence on music platforms in many ways, with algorithmic recommendations and tools such as AI playlist generators now pretty much part of the package. Because these features are right at users’ fingertips, I ask, will there come a time where listeners won’t be able to use services without the help of AI?

Zonoozy has hope, saying, “It's hard for me to imagine a world where people are building things completely void of touching some semblance of AI, but I do believe that there will be products that are not purely driven by generative media.” While he doesn’t necessarily favor the reliance on AI tools to enhance the UX, Zonoozy isn’t against AI altogether. If anything, he acknowledges its benefits, and how it’s helped provide the foundations to his services.

“It's enabling technology for us, it's just not the consumer proposition,” he adds. “Shibuya doesn't build LLMs or ask anyone to prompt music and wait for a finished song, but we do use it as a co-pilot for coding and development. I'd be naïve to say that there's no AI somewhere in the stack there. But on the music side, all the stems are all hand produced”.

He continues, “I'm not anti-AI. I think AI is an incredible, powerful future-facing infrastructure. I think it can build so many cool things and empower so many cool things. I’m a traditionally strong techno optimist in that sense, I think it will lead to incredible discoveries and advancements — it makes coding infinitely easier. But AI is not our product thesis on our side.”

When it comes to streaming services, there’s a huge focus on churning out tools designed to make the listening experience more personalized, more convenient, and more interactive. Given the pace of this evolution, I find it difficult to envisage where streaming culture is headed — Zonoozy shared my uncertainty.

“In terms of streaming specifically, I don't know what's going to happen,” he admits. “The extreme levels of personalization to custom content made for you — I don't know where that line ends. Is it being personalised, or is it being generated for you?”

• Spotify is rumored to launch its own song ID tool
• Changes in the Android app were spotted, with references to 'Identify a song’, ‘listening’, and ‘analyzing’
• It could add a level of convenience when adding identified songs to a playlist, just like Apple Music's Shazam shortcut

There’s one thing that Spotify has over Apple Music, and that’s music discovery features, though the latter service has the edge when it comes to music recognition — but that could all change soon.

In a recent investigation from Android Authority, the outlet found lines of code in the latest version of the Spotify app which suggest the platform is working on its own song identification feature. Though this has only been found in Spotify’s Android app, we wouldn’t rule out the possibility of it launching on iOS.

As it is with every rumor, we’re taking this with a pinch of salt until more information surfaces, but Android Authority’s findings present some pretty convincing evidence, showing text that reads ‘Identify a song’, ‘listening’, and ‘analyzing’. It seems the feature will need access to your device’s microphone, and will display pop-ups when a song can’t be identified.

Essentially, it sounds like Spotify is developing its own in-house version of Shazam, which could act as a band-aid for many music fans out there who, like myself, rely on third-party music-recognition software to put titles to songs.

When Apple bought Shazam in 2018, it thrust the music-recognition platform right into the iOS experience. Instead of needing to use the standalone Shazam app, you can add the ‘Recognize Music’ tab to your iOS Control Center for easier access, and Shazam will be right there at your fingertips.

It also works wonders for quickly adding songs to your Apple Music library. When you Shazam a song, a pop-up reading ‘Add to Apple Music?’ appears and all of your tracks will be sent to your library. Until now, this level of convenience wasn't available for Spotify users.

Since Apple took ownership of Shazam, Apple Music and its users have greatly benefited, but listeners who use Spotify, Tidal, and the rest of the best music streaming services have been missing out. Not all was lost however; last year Shazam rolled out a feature where each song you identified using the app would be automatically added to a special playlist in your Spotify account titled ‘My Shazam Tracks’.

I have to say, this small but effective feature has become one of my most-used tools for keeping tabs on new music, but if you Shazam quite a lot of songs from different genres, it creates a very messy-looking playlist.

Even after my Shazamed songs have been added to ‘My Shazam Tracks’, I still go back into the playlist to individually move songs into my other playlists — which is why a native Spotify song ID tool would go a long way, and would be even better if you can add it to your iOS Control Center.

Just think about it: you’re out and about and a song starts playing which you know you’ve definitely heard before, but can’t remember for the life of you what it’s called or who sings it. A simple swipe down to the Control Center and a tap of a button gives you the song title in seconds, and then it directs you to your Spotify Library where you can add your recently-discovered song to a specific playlist.

We’ve reached out to Spotify for a comment, who replied with the following:

"We're always exploring ways to improve our product and deliver more value to users, but we don't comment on speculation around possible new features and don't have anything new to share at this time".

• Spotify has rolled out its first music video charts playlist
• It's part of the platform's steady expansion of its music video ecosystem
• Spotify is once again battling YouTube, but it's not close competition

Music videos in Spotify are becoming one of the most popular ways to engage in digital music streaming — now the service is expanding its video ecosystem in another attempt to one-up YouTube.

For the first time, Spotify is bringing music videos to its Charts hub with the launch of Music Video Charts Global, a new top 50 playlist of the most streamed videos. Additionally, the platform has also rolled out a new Videos for You editorial playlist, which offers personalized music video recommendations based on your streaming habits.

Music Video Charts Global rolled out on July 21, and is already playing a big role in Spotify’s gradual expansion of its video content. Recently, Spotify altered the video uploading process for musicians, allowing them to upload their own videos directly through Spotify for Artists instead of going through their label and distributor to do so.

Artists can also pitch videos to Spotify’s editorial team to give them a better chance to feature in playlists such as Best New Videos, Live Performances, and Today's Top Videos.

If you were like me and spent most of your youth scouring through music TV channels before they were sadly phased out, Spotify’s new music video charts might evoke a sense of nostalgia — but the platform is doing it in a way that’s designed for the streaming era.

Music Video Charts Global ranks the top 50 videos around the world based on daily music video streams, refreshing daily at 6pm ET / 11pm GMT / 8am AEST (the next day). Spotify also shared that it will spotlight the top 10 music videos across its social media channels every Tuesday — but there’s another reason why the best music streaming service is doubling down on its commitment to music videos.

Even though Spotify is trying to emulate these channels, a form of music consumption that once shaped listening habits, the platform is backing its music video expansion with data linked directly to streaming.

In an email sent to us, Spotify shared “After streaming a video on Spotify, listeners stream that song 64% more over the next three weeks, are 1.4x more likely to save it, share it, or add it to a playlist, and go on to stream the rest of that artist's catalog 57% more”.

For Spotify, its new ecosystem does more than lead to higher fan engagement and video views — it also gives artists an opportunity to boost audio streams. This is beneficial for both fans and artists, but as someone who doesn’t use Spotify for music videos I see this as just another way for it to compete with YouTube.

The Spotify-YouTube battle continues

Spotify has been playing catch up to YouTube ever since it rolled out music videos in 2024. Although there are users out there who do use Spotify for videos, and the platform has the numbers to support it, I’m just not one of those people. As soon as the music TV channels went bust, it was YouTube that filled the void for me, and it’s been that way ever since.

However, Spotify knows it can’t just build a music video ecosystem and hope that YouTube users will flock to it, it has to offer something extra — which is why it’s taken advantage of early releases. For example, artists like Taylor Swift and BTS have each released music videos to Spotify as exclusive content before uploading the videos to YouTube in the days after. This is where Spotify has the upper-hand.

Because Spotify is centered around music and audio streaming, it’s more likely that artists will gravitate towards the company when it comes to exclusive partnerships. Though YouTube has its own music platform, its standard video player houses content across countless genres from web series, interviews, how-tos, vlogs, and so much more — so music isn't the only place it makes its money. Besides, YouTube Music isn’t as influential as Spotify.

Do I think that Spotify is going good by bringing classic music video charts into the streaming era? I guess so — but I still don’t think it’s enough to entice loyal YouTube-first music video viewers to make the switch.

• Singer Lorde called out Spotify's AI 'About the Song' feature
• She says it featured incorrect details and limits free interpretation for listeners
• Users are starting to catch onto its flaws

Spotify is always dropping new tools to enhance your listening experience, but one of its newest features has been called out by one of the most influential pop artists of this generation.

New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde slammed the best music streaming service’s ‘About the Song’ feature which launched back in February. The tool is currently in beta, and pulls information from third-party sources to create AI-generated summaries of individual songs offering context and background.

According to the pop star, one of the summaries for her song ‘Current Affairs’ mentioned incorrect details which were sourced from themusic.com.au, stating the following:

“On her Ultrasound World Tour, Lorde turns Current Affairs into a full-on performance piece, stripping down to underwear while a dancer pours water over her stomach so the song plays out like the shower scene she talks about on stage”.

The singer didn’t hold back, taking to Instagram Stories to call out the platform while highlighting the dangers features like this pose on listeners:

“Hey @spotify I’m gonna go out on a limb and say we don't want this. Not only is this inaccurate (not the song I did that in) but reducing a song to an AI-generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation IMO. At least make it possible for artists to opt out please,” she wrote.

It didn’t take long for Lorde’s comments to spark reactions from all corners of the internet, and Spotify has come forward to offer clarity from its side. We reached out to the platform for further comment, and a Spotify spokesperson replied with the following:

“We built ‘About the Song’ because fans want to dig into the stories behind the music. It’s still in beta. The info comes from articles across the internet, and when something’s off, we move fast to fix it, like we did here. Getting it right matters to us”. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the song summary has been removed.

‘Half the fun is figuring out your own meaning’

At the time of the feature’s launch, many Spotify subscribers welcomed ‘About the Song’ with open arms — I even went into detail about how much I couldn’t get over it and how it taught me things I never knew before. But despite the positive reception from subscribers, Lorde’s observation of the AI feature has sounded the alarm for music lovers.

Aside from its inaccuracies, Lorde’s comments highlight another big issue with AI features like ‘About the Song’; they remove the listener’s opportunity to interpret the music for themselves. This has been the topic of many online discussions since Lorde aired her comments, especially on Reddit — ‘half the fun is figuring out your own meaning instead of getting AI Cliff Notes right away,’ one user says.

But according to others in the same Reddit thread, it speaks volumes about how art consumption is evolving. Whether you’re reading a book, watching a movie, or listening to an album, everyone looks at things differently which is what allows conversations and debates to flow. Another user went the extra mile, saying “If you need AI to tell you what it thinks the song means, you've stopped thinking”.

That said, Spotify isn’t the only music platform that dives into the background of music — Apple Music includes detailed summaries of albums located under the Play button — but these pockets of context are all written and developed by Apple Music’s editorial team, who don’t rely on AI for third-party sourcing.

But the album summaries is where Apple Music draws the line. As soon as you hit Play the platform leaves you to get lost in the music — which subscribers would rather have over what Spotify is trying to sell them.

• Spotify has quietly updated its Mixed Playlists tools
• You can now fine-tune transitions smoother by amending effect curves
• It's starting to crop up for more users, and it's a smash hit so far

There’s one thing that Spotify does really well, and that’s offering a roster of different playlist-making tools for you to really get creative with. Though some are AI-powered, Spotify’s Mixed Playlists encourages you to use your originality when compiling songs, all while putting you in the DJ booth.

Just as you’d get with music-mixing software, Spotify’s Mixed Playlists allow you to create smooth transitions between songs to ensure your playlist flows like a classic DJ set. Its mixing interface presents you with preset effects, and even tells you the key and BPM of each track — and now users have noticed a new upgrade that gives you even more freedom on the customization front.

A recent post on the r/truespotify Reddit page shows the latest update, revealing that you can now amend the Volume, EQ, and Filter settings even more by simply dragging each effect curve to control how the transition runs. According to a small number of users, this feature has been live for a few months, but the majority of listeners in the replies are only now running into it — myself included.

Spotify first launched Mixed Playlists in August 2025, hot on the heels of Apple’s own AutoMix function. But instead of relying on AI to mix songs, Spotify’s version puts the control right into your hands, and it quickly became one of my favorite new tools.

Prior to the update, you could create song transitions by selecting a preset which would automatically amend the Volume, EQ, and Filter settings, or you could go into each of the three and select your own preset to curate a custom transition. While these are still available, you can fine-tune your song-mixing even more, and after testing things out for myself I can see why listeners have taken to it so well.

For starters, it allows you to clean up the small but noticeable imperfections in your transitions that you can’t achieve by presetting the three audio categories individually. For example, if you go into the Filter category and select the ‘High-pass filter out option’, it’s stuck in one place on the audio track. When you tap the ‘Customize’ button, three points appear on the effect curve which you can move around the audio track display so that your chosen effect comes in at a specific time.

However, there are a few small blips (not so much setbacks) with the feature that users have picked up on. When you start off with customizing your transitions, it can feel a little fiddly when trying to find the exact placement for each of the effect curve points but this you’ll get used to.

Additionally, other users have also pointed out that the effect curve points sometimes move back to their original spots after you’ve shifted them. I’ve only run into this a few times, so it’s not a major issue that’s going to put you off for good.

For once, it’s refreshing to see Spotify give one of its existing tools some TLC instead of pumping out new features without a lot of thought behind them. If this is the approach Spotify is taking from here on, just think of what it could do to improve features like this in the future.

One of my favorite things about the best music streaming services is that they’ve evolved into more than just audio platforms — they give you the freedom to create your own digital music space.

Take Spotify for example, the platform I’ve been using for over a decade. Not only does its algorithm learn to understand your tastes (though it takes quite a bit of time and effort to train it), creating playlists and folders gives you another way to make your Spotify space your own.

One of Spotify’s most handy features is pins, which places select playlists, albums, and artists, as well as audiobooks and podcasts to the top of your Library for quick and easy access, but the four-pin limit is a pain point that pretty much every subscriber has been asking Spotify to upgrade since the pins feature was rolled out some five years ago.

In the case of Apple Music, you can pin up to six different items which, while it’s still a small number, is better than four. Users have been begging Spotify to increase this number for years — and you’ll be relieved to learn that change is finally coming.

From 4 to 20

I first spotted signs of a possible update after coming across a Reddit post (see below) in which a user shared that they had somehow found a way to pin more than four items in their Library. Apparently all they did was update their Spotify app, but other users responding in the comments saw no such change — myself included.

After coming across the post, I reached out to Spotify, which confirmed that it’s increasing the four-pin limit, which was one of the improvements I wanted the most in 2026. A spokesperson shared the following comment:

“Spotify is updating the number of items listeners can pin at the top of Your Library from 4 to 20. This gives our users more flexibility to keep the music, playlists, podcasts, audiobooks, and creators they care about most within easy reach. It's still rolling out and will be available for Free and Premium listeners around the world in the next month”.

Why pine for more pins?

I can imagine many people will read this and question the fuss over such a small feature, but there’s a lot more to it. For those who are seasoned Spotify users, the platform is much more than a music haven — it’s their source for podcasts and audiobooks.

When you factor this in, having only four pins across music, podcasts, and audiobooks is rather stingy — "Does Spotify think we only listen to 1 of each at a time?", someone commented on the post shared to the Spotify Community page. But it’s not just about being able to pin music, podcasts, and audiobooks simultaneously; it’s about enhancing the user experience.

Whenever you follow a new artist, pre-save an upcoming album, or save a new playlist, it all appears as one messy collection in Your Library. This forces you to scroll through a hoarding eyesore to find what it is you’re looking for, so pinning items bumps your most-used content to the top saving you bags of scrolling time.

Though you can simply search for the playlist you want to listen to, regular listeners have tons of them (I know I do), so it’s much easier having all of your music there at the tap of a button in Your Library. For others, it’s about more than making your playlists easier to navigate; it's about having more say in how you choose to curate your digital music collection — “we should get full control”, another user puts it plainly.

All things considered, then, avid Spotify users everywhere will welcome this update with open arms.

Spotify has the upper hand out of all the best music streaming services because of its hyper-personalized feed and social features, but its app design isn’t the greatest.

I’m not the first power user to call out the platform for its stuffy and, at times, unorganized layout. The ‘Your Library’ section, for example, is a cluster of your recent activity, which you can only rearrange using the filters at the top of the screen — full customization is out of the question.

After using Spotify alongside Apple Music, there’s no comparison — the latter packs a simple and concise interface, with a bright and sleek finish, and there’s Spotify could certainly take a page out of Apple Music’s book on the organization front. However, one user has, at least, found a hidden setting that allows you to switch from Spotify’s dark color scheme to a brighter one similar to Apple Music's.

A Reddit post shared by u/Hot_Perspective (see below) shows two images of the Spotify mobile app with inverted colors enabled, which essentially replaces Spotify’s dark appearance with a ‘light mode’ one consisting of an all-white background reminiscent of Apple Music’s interface.

The thing to note here is that it’s not actually controlled via the Spotify app; it’s all done through iOS or Android settings — and it’s simple to enable.

If you’re using an iPhone, open Settings and head to Accessibility, then tap Per-App Settings. From there, you’ll need to tap Add App and search for Spotify. Once you’ve added Spotify select Smart Invert and enable the toggle. Android users can enable this feature also by heading to Settings and tapping Accessibility, then Text and Display. Find Color Inversion and toggle it on.

What an eyesore

If you haven’t yet come across this tool, it’s a stark difference from Spotify’s traditional dark-theme interface to say the least.

While it flips the dark in-app color scheme on its head, it’s smart enough to know not to invert album and playlist covers, so not every part of the Spotify app is inverted — which I think is quite clever. But despite its accessibility benefits, it hasn’t been a huge hit with music fans, myself included.

For one, it doesn’t solve the issue of the cluttered and unorganized interface, it just adds funky colors to the app. That aside, it’s frighteningly bright, I’d say even brighter than the average smartphone display setting — the meme replies in the Reddit thread have cracked me up (see the countless reaction images).

I can’t exactly explain it, but there’s something very 'uncanny valley' about Spotify with inverted colors. It sort of looks like Apple Music, but I know it’s not. I even lost my muscle memory while trying to navigate it — it threw me off that much.

As we all know, Spotify loves a good visual, and most songs on the platform display a short looping video in the playback section of the app, but inverted colors interfere with this, making visuals look like X-rays. But even if you like how it looks, it has a knock-on effect for both iOS and Android smartphones.

Because Android doesn’t allow this tool to be enabled for individual apps, you’ll have to put up with inverted colors across your entire system, which is quite a strain on the eyes. While iOS allows you to enable inverted colors for separate apps, you need to have the system-wide Light Mode setting turned on for it to work. This means that if you’re like me and prefer to use Dark Mode in apps like Instagram and iMessages, you’ll have to sacrifice this — it’s an all-or-nothing situation.

I think it’s appropriate to say that, overall, it doesn’t sit well with a lot of subscribers. It does, however, remind us that while Spotify has yet to fix a few layout issues, at least the platform has a solid brand identity.

• Spotify is rolling out its Reserved concert priority scheme in the US
• ROLE MODEL is the first partner artist, with more to follow
• 'Top fans' are determined based on overall engagement in Spotify, which poses questions about who the true fans really are

A few weeks ago Spotify unveiled Reserved, its new priority scheme that gives top fans first pick of tickets to see their favorite touring artists — and it’s finally going live in the US today (June 18).

Premium subscribers over the age of 18 will be eligible for Reserved access, which has come out of Spotify’s partnership with Live Nation, powered by Ticketmaster. To kick off the new scheme, singer ROLE MODEL will be the first official artist partner, who just announced his US tour.

Starting today, listeners will receive notifications informing them if they meet Spotify’s criteria and qualify as a ‘top fan’ of ROLE MODEL. From there, Spotify will reserve two tour tickets for eligible fans, which they can purchase within a 24-hour window before tickets go on sale to the general public.

In addition to push notifications, Spotify says it will notify you if you’re a top fan via email and pop-ups in the ‘Your Updates’ section of the Spotify app. The platform recommends having your notifications for live events turned on, and ensuring your app is updated.

If you wish to claim your Reserved tickets, tap the ‘Buy now’ button when your purchase window opens. Once you’ve selected your tickets, you’ll be taken to Ticketmaster where you can complete your purchase.

As per Spotify’s announcement the platform says that, if prompted, you’ll have to connect your Spotify account to your Ticketmaster account in order to verify your Reserved access. As far as availability goes, Spotify notes that “Reserved allocations include a range of seating and prices, and specific availability varies by show,” adding the following:

“For some high-demand shows, you may enter a queue before reaching the ticket selection page. No matter what, two tickets on the tour will be held for you throughout your entire on-sale window. Each show has its own availability, so if you reach the end of a queue and your preferred seats are sold out, you'll still have the opportunity to purchase other tickets”.

Once the purchase window closes, unclaimed Reserved tickets will be released to the next most dedicated fans, and Spotify will notify them in the same way.

How do I know if I’m on the list?

This is the burning question we all want the answer to, and in short, there’s no way of knowing if you’ve met Spotify’s criteria prior to receiving a Reserved notification.

In deciding who qualifies as a ‘top fan’, Spotify doesn’t just take the number of times someone has streamed an artist into account. For the platform, it’s all based on engagement, meaning it considers shares, saves, and your overall streaming history with the artist. “There’s nothing random about who gets chosen!” Spotify claims, but the company is holding its cards very close to its chest.

While the company says it uses the above to measure engagement, it’s refraining from revealing every detail regarding how it decides who the top fans are. This is because Spotify wants to avoid strategic engagement, and prioritize authentic fandom (it also clarifies that relying on background listening to bump up streams won’t get you on the list).

Though you can purchase tickets to any date on an artist’s tour regardless of where you’re located, Spotify does take your location into consideration when it’s deciding who top fans are — which is a huge pain point. So, if an artist is touring a city that isn’t far from you, you’ll be more likely to receive a Reserved notification, which is a punch to the gut for mega fans who live in the sticks. Then there’s the case of fandom itself.

While I do think Reserved could be a good preventative measure for stopping ticket scalpers, there’s always the chance it could make fan culture even more of a battlefield for people to prove themselves as 'genuine' fans and gain bragging rights, when fandom has always been a place of community and not competition.

Does this mean that those who stream an artist to the ends of the earth are ‘bigger fans’ than those who engage in other means outside of Spotify, for example by investing in physical music which goes directly into the artist’s pocket? Will Reserved solve a legitimate issue that’s plaguing fans, or is it simply a badge of honor?

• Spotify is rolling out Track Reactions for Collaborative Playlists
• This lets you react to songs added by other members from a choice of six emojis
• It's rolling out in select markets now, but Spotify hasn't said which ones

One of Spotify’s most handy tools are Collaborative Playlists, which allow you and your friends to work together to pool songs into one monster playlist — now they’re getting a new upgrade that makes them even more interactive.

The best music streaming service shared on a community page that it’s in the process of rolling out Track Reactions, which is essentially a feature that lets you use emojis to react to songs added to your Collaborative Playlists.

Spotify says the tool is rolling out over the coming weeks in select markets to Free and Premium users aged 16 and older, though we don’t know which markets will be first.

Just like emoji reactions on platforms like Facebook Messenger, it works similarly, giving you a choice of six; a standard red heart, a laughing face, a thumbs-up, headphones, fire, and an emotional face. When you send a reaction, it appears next to the track name, and you can view the reactions added by other collaborators in the playlist.

The addition of Track Reactions means that Collaborative Playlists will now look slightly different than before. The profile image of playlist collaborators now appears on the song thumbnail indicating which member added which song, and now the Track Reaction icon has taken the spot to the right of a song title next to the three-dot button.

Track Reactions are automatically enabled in Collaborative Playlists that have 10 or less members, and only the people within the playlist can view them, meaning outside viewers won’t be able to see which songs have which reactions. You also don’t have to stick with them if you don’t want to — the playlist creator can disable Track Reactions in the playlist’s Name and Details settings.

We’re going through a time where most of Spotify’s new tools are reliant on the powers of AI, most recently its two new AI features for podcasts, so Track Reactions feels like a reminder that Spotify does have human elements to its user experience.

When it comes to Collaborative Playlists, I use them mainly for creating playlists with friends for gatherings and other social events (we have an annual summer meet-up, so the tool really comes in handy there). Now that Spotify has thrown Track Reactions into the mix, I can’t see it being used for anything other than judging each other’s song choices — and I’m actually okay with that.

Emoji reactions are a commonly-used feature among my friends across our slew of group chats, whether that’s for reacting to silly texts on Facebook Messenger or responding to unhinged videos we send to each other on TikTok. It won’t be any different in the case of Spotify, and hopefully it will encourage more conversations about the music we’re currently listening to.

For now, the emoji options are very limited and don’t quite represent a wide scope of emotions — they all seem to be pretty positive-leaning, with the exception of the emotional face emoji, which is often used to represent sadness or that feeling of ‘smiling through the pain’. To really take it to the next level, the choice to use custom emojis would open the floodgates for users to be even more expressive, or in my case, severely more judgemental.

Track Reactions are locked into the Collaborative Playlist experience for the time being, and Spotify hasn’t announced any plans to expand it to other playlist-making tools yet. We’ve contacted Spotify for more details about this, as well as which markets will have access first, so we’ll update this story when we know more.

Spotify is one of the best music streaming services when it comes to discovering new music, and while I think Daylist is one of the most underrated features for finding your next music obsession, Spotify’s flagship New Music Friday playlists are just as reliable. Now, it’s getting a visual upgrade.

The music streaming giant announced today (June 12) that its New Music Friday playlist will now feature short-form videos from its editorial team, who will share their thoughts on the biggest new releases.

Rolling out to Free and Premium users in the US first, you can find editor videos as you scroll through Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist of the latest releases. We’ve contacted Spotify to ask if and when these videos will roll out to other regions, and a spokesperson got back to us with the following:

“At this time, we’re focused on establishing and nailing the editor-led videos in the U.S. We’ll share any updates on expansion plans if and when they become available”.

In addition to sharing their perspectives, Spotify’s team will also spotlight rising artists and dive into the stories behind new songs and albums. It builds on Spotify’s in-app experience, The Drop Weekly, where editors break down new releases and discuss cultural moments. This experience rolled out in the US in September 2025, but hasn’t rolled out globally yet.

Not only does this give Spotify playlist curators the opportunity to share their recommendations front and center, but it also opens the doors for music fans to form connections with and understand the minds that work hard to pull Spotify’s playlists together.

Head of North America Editorial at Spotify, John Stein, details this in the company’s announcement:

“New Music Friday has always been about helping fans discover the best new music each week. By bringing our editors directly into the experience, we’re giving listeners a closer connection to the people behind the playlist and more context around the artists and songs shaping culture right now”.

I bet that most of you rolled your eyes when you read ‘short-form video’ and thought, ‘Really, Spotify?’ If it makes you feel any better, so did I. I can’t think of the last time I used Spotify’s video tools to find new music, but I feel there could be something different with its New Music Friday upgrade.

There’s one thing missing from music platforms, and that’s journalistic perspectives on music. Though Spotify’s About the Song function is handy for reading flash summaries of a track’s background, this information is gathered from third-party sites and compressed into something you can read in a few seconds.

With these editors' videos, it could introduce a lot of value to one of Spotify’s most-visited editorial playlists. It not only opens a door for you to learn more about the stories, but it also puts faces to the brains of the music connoisseurs who put the playlist together and how they think about which music to recommend.

I spend quite a bit of my time scrolling through Wikipedia pages, online magazines, and even Genius lyrics to get a kick out of my music trivia, and though Spotify’s New Music Friday videos aren’t going to replace these practices any time soon, I’m sure they’ll be a welcome addition to my music research regimen.

• Deezer launches AI music detector
• Scans your playlists to see how much of your music is AI slop
• It's free and works on any streamer, not just Deezer

The annual Spotify Unwrapped has proven itself a masterclass in free marketing, with music lovers across the world posting across social media about, well, how much they use Spotify.

Now, in an iconic "hold my beer" move, Deezer has just launched something to give you a stat you'll really want to brag about.

The streaming service has unveiled an online music detector, which it calls... the AI music detector (no zingy names here). It's an online site that can link up to your streaming service of choice to quickly scan all of your playlists and tell you how much of your tracks are AI-generated. It takes literally a minute or so to do — although in TechRadar's tests, Apple Music libraries took the longest.

Naturally, the goal is to either prove that you listen to no AI slop, or, if you receive a shock diagnosis, work out where these 'songs' are so you can treat the offensive condition. Deezer makes no secret that it'd be chuffed if you'd transfer all those playlists after the scan and thus sign up for its service yourself — and AI avoiders might find that ideal, since Deezer tags AI music (so you'd know what that offending 1% was, say).

To work out if this AI music detector is any good, and hopefully boast about my clean AI-free record, I booted up the tool and linked it to my Spotify account.

Livin' On A PrAIyer

I was already pretty confident that I don't listen to any AI music — it'd be pretty hard to when 90% of your music taste is from the noughties — but as an outspoken anti-AI-er, it bears checking.

It was really quick to pair the Free AI music checker by Deezer to my Spotify account, and it took less than a minute to comb through my libraries. Colleagues who've checked via other streaming services, particularly Apple Music, report longer wait times (and even one crash before it worked), but for Spotify and Tidal it was simple.

The Deezer tool quickly returned the score I was expecting: 0% AI. Nice. It even let me save a little badge to post on socials.

Some people on TR's team received a 1% AI score, much to their chagrin, and it did raise some questions. Firstly: which song? They weren't told, and so weeding out that errant strand of slop was way harder than it might be, if it were simply disclosed. Perhaps the only way to find out is to transfer your playlist over to Deezer, which the tool is very keen to help you with…

Secondly, where was this AI track found? It's not 100% clear, but the Deezer tool most likely checks your custom-made 'static' playlists only, rather than algorithmically-generated ones which you have no control over (or even other people's which you've saved).

Even though it'll still leave some users with as many questions as answers (is that 1% lurking somewhere in your hyperpop playlist?) it's great to see Deezer forging ahead in its war on AI-generated music.

The Spotify AI slop debacle has dragged on for longer than it should have, and despite the company rolling out measures to counter the spread of AI-generated music, some users are still wielding their pitchforks and torches over the controversy.

I came across a recent Reddit post in the r/truespotify forum that brought attention to the artist page of Selah Stone — an obviously AI-generated artist. But it wasn’t the artist the poster had an issue with; instead they decided to shade Spotify, claiming that the platform has been “creating fake bios and pictures to hide AI artists and further confuse users”.

Now, I’m all for pressuring the best music streaming services to tighten their AI-detection measures, but what the user addressed is completely out of Spotify’s hands, and I’m not the only one who thinks these conspiracy theories are becoming exhausting.

Though AI slop is becoming more apparent to some users (I haven’t run into it myself), Spotify is not the one uploading AI-generated music, nor is it creating the artist profiles that come with it. Every song and album uploaded to Spotify is an action taken by the artist and their team, or in the case of an AI artist, the person who sits behind that façade.

The thing to remember is that Spotify doesn’t take direct music uploads. When a (human) artist shares music to Spotify (or any music streaming platform for that matter), it’s all processed through their label or distributor. Additionally, since Spotify rolled out its new ‘Verified by Spotify’ labels for artist profiles, another layer of reassurance that the artist you’re listening to is not AI has been added.

The same applies to AI artists, and even the music they generate can’t go through Spotify directly. Similarly, they’ll also need to use a distributor, with some common ones including DistroKid and Ditto Music — but the blame doesn’t end there.

Another AI conspiracy doing the rounds is that Spotify is making more profit by allowing users to rack up stream numbers of AI-generated music. This isn’t the case, because of how Spotify’s royalty and pay-out system works.

All subscriber fees are put into a pool, and from there the artists with the highest streaming numbers receive a larger portion of those pay-outs. While it’s not the fairest way of paying artists (even if you don’t stream Taylor Swift, your money is going to her and not necessarily the artists you actually listen to), and it puts indie artists at a disadvantage, AI-generated artists are not making heaps of money, although they do take up spots where human artists should be, something which I agree needs fixing.

In addition, Spotify paid out 70% of its annual revenue in 2025 to artists and rights-holders, so the majority of the money it makes from subscriptions is going right back into the industry, with what’s left over being invested back into the company.

I don’t think such complaints are the real reasons why users are bothered. Instead, I believe it’s Spotify’s transparency issues that are the cause a lot of users' frustration. But because the platform hasn’t been the most transparent regarding AI music, the annoyance among users has reached boiling point, leading them to come up with ridiculous conspiracies — and now they’ll point the finger anywhere to find new reasons to blame Spotify for the increasing presence of AI slop.

Like many users in the Reddit replies, I also agree that Spotify needs to do a lot more to flag AI-generated music. I think that while the platform has tried to do some good with its online reporting resources, and new Verified by Spotify badges for artists, other services got there first.

However, the finger-pointing has to stop at some point — and those pushing conspiracy theories either need to provide clear evidence to support their claims, or shut up.

• Apple Music's iOS 27 upgrades include new artist pages and performance upgrades
• The platform has yet to roll out highly-requested functions such as continuity tools and social features
• The longer Apple Music goes without them, the better chance Spotify has at snatching its users

Tim Cook took what may be his final bow as Apple CEO at the company’s WWDC 2026 event, and there’s lots for iPhone users to look forward to with iOS 27, including upgrades to Apple Music.

In addition to the announcement of Apple’s next-gen Siri upgrade, Siri AI, the company is rolling out a handful of upgrades to its music streaming platform. It hasn’t been long since Apple last updated the Apple Music UI, but its Liquid Glass look divided subscribers.

One of the most notable new changes to the UI is a new look for artist pages, which now places the ‘Play’ and information buttons in the center of the page under new name displays. The ‘Essentials’ carousel, which spotlights an artist’s popular albums, has also been changed and is now in a list form that doesn’t look as punchy, which is a bit of a design downgrade if you ask me.

It’s not just Apple Music’s UI that’s had a bit of a nip and tuck; the platform is also getting some performance enhancements in iOS 27, starting with the Automix tool, which uses AI to beat-match songs and create seamless DJ-like transitions.

According to Apple, the company has improved its algorithms to make room for better transitions. That's quite a vague way to put it, but I assume this means it will perform more efficiently when creating transitions between songs of different genres — a pain point I experienced during my time testing it out. Additionally, Apple says it has upgraded start times for quicker playback, and the 'Now Playing' page will now load much faster.

Apple Music is allergic to continuity tools and social features

I’ll always welcome new design approaches and performance upgrades — I’ve been running into delayed playback times far too often recently. But once again, Apple has chosen to overlook the meaningful features users actually want.

Many Apple Music subscribers like to criticize rival platforms such as Spotify, but if they can agree on one thing, it’s that Spotify Connect destroys Apple Music on the continuity front. To this day, Apple Music users are still waiting for a similar feature, and it’s one of the tools, if not the tool, that will really bring Apple Music into line with its competitors. The fact that Apple has never even discussed such a feature only adds to the frustration.

The platform also faces scrutiny for the inconsistency of its features across devices, creating a far-from-seamless user experience. For example, Apple Music’s new live concert information and playlists and albums tabs are still missing from the Mac version.

Something I was patiently waiting for during WWDC was Apple’s official announcement of Playlist Playground, an AI-integrated playlist-making tool similar to Spotify’s Prompted Playlists. To my dismay, though, nothing was mentioned, even though we were expecting a wider roll out to be confirmed after Playlist Playground came arrived in beta in February.

Just like continuity tools, this feature would give Apple the perfect opportunity to not only match a popular Spotify feature, but give its users another reason to stick around. Apple Music has already won on the audio streaming quality and editorial fronts, but Apple now it needs to start paying close attention to how it can build social features that complement its ecosystem.

It’s been four months since Playlist Playground first appeared, but there’s still been no word from Apple on when it will finally open its doors to the public. We might see a reveal at Apple's iPhone launch event, which will likely be in September, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

• Spotify is eyeing up live concert streaming
• It's part of the company's strategy to shift more into video content
• YouTube is still leading on the livestream front, and I think it'll be tough competition

Spotify is doing all it can to move beyond being just an audio platform — now it wants to offer live concert videos for subscribers, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.

According to Bloomberg , the audio streaming giant has plans in the works to become “a hub for live music”, and has reached out to concert promoters to secure licensing rights to broadcast live videos of music festivals right from the Spotify app.

Spotify has recently been experimenting with concert videos, adding a slew of pre-recorded music videos from Dua Lipa’s show in Mexico City, accompanying a live album released by the artist. Additionally, Primavera Sound festival took place in Barcelona over the weekend, which has gained substantial popularity and following online over the recent years — so it makes sense as to why Spotify would want to capitalize on this.

The move into live concert broadcasting reflects Spotify’s evolving plans to become a pipeline between artists and their most dedicated fans. A few weeks ago Spotify unveiled its new in-app tool Reserved, a concert ticket-reserving tool that aims to give legitimate fans top priority for securing tickets to their favorite musician’s live shows. On the other hand, the move into live concert streaming plays into Spotify’s wider video monetization strategy.

Spotify first started out as an audio-only service, but over its 20-year lifespan it’s rolled out many visual components from short-form content feeds to music videos, and even video podcasts. Not only have these helped increase subscriber engagement levels, it’s also established a more profitable means of ad revenue that Spotify doesn’t quite get through its audio content and this is reflected in the company’s recent quarterly earnings, as Bloomberg highlights.

In the first quarter of the year Spotify’s total advertising revenue saw a drop — The Next Web reports that it fell 5% year on year to €385 million (roughly $443 million) — therefore adding more video content means higher advertising rates and a better chance at boosting this profit.

That said, some see Spotify’s venture into live concert broadcasting as just another means of reducing artist’s streaming revenue — but that’s not the first concern that crossed my mind.

YouTube, always and forever

Spotify’s video offerings aren’t my favorite ways to engage with music. Compared to Apple Music, I find Spotify’s music videos interface to be unorganized and almost forced upon you while listening to audio (I never use the ‘Switch to video’ button).

I’ve said it before and I shall say it again, YouTube is still the holy grail of visual music content, even if Spotify is still doing all it can to compete. You have to give it to Spotify though, it’s drive is undeniably admirable, but competing with YouTube is like attempting to shade the sun.

In addition to its slew of pre-recorded live music channels (I watch a lot of NPR Tiny Desk Concerts as well as artist music videos) YouTube plays a huge part in bringing fans closer to the biggest music events across the world. This is most notably the case for the Coachella music festival in California, which I’ve been streaming via YouTube since I was 17.

Spotify has a lot to think about, and for its live concert broadcasts to stand out it needs to match, or totally defy what YouTube has. As well as this, there’s also the question regarding where in the app these broadcasts will be situated — the app is already bulky as it is, so an entirely new live stream interface would be a bit of a squeeze.

With that being said, I can see the minor user benefits. Depending on which artists sign on to this agreement, it could give music fans a higher quality, more robust way of consuming live concert content as opposed to relying on watching videos posted to TikTok or Instagram reels.

Right now, my feed is inundated with content from Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine tour which kicked off over the weekend, and it’s making me regret not going for tickets. I have no issues with watching clipped videos on social media, but thinking about it now, having an accessible live stream of the show from start to finish would make good background viewing/ listening. But let’s be real, Netflix works an awful lot faster to sign deals with artists for live concert movies, and that’s essentially the same thing.

• Spotify could be rolling out a tool that allows you to change your username
• It could also roll out profile bios
• They're minor but exciting new tools, however, I need Spotify to make improvements to Messages and Listening Stats first

Spotify’s integration with third-party social media platforms allows you to seamlessly share what you’re listening to with your friends, but I’m still bitterly disappointed with its limited profile customization functions — but the music platform could finally be expanding on this.

At the start of the year, Android Authority spotted strings of code in the Spotify app pointing to a tool that lets you edit or change your Spotify username. Fast forward to now, and the outlet has come across more evidence that this feature could be in the pipeline.

In its most recent teardown, Android Authority found more text strings referring to “edit profile social handle” as well as one that states “you can only change your username twice within 14 days”. If you’ve been using Spotify for a while and have been forced to stick with a default username, or you created an embarrassing one at the time you signed up, it could solve a huge pain point, and I’m already excited for the possibility of its arrival.

But it doesn’t end there, because profile bios could also be coming to the Spotify app after being restricted to artist pages since the platform’s inception. It means so much more than simply giving you the freedom to tell the world exactly who you are in flash form, but it gives you a whole new way of curating and a proper musical identity on Spotify.

Android Authority’s findings also reveal that you’ll be able to add and edit your bio, as well as have the option to choose who can view it in your profile — that’s if Spotify decides to release it, that is.

Messages and Listening Stats need some more TLC

I'll admit that this is pretty basic stuff — most social media platforms have always given you the freedom to curate your own identity through usernames and profile bios, but this could mark the beginning of a big transformation for one of the best music streaming services.

Spotify has always been dedicated to its social functions. You can share music to other platforms, and your algorithm is completely determined by your personal habits, but Spotify has yet to really hit the nail on the head with other social functions.

I’ve always wished for more profile customization tools in Spotify. In fact, it was one of the improvements I said I wanted in 2026 — think Musicboard, which lets you set banner images and profile photo borders to give your page a bit more personality. Though Spotify is nowhere at this stage yet, its username and bio tools are a small step forward, but there are other things the platform needs to tweak, too.

Spotify introduced the Messages tab in August 2025, allowing you to DM the people you follow and share music recommendations, which in hindsight is handy for some, but I find that this part of the interface still needs a lot of work. I’m still waiting for replies from friends whom I messaged weeks ago, so there must be a notification issue there.

In relation to Messages, Listening Stats also had an overdue glow-up, which now tells you exactly how many songs and artists you listen to in a week. It also allows you to compare your own stats to your friends’ and view them side-by-side, but Spotify is being funny about how it determines who your friends are.

Instead of automatically adding the accounts you follow to your ‘friends’, Spotify says you have to invite friends to chat in order to view their weekly stats, even though you can see what they are listening to in real time. I tried to do this as soon as I came across the Listening Stats update, but the person on the other end couldn't accept my invitation.

It’s got me thinking, is Spotify only doing this to get more subscribers to use the Messages function? Because given how my experience has panned out, that theory seems even more legitimate.

• Spotify has rolled out new playlist tools, including bulk editing functions for queues
• Background downloading is rolling out for iOS users after being limited to Android devices
• Playlist folders are also being rolled out globally

I love making new playlists in Spotify, but sometimes its limited editing and queuing tools make the experience more of a chore rather than a fun activity. Thankfully, the platform just dropped a shedload of tools to make playlists more enjoyable and to ‘help keep listening smooth’ for both iOS and Android users.

Spotify announced yesterday (May 28) more control tools to help you edit your playlists and queue more effectively. Rolling out to Premium users globally, the new ‘Edit’ button allows you to select multiple tracks at once, which you can either bump up higher so that they play next, or remove them from the queue altogether. This was a tool once offered on Spotify and is now being resurrected, and it also applies to audiobook and podcast episode queues.

Spotify’s new ‘Reshuffle’ button is another feature I can see being a welcome addition to the app. If you find that a playlist isn’t quite giving you what you want, be that one of your own or one curated by Spotify, the Reshuffle button will generate an entirely new sequence of tracks — meaning you’ll no longer have to manually disable and enable the standard Shuffle icon to change the order.

Yes, queue controls have had a much-needed upgrade, but so have Spotify’s playlist organization tools. Though we first spotted it a few weeks back, the ability to create and add to playlist folders is rolling out globally for all users after being locked behind the desktop experience for 15 years.

However, these upgrades are just the start, and Spotify is also making offline listening for iOS users even more reliable with background downloads — a tool that’s been limited to Android users until now.

If you want to download a playlist or podcast episode, for example, you’ll no longer have to keep the Spotify app open to complete the downloading process. Now it does it all in the background for you, and you’ll get notifications to see the progress. “So whether you’re on a flight, underground, or out of range, your listening is ready to go,” the company says in its announcement.

Spotify adds a feature I've wanted for years

Recently, I’ve found myself hitting a bit of a wall when it comes to making playlists in Spotify, and it’s not just because of the lack of inspiration. Playback and queuing features haven’t always made the experience as easy as it could be, but Spotify’s new additions could alleviate many pain points for music fans.

I chronically add songs to a queue while I’m commuting or while I’m at a social gathering with friends, and one thing I’ve always wanted from Spotify is a ‘play next’ option that’s similar to Apple Music — which is one of my favorite parts of the Spotify rival.

Although there still isn’t a ‘play next’ option for when you want to add individual songs, you can bump up your song of choice directly from the queue. But unlike Apple Music, Spotify lets you move multiple songs at once to the top, which not only saves you bags of time dragging them individually with the three-line icon, but it will get your friends to stop nagging you to bump a song they’ve just requested.

As for playlist folders, I can’t believe it’s taken this long for Spotify to roll out a very basic feature, but hey, at last we’ve got it now. If you’re anything like me and have different types of playlists for the same occasion (I have multiple workout and music-by-the-year playlists), keeping them stored in a categorized folder does wonders for keeping your profile neat, tidy, and navigable.

• Apple Music users are asking for better playback continuity tools like Spotify Connect
• At the moment, Apple Music doesn't let you pick up where you left off when you switch between devices
• Subscribers are hoping for some improvements to be announced at WWDC 2026, but chances are slim

For hardcore Apple Music subscribers, the platform has everything they could possibly need from a music streaming service, but there’s one feature missing that is integral to pretty much all of its rivals — and its cross-device continuity.

While Apple Music has it all, from Dolby Atmos-supported albums, a clean-cut interface, and lossless audio at no extra cost, users have been asking for the company to upgrade its device-switching feature that allows you to hand off music to other devices and pick up where you left off in your listening sessions.

This has been a common annoyance for users for years, and a recent Reddit post (see below) reveals that this frustration is only growing. Though AirPlay allows you to cast videos, music, and other media from your iPhone to supported devices such as Apple TV 4K, if you want to switch from your iPhone to a smart speaker to play Apple Music, for example, it doesn’t resume your listening session in the way that Spotify Connect does.

The author of the Reddit post expressed their disappointment with this, using the iPhone-to-Mac switching as an example. Basically, if you're streaming Apple Music from your iPhone and want to hand it over to your Mac to continue listening, you'll have to start from scratch and even rebuild your music queue, as this won't transfer over either. I’ve also tried controlling Apple Music on my Echo smart speaker from my iPhone, and it’s the same case.

It’s pretty common for major streaming platforms to offer their own versions of this tool. Spotify Connect is arguably the leading playback continuity feature, which seamlessly resumes your listening session and music queues across smart speakers, Bluetooth speakers, and its desktop and car apps. Even services such as Tidal and Qobuz (which aren’t as popular as Apple Music) have their own continuity tools.

But why hasn’t Apple Music jumped on this bandwagon when users are actively begging for the upgrade? The short answer is, we don’t know, and it’s a lot more frustrating being left in the dark than it is knowing the truth — and it turns out that it’s irritating more subscribers than you think.

Users are longing for the 'one killer feature'

There’s no doubt that those who love Apple Music love Apple Music — Spotify is nowhere near an option for them. That said, the Reddit thread has garnered something I never thought I’d see — Apple Music subscribers across the board are praising Spotify.

Despite Spotify’s poorer audio quality and clunky interface, both of which Apple Music subscribers still criticize, Spotify Connect “is the one killer feature that’s missing from Apple,” as one user puts it.

Another Apple Music user notes that although they quit Spotify for Apple Music, it’s the one tool they miss the most; “This is the single worst thing about Apple Music. On the green disco all app, I can pick up from any player and or control any player”.

In between the glowing Spotify comments, a handful of users have questioned whether it’s a matter of a patent getting in the way. Though one user mentioned that Spotify apparently has a patent on its Connect tool, others were quick to point out that this doesn't mean companies won’t be able to develop similar features of their own. It’s a matter of simply building around it, as we’ve seen with Tidal, so it could be a case that Apple is satisfied enough with the current version of AirPlay — even if it gets a bad rep.

Aside from playback continuity, users in the same Reddit thread have taken the opportunity to shed light on other functions Apple needs to improve, like the search bar.

For many, and I include myself in this, Apple Music's search feature doesn't perform as smoothly as the likes of Spotify. One user says what we're all thinking; with Spotify, you can type in less than half a word, and it gives you exactly what you're after. With Apple Music however, search results aren't as quick or thorough, so it requires a bit more elbow grease.

However, there’s only a few weeks until Apple’s WWDC 2026 event kicks off on June 8 where we’re expecting to see a handful of iOS 27 upgrades, so that leaves a perfect gap for the company to solve a handful of issues — but users still think it’s a long shot.

• Spotify is launching a new system that gives an artist's top fans a first chance at scoring concert tickets more easily
• If you're an eligible fan, Spotify will reserve two tickets for you
• The platform wants to ensure fans get tickets first over scalpers and scammers

Live music tickets are becoming increasingly difficult to score, but Spotify is doing something about it, and the platform is about to launch its own ticketing priority system for top fans.

During its Investor Day 2026 briefing Spotify unveiled Reserved, a new system that’ll grant top fans first priority for purchasing tickets to their favorite artists with no additional fees. It’s launching in the US to eligible Spotify Premium subscribers over age 18 in the US starting in the next few months, with other countries set to follow.

To start, recently-announced tours for select artists will have the opportunity to reserve tickets for fans. Spotify plans to expand this to tours of any size in the future.

In a world where ticket scalpers are rife and the Ticketmaster sales are becoming more like battlefields, Spotify’s Reserved experience aims to make the ticket-purchasing experience a smoother one — ensuring that long-time fans who give to their favorite artists get a fair chance of seeing them in person. Essentially, Spotify wants to reward your fandom.

Spotify will determine if you’re a top fan by looking across your overall Spotify activity, which includes your streams and shares, as well as monitoring the activity of Premium users. This will help Spotify determine if you’re a “real human fan”, and not a bot.

If Spotify decides that you’ve streamed an artist enough to be a top fan and they’re playing a show in your area, the platform will reserve two tickets for you which you’ll then have the chance to buy within a dedicated window (Spotify says this will be around a day). Having said that, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Jump to the front of the line

When Spotify declares that you’re a dedicated fan, you’ll receive an email and an in-app notification informing you of your eligibility to buy tickets. Spotify recommends turning on notifications for live events, enabling your location settings, and ensuring your app is updated if you don’t want to miss out.

After receiving your notification, you’ll have the chance to purchase two tickets in the dedicated timeframe before the sale opens to the general public. Although this quantity doesn’t cover large groups who may want to attend a gig together, if your friends are also big streamers of the same artists, there’s a chance they’ll also be eligible fans with Reserved access — meaning no one in your group will have to miss out.

If you decide to go ahead with your purchase, you’ll be taken to a ticketing partner’s website to complete the sale — but then there’s the matter of availability.

Spotify says that not every fan is guaranteed an offer for tickets as the number of fans aiming for tickets exceeds the total capacity of venues. Additionally, Spotify says that ticket offers with Reserved will be based on the tour’s location, meaning that if a tour isn’t coming to your area there’s a chance you may not receive priority access.

However, if you do receive an offer in spite of this, you’ll be able to buy a ticket to any show on the tour where you can select the date, location, and seat selection when you check out. Spotify also adds that ticket type availability will vary per show.

Fan engagement matters

As a serial concert attendee, I’ve noticed first-hand the shift in ticket purchasing over the past couple of years, and though the pandemic contributed to the sky-rocketing demand for live music tours, scalpers and Ticketmaster’s controversial dynamic pricing method have also made ticket purchasing an anxiety-riddled process.

Though Spotify does have its off days, it’s the first company out of all the best music streaming services to start taking a stance against scalpers who resell tickets for ridiculous prices to spite genuine fans.

Recently Ticketmaster came under fire when its president claimed that queue positions aren’t randomized, leaving fans questioning the real reason that determines these placements.

“We’re building this to give back to fans who support artists the most — and because when fans and artists win, Spotify does, too,” the streamer shared in its announcement.

But for the platform, it’s all about engagement: “When listeners who show up for an artist on Spotify are the ones getting into their shows, fans stick around, artists grow, and live music gets stronger. This is part of a broader investment Spotify is making in live music across artists at every stage of their careers,” the company concluded.

• Spotify is upgrading podcasts with two AI-powered features
• One is a new search function that allows you to ask questions about episodes
• There's also the new Personal Podcasts tool, which generates a short audio briefing based on your prompts

Spotify has used its Investor Day event to announce some new features for podcast listeners — and they're quite big.

The first of the new podcast features enables you to ask Spotify about the episode you’re currently listening to or watching, and it will give you answers in real-time. For example, you could get more information about something mentioned in the episode that you may want to know more about, or ask to find more podcasts that cover the same topic.

From the demonstration images, it shows the user tapping on the AI DJ search bar in the Spotify home page to launch the podcast episode, and then from there the user proceeds with questions. You can also ask generic questions such as ‘play the latest episode from Dissect’.

Rolling out to Premium mobile subscribers in the US, Sweden, and Ireland first, this new tool is part of Spotify’s larger plan to expand its podcast interface. The company said: “This new capability makes the experience more dynamic, helping fans learn more and connect deeply with the topics, perspectives, and creators they care about.”

Now the controversial part…

Additionally, Spotify wants you to start generating your own personal podcast episodes using AI, which builds on the platform’s recent expansion of Prompted Playlists into podcasts.

Rolling out to Premium subscribers in the US first, Personal Podcasts is another new tool that can be found among the roster of other playlist-making buttons when you tap the Create button in Spotify.

Previously, you could create your own podcasts using platforms such as OpenClaw and Claude Code which you could then save to your Spotify library, so this new tool offers a more on-demand option directly within the platform.

As you’d expect by its name, Personal Podcasts allow you to generate short audio episodes which Spotify says are “tailored to your interests and listening habits”, and it works on a prompt basis.

You can ask it to create a daily briefing to include local weather, any live music happening in your area, and daily news headlines across different topics which you can schedule to update every day or weekly.

But Spotify doesn't draw the line there — Personal Podcasts can also generate episodes that dive deeper into topics, connecting you with related podcast episodes for you to explore your curiosity further.

As well as text prompts, you can add more context to your requests by attaching PDFs and website links, and the information should be pulled into the episode.

There’s a slight catch however. Just like Spotify’s monthly audiobook listening hours allowance, the same applies to Personal Podcasts ,which come with a fixed allocation of credits to generate podcasts included with their subscription each month. If you find that you can’t get enough of them, there’s an option to purchase additional credits.

The interesting thing about Spotify’s new podcast upgrades is that nowhere in the company’s announcement doesn't explicitly state how these features are powered, though it’s quite clear that AI is the mastermind behind these generative tools.

We think the streamer is onto something with tools to let you dive further into the shows you love the most and pull information from them, and allowing you to ask for more insights on topics that presenters maybe don't go into detail with.

It's kind of amusing that Spotify recently added features in support of the anti-AI brigade by not only rolling out ‘Verified by Spotify’ badges for music artists to certify that they're real, it then did the same thing for podcasts only a few days ago — and now it's offering AI-generated podcasts right from its own menus.

• Alexa+ can now quickly create custom AI podcasts for you
• Meanwhile, Spotify is labeling podcasts made by AI
• An increasing number of new podcasts are AI-generated

We're now well past the stage where AI models can create convincing audio podcasts, run by convincing AI hosts — and there are a couple of developments this week that are going to add to and fight back against the growing deluge of AI podcasts (also known as 'podslop', if you're not a fan).

First up, Amazon has given Alexa+ new powers to create custom podcasts based on your prompts. Whether you want a dive into Roman history, a round-up of the best new music releases, sports previews or anything else, Alexa+ can serve up a podcast-style audio exploration in just a few minutes.

I'm not a fan myself of AI podcasts — more on that later — but I have to give credit to Amazon for actually partnering with real news organizations, including Reuters and the Washington Post, to produce this audio. Publishers and creators actually getting paid as AI scrapes and repackages their work? Whatever next?

This is US only for now, and as I'm in the UK I haven't been able to try it, but the examples Amazon has provided seem solid enough: the podcasts are similar in style and tone to what we've already heard from apps such as NotebookLM.

Wait just a moment, AI

As Amazon pushes AI podcasts forward, Spotify is putting the brakes on — or at least, making it easier to spot these pods. Following on from its AI verification scheme for music, launched earlier this month, Spotify is now using the same badges on podcast content.

You'll start to see light green badges that say 'Verified by Spotify' on them, used for podcasts where Spotify has confirmed who the hosts and publishers behind the show are. The idea is to protect listeners against fake content that may be misleading or dangerous, Spotify says, while also helping creators maintain their audience.

"It signals that the show has been reviewed against Spotify’s standards for authenticity and trust, helping listeners understand who they’re hearing while giving creators a clear, credible way to establish their identity on our platform," explains Spotify, adding that listener activity and audience authenticity are taken into account too.

A recent survey suggested some 39% of new podcasts are AI-generated, and I'm glad to see Spotify helping us to sort the real stuff out. I'd much rather listen to something with real personality and knowledge behind it, rather than a machine-made amalgamation of scraped content polished up into a generic, flat audio episode.

• Spotify has quietly updated its Listening Stats page
• You can now view the total number of artists and songs you've listened to each week
• There's also a new social feature that lets you compare your stats to your friends

Spotify is packed with all the features you can imagine, but its Listening Stats tool gives you a solid overview of what you’re listening to and how your streaming habits shift from one week to the next — and it’s just got better.

While I was scouring through the r/truespotify community on Reddit, a series of posts about a new upgrade to Listening Stats caught my attention. I didn’t believe it at first, but immediately stood corrected when I took a look at my own account and saw that Spotify has quietly given it a new look, and with new features to match.

First, Listening Stats has received a big design upgrade, and is more visually engaging than before, with bolder text and display cards that are more distinguishable than before, separating your individual stats from each other to give you a clearer overview of your week in music. But it doesn’t end there.

In addition to Listening Stats’ visual glow-up, Spotify has added new data that tells you even more about the quantity of music that you listen to each week. When Listening Stats first dropped, it showed you your top five artists and songs of the week, and that was pretty much it, but now your stats tell you exactly how many artists and songs you’ve listened to week-on-week — including your total number of minutes listened.

There’s also a new social aspect to Listening Stats, which, given Spotify’s commitment to emulsifying social media with its existing roster of features, isn’t totally surprising, but it’s something many users, including myself, weren’t expecting just yet.

While your top artists and songs have their own separate display cards, there are new individual cards that allow you to see who or what your friends have had on repeat during the week or, in my case, spy on your friends for new music recommendations. Now it’s impossible for them to gatekeep artists from you, which is arguably the biggest upside.

It also means you can compare your own stats to those of your friends, including your total weekly streaming minutes, so now you can battle it out to see who’s the more dedicated music fan.

Listening Stats in the process of a rebrand?

Listening Stats joined Spotify’s mobile interface in November 2025 and has since served as a kind of mini-Wrapped feature. As well as the data mentioned above, Listening Stats include special moments to spotlight different aspects of your listening, whether that’s a milestone, a fan moment, or a new music discovery, diving deeper into your weekly soundtrack.

But with the majority of Spotify features, Listening Stats hasn’t updated for a number of users in certain regions, according to the replies in the Reddit threads I’ve read (some users are only now just getting access to AI DJ). That said, Your Sound Capsule is a similar tool to Listening Stats, but it’s only available to Premium subscribers in Brazil, Indonesia, and India — and has been for quite some time.

Like Listening Stats, Your Sound Capsule spotlights your most listened-to artists and songs but has graphs and other visual elements that dissect your listening habits in detail. It’s unclear why this tool is limited only to the above markets, but some users online believe that Listening Stats is in the process of being rebranded to Your Sound Capsule.

While Spotify hasn’t mentioned anything about this, the latest update to Listening Stats does give the feeling that a larger upgrade is on the way. Design-wise, the Listening Stats tab is a lot more dynamic and bold, and its visual cards have been adopted from those featured in Your Sound Capsule, but I wouldn’t place any bets just yet until Spotify comes out with more details.

I’ve reached out to Spotify for a comment on the above, and will update this story if and when I hear more information.

• Spotify's glitter ball icon change on iOS is only temporary
• The old icon will be coming back in the next few days
• Many users hadn't been happy with the new look of the icon

If you've noticed that the Spotify icon on your iPhone home screen looks... different, you're not imagining things: the refreshed disco glitter ball look is promoting the company's 20th anniversary and its new Party of the Year(s) feature.

The feature gives you a Wrapped-like experience for your entire Spotify history, but the glitter ball transformation has attracted plenty of criticism. Now, Spotify has confirmed the change is only temporary, and the usual icon will be back next week.

"Alright, we know glitter is not for everyone," the Spotify team said via one of its official social media accounts. "Our temp glow up ends soon. Your regularly scheduled Spotify icon returns next week."

Judging by the reactions to that post, it seems there are a fair few Spotify users who quite like the new look — but overall, the reaction has been mostly negative. "If it's permanent I'll go back to Apple Music," threatened one Redditor last week.

Back to the 1970s

The disco ball icon only showed up on iOS, so if you're an Android user, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Some thought the change was a joke, while others complained that it gave the impression that an app update was underway.

Quite a few commenters pointed out that the updated look of the icon was a throwback — not just to the disco era of the 1970s, but also to the more skeuomorphic icon design trend that used to dominate on the iPhone.

When the shiny icon first appeared last week, Spotify wouldn't say one way or the other whether the change was permanent, or how long it might last for. The reaction online seems to have forced its hand.

As for the Party of the Year(s) feature, it has had its critics too. Many users were underwhelmed with the depth of the results, and there was a major Spotify update around the time the feature launched as well — not the best way to celebrate your birthday.

• Spotify experienced a widespread outage on May 12 2026, affecting apps, web players, and support services for several hours
• The Islamic Cyber Resistance in Iraq‑313 Team claimed responsibility, saying it launched a DDoS attack on Spotify’s servers
• The same group recently targeted Canonical, adding to its sporadic record of disruptive cyberattacks against major platforms

The Islamic Cyber Resistance in Iraq-313 Team, a hacking collective which has been sporadically targeting companies and services across the Western world, has claimed responsibility for the major outage Spotify experienced recently.

On May 12 2026, thousands of Spotify users reported having issues with both the app and the web player, and the support site. The music streaming service confirmed being “aware of some issues right now with the app” and said it was investigating the matter.

Now, the pro-Iran hacking group said it was to blame for the outage, confirming that Spotify suffered a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

Revenge for Khamenei?

“The hand of revenge will reach the killers of Imam Khamenei,” the group allegedly said on Telegram, the Jerusalem Post reported. In the same announcement, the group said it “carried out a massive cyber attack targeting Spotify’s main servers, causing a major disruption to the website and completely disabling the application”

The problems began around 12pm ET / 5pm BST, with the first reports of the outage appearing on Down Detector. Reports grew steadily over the next 20-30 minutes, peaking at around 14,000 at 1.20pm ET / 6.20pm BST — then appeared to drop off.

However, more than 2 hours later, users in both the US and UK reported struggling to get the app to load on either desktop or mobile — though offline tunes did seem to work. Eventually, the app on multiple platforms came back to life, and Spotify confirmed the issue was fixed shortly before 5pm ET / 10pm BST.

The 313 Team is not the most active group around, but it also recently struck Canonical, the company behind the popular Linux distribution Ubuntu.

“Canonical’s web infrastructure is under a sustained, cross-border attack and we are working to address it. We will provide more information in our official channels as soon as we are able to,” the company said at the time.

Discussing the attack on unofficial Ubuntu forums, community members confirmed that the distro’s security API was affected, as well as multiple websites. Updates and system installs were also unavailable at the time.

There are many reasons why music fans flock to Apple Music over the slew of other best music streaming services to pick from. For one, it offers lossless, hi-res, and Dolby Atmos-supported audio at no extra cost, and its interface isn't clunky.

I’m currently using Apple Music and Spotify interchangeably, and I’m enjoying both of their offerings, but if there’s one thing rival platforms could take a note from Apple Music's books, it’s the Discovery Station — my new favorite way to find new music and artists outside of my radar.

Although Spotify is still my main music platform of choice — I’ve been a subscriber for the best part of 10 years — Discovery Station has become integral to how I spend my time listening on Apple Music, and I’ve even made a playlist to bank all of the new songs and artists I come across.

For those who aren’t on Apple Music, your Discovery Station is a personal radio station that’s powered by your listening habits and the titles in your library, helping you find new music and artists. The best part is that it’s continuous and never-ending, so it doesn’t cap songs after a certain number like New Music Mix — meaning it never runs out of music suggestions.

Do you find yourself frustrated with the shuffle function repeating the same songs? You don’t get any of that with Discovery Station. Instead, it’s designed to spotlight artists and tracks that aren’t in your playlists or saved to your library, so it’s rare to get the same song suggested twice.

But when I compare it to other music discovery tools, it works in a way that’s reminiscent of Spotify’s Daylist.

I’ve pretty much trial-and-errored my way through finding what music discovery tools work best for me in Spotify, and Daylist is by far one of my favorites, which is why I think I’ve taken to Discovery Station so quickly.

What ties the two features together is that both rely on the algorithm’s ability to dive into your daily music-listening behavior, giving you a list of artists adjacent to your taste that it thinks you will enjoy. Both are rooted in personalization and encourage active discovery.

That said, Daylist doesn’t offer a continuous run of new music. Instead, it updates every few hours to reflect your listening habits at different times of the day, and the playlist only consists of around 50 songs. That's in contrast to Discovery Station, which you can refresh by simply tapping on it to generate a new slew of songs. With Discovery Station, it doesn't show you the full queue of songs, maintaining an element of surprise each time.

Although Discovery Station works pretty much instantly for new Apple Music subscribers, I still recommend dedicating some time to exploring and listening to music to develop your taste profile before giving it a shot. But be wary, it can be quite sensitive.

For example, if you devote a listening session to streaming electronic pop and then switch over to your Discover Station, it will focus on that genre. I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing, but there are workarounds you can try, such as favoriting artists, frequently adding music to your library, and using the ‘Suggest less’ button to filter out artists and genres.

• Subscribers couldn't access Spotify's Party of the Year(s) tool due to its huge outage
• When the issue was resolved, users were left underwhelmed with what it had to offer
• It didn't give insightful data such as most listened-to genres and behavorial shifts

Spotify’s 20th anniversary celebrations ran into a bit of a brick wall following the announcement of the platform’s latest mobile experience, Party of the Year(s), as many users were left wondering if the service had gone down — in short, it did.

What was supposed to be a day for Premium subscribers to revel in Spotify’s latest music time capsule turned into a frenzy of frustration as many music fans couldn’t access their Party of the Year(s) stats, resulting in a slurry of complaints in the r/truespotify page on Reddit. It could even be that the number of users trying to access the new Wrapped-style experience resulted in Spotify’s going down.

More than 14,000 users issued complaints on Down Detector, which indicated the problems started at around 12pm ET / 5pm BST, but while errors started to drop off for a handful of users, Spotify was still crashing for subscribers several hours later. Thankfully, the platform was quick to jump on the issue, and it took to X to say it had resolved the issues at around 5pm ET / 10pm BST.

A missed opportunity to say the least

With Spotify now running as normal, Party of the Year(s) saw a slew of latecomers but even after all that waiting time, users walked away rather underwhelmed with the outcome.

In a nutshell, Party of the Year(s) is a new mobile experience that gives you "never-shared-before" stats about your entire music journey, going all the way back to the very first day you signed up for Spotify right up to the present day. It’s essentially a Wrapped-style tool, showing you the total number of songs you’ve streamed, your top artists ever, and more.

All sounds good on paper, right? But for some users, these stats simply weren’t enough, as a handful of them took to Reddit to say that they were expecting way more from it.

One of the biggest criticisms highlighted that the feature doesn’t pack in as many stats and as much excitement as Wrapped; “Would have loved some more data included in the story like they do with Wrapped, such as total minutes of streaming and top 5 artists,” said one user.

Over the years people have been begging Spotify to crack down on genre stats when it comes to Wrapped, and though Spotify knuckled down on this for Wrapped 2025, there was none of this in Party of the Year(s). Not only that, but the experience doesn't outline the shifts in your listening habits over the years which, since it’s an anniversary feature, you’d think would be at its core.

I tried out Party of the Year(s) to see what it was all about and I thought it was pleasant, but Spotify missed out on the chance to create something insightful and engaging here — it didn’t really differ from what Prompted Playlists can already do.

I side with the majority of users who want to see more stats about genre and music listening shifts and what impacts them, and since Spotify has endless data on its subscribers, I don’t see why the platform didn’t put the intricate readings at the very forefront of the experience.

• Spotify has launched its new Your Party of the Year(s) mobile experience to celebrate its 20th anniversary
• It shows you data from across your entire Spotify journey, starting from the first day you joined
• This includes your most-streamed artist, the total number of streamed songs, and more

A few weeks back Spotify commemorated its 20th year of being one of the best music streaming services (I know, I can’t wrap my head around it either), but if you thought the platform was done with the celebrations you’d be wrong — it’s just launched the ultimate Wrapped experience.

Ever wanted to know the deep stats from your entire Spotify lifespan? With the new Spotify 20: Your Party of the Year(s) experience, you can.

Launching today (May 12), the new mobile app walk-through gives you a personal insight to your music listening history in Spotify, which includes exclusive data that encompasses your entire music journey from the moment you joined Spotify right up to today. In Spotify’s words, it’s “designed as a personalized time capsule, the experience captures the moments that defined listeners' music journeys, and celebrates the artists and fans who have shaped Spotify and music culture over the past 20 years”.

Although you can use Prompted Playlists to view stats such as your most listened-to songs of a specific year, this experience takes it a step further.

Behind a gold wax seal sits a nostalgic look-back at your first listens and biggest hits, starting with the exact date you joined Spotify which, if you’ve been using it for quite some time, will reveal a little too much about your age. From there, the walkthrough will show you the total number of songs you’ve streamed from your days as a Spotify baby to your days as a power-user — and Spotify compiles your top 120 songs into a playlist with play counts that you can save to your Library as a keepsake.

To top it all off, Spotify reveals the answer to one of your burning questions: who is my most-streamed artist of all time? But not only does it tell you this, it also reveals how many minutes you’ve spent listening to them since you first hit the play button, as well as the very first song that kick-started your Spotify journey.

You can begin your look-back of your listening life by searching for ‘Spotify 20’ or ‘Your Party of the Year(s)’ in the search tab, so it’s very easy to find.

However, this isn’t the first of Spotify’s anniversary celebrations. The streamer turned 20 a few months back, kicking things off at SXSW in March which was followed by a series of posts where it unveiled its most streamed artists, podcasts, and audiobooks of the last two decades.

We also got involved with the celebrations by recapping the platform’s landmark moments, and even sitting down with Sten Garmark, Spotify’s Global Head of Consumer Experience, who discussed how the company created an entirely new business model, in addition to its plans to expand to new formats and combat against AI-generated music.

One of the most handy features to come from the best music streaming services are lyrics, and although I’m a Spotify user, even I know that its lyrics interface needs some overdue TLC. But I’ve just learned about a hack I never knew existed.

I scour the r/truespotify forum on Reddit a fair bit, mainly to get a kick out of any new rumors on upcoming features I may find. But my latest deep dive took me by surprise, and apparently, you can zoom in and out on lyrics in Spotify. Has this just been launched? Or am I just extremely late to the party?

A post shared by u/mascarariri (see below) includes a side-by-side video comparison of Spotify lyrics on iOS and Android, in which the user shows themselves zooming in and out on Spotify lyrics on Android, using Billie Eilish’s song ‘Wildflower’ as an example. Unfortunately for iOS users like myself, this isn’t available.

According to the user who published the video, all it takes to zoom is a simple pinch motion on your phone’s screen, just as you would to navigate Google Maps, for example. Additionally, the user demonstrated by zooming out to 75% — though it likely goes further — and zooming in quite far to 150%, so the range appears extensive.

Being an iOS user, I’m not surprised that I didn’t know about this trick sooner, but it turns out that not even Spotify users on Android knew about this. “I'm surprised to see something on Android before iOS. It's usually the other way around, and it takes ages to port those features; even Google apps are better on iOS”, one user said.

But the reason why this is the case for Android and not iOS is still very much a mystery — users are still debating whether it's system or developer-related. But while it's a handy tool for enhancing the lyric-viewing experience for those who are visually impaired, or those who prefer reading larger text in general, it still doesn't fix the main issues with Spotify lyrics.

Apple Music knows how to do it

Yes, Spotify has been my streaming platform since my teens, but my trial runs with Apple Music have magnified the things that Spotify falls short on — and lyrics is one of them.

When I first signed up to Apple Music last year, one of my favorite parts of the experience was the lyrics interface (I believe I said it 'puts Spotify's to shame'). I'm currently on my second round of playing around with Apple Music after being persuaded by a recent offer, and my opinion still stands.

The main difference between the two is synchronization. Not only are all songs on Apple Music synced in time with the flow of the lyrics, but each sentence is highlighted so you can see exactly which part of a line you're supposed to be — and it works wonders for when you're using karaoke mode (another fun feature).

This isn't the case with all songs on Spotify. Not only are lyrics quite static in their fluidity, but not every song is synchronized, meaning you have to scroll manually. You also have to wait at least a few days for lyrics to appear for new music, while Apple Music's catalog of new releases already comes equipped with them.