Big changes to Spotify on Android and iPhone
Spotify has begun rolling out a major update to the Android and iOS versions of its mobile app.
The streaming service has made a number of major changes to the way its mobile applications work, including a new interface and new automatically generated playlists.
Spotify said these changes are part of a series of new updates that will make the mobile interface more personalised for each listener.
“Through this latest update, we’ll be rolling out several advancements on the mobile Home hub designed to make finding the audio you love easier and more intuitive,” Spotify said.
“These will roll out to users globally on iOS and Android this month.”
The new features are summarised below:
- Recently played – This new automatically generated playlist allows users to browse up to three months’ worth of listening history. Premium and Free users globally will be able to browse recently played individual tracks and episodes in addition to the playlists, albums, and shows they were played from.
- Podcast improvements – Global Premium users can view new and relevant podcast episodes right within the Home hub. New episodes will be marked with a blue dot, and episodes you have already started will display a progress bar indicating how far into the episode you are.
- Music discovery – Premium users will now see a new surface highlighted on top of the Home screen that showcases discovery-oriented recommendations.
“We believe that together, these updates will improve the accessibility of both podcast and music content across mobile for your users,” Spotify said.
“We’ll continue to adapt and evolve our platform to meet the needs of our users, ultimately providing the best possible audio experience for our listeners around the world.”
Mood music
Spotify recently filed a patent which showed it was interested in experimental ways to offer new music to listeners.
The music streaming service filed a patent for the technology with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) earlier this year, and according to Spotify’s description, the technology will use speech recognition algorithms and machine learning to assess the intonation, stress, and rhythm of a user’s voice.
This would allow the app to automatically determine whether a user’s emotional state is happy, angry, sad or neutral.
In addition, Spotify would retrieve information from the user’s environment – including a category for their physical location – such as home, school, work, bus, or car.
The app would then use this information in conjunction with other data such as listening history to recommend music to Spotify users based on their mood and where they are.