Spotify Premium puts over 100 million tracks at your fingertips for $11.99/month (much to the chagrin of some music experts). But like it or not, the streaming service has taken over the music industry.
The music streaming service has evolved quite a bit over the past few years, becoming more predictive and personalized while also attracting an ever-expanding selection of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. The tips below mostly apply to Spotify Premium, but free listeners have some options too. Read on for a rundown of all the tools to take your music streaming to the next level!
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You've been able to create playlists on mobile for a while, but AI-powered "assisted playlists" use machine learning to make listening more personalized. When you create a new playlist, the Spotify app analyzes the words you type as the playlist name to come up with song suggestions. As you add songs to the playlist, the app changes the suggestions in real time to make more relevant recommendations based on the songs you've added.
Similarly, Spotify can create a radio playlist based on a single song. Open that song, tap the three-dot menu next to the track, and scroll down to Go to radio . Spotify will create a song stream based on your favorite tune. Tap the plus button to save it to your library.
Not sure what to listen to? Spotify’s AI DJ will serve up tunes with a little old-school DJ chatter. It’ll pull up albums or artists you haven’t played in a while, or suggest songs based on your listening history. Search for “DJ” or just look for the glowing green orb on a blue background in the Home section.
Collaborative playlists can be a bit risky, but if you like your friends' musical tastes and trust their judgment, Spotify gives you a few options for group DJ sessions.
With Spotify Jam, Premium users can turn a playlist into a “Jam,” allowing other Spotify users in your household on the same Wi-Fi network to join and add to your Jam. Guests can join by tapping their phones together, scanning a QR code from your device, or — for remote listeners — clicking a share link you create. To get started, tap the three-dot menu on the playlist and select Start a Jam . Tap End to exit.
Blend, meanwhile, uses Spotify’s recommendation algorithm to deliver playlists based on the musical tastes of people in your Blend. In the app, search for “Blend” or navigate to Search > Made For You > Create a Blend . Select up to 10 people to invite, and once they accept your invitation, Spotify will create a playlist that can be shared on social media. Once you join at least 3 Blends, Spotify will collect music from them to create a type of social playlist called a Friends Mix playlist.
Music is a big part of the TikTok experience, with songs old and new going viral on the platform. (That's one reason why the licensing dispute between TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) has become such a big deal.) If you happen to see a song you like on TikTok, there's an easy way to add it to your music streaming service of choice, including Spotify. Free and premium users can find an "Add song" option at the bottom of TikTok videos. The first time a user taps the button, they'll be asked to choose their default streaming service. Any subsequent taps will immediately add the song to the user's music library. A similar option was rolled out for Instagram in November.
Want to get a feel for an album before you dive in? With a scrollable feed, you can explore albums in a TikTok-like way, swiping up on the album to see short snippets from each song. On an album or playlist, look for the cartoonish, rectangular icon next to the plus button. Tapping it launches the preview feed; swiping up will listen to each song. You can do the same on the home screen by tapping the left and right arrows on the preview card (top right).
Spice up your playlists with Smart Shuffle, which sorts similar songs into a playlist. Activate it by tapping the shuffle button twice. Then hit play and for playlists with more than 15 songs, Spotify will suggest one song for every 3 tracks. Skip or add songs to the playlist by tapping the plus button. Turn it off and on again by tapping the shuffle button on the playlist again.
Found a song you want to listen to over and over again? Tapping the plus button will add it to your Liked Songs playlist. But if you have a large number of favorites, this playlist can get unwieldy. Narrow down your listening by filtering your Liked Songs playlist by genre or mood. Navigate to Your Library > Liked Songs and at the top, you'll see a row of scrollable filters. Tap a filter and your playlist will switch to include songs that match that option. Tap the "X" to return to the full list.
Spotify recognizes that people want to stream songs from their favorite shows and movies, so Spotify now has dedicated hubs for popular hits from Netflix and Disney+, as well as other brands. Navigate to Search > TV & Movies (or Search > Netflix or Search > Disney ), where you can find playlists for Wicked, Arcane, Nobody Wants This, and more.
For some reason, shuffle was originally enabled by default for albums on Spotify Premium. That is, until 2021, when Adele asked the streaming service to stop it. It seemed reasonable to listen to an album in order when you first saw it. If you want to take a risk, you now have to actively hit the shuffle button before hitting play.
Throughout their career, a band or artist goes through different phases, and some phases are definitely better than others. With Spotify's search modifiers, you can skip certain phases by using the "year" search modifier. So if you search for Madonna and include the search modifier "year:1980-1990" (without the space), Spotify will only serve up her music from the 80s.
If you have Spotify Premium, you can download any podcast, album, or playlist (not just individual songs) and listen to it offline. Go to the content you want to download and tap the down arrow. For playlists, you can also select the three dots and tap Download. To delete future downloads (large playlists take up space on your phone), just tap the arrow button again.
To preserve data and only download on Wi-Fi, go to Settings > Audio Quality > Download Using Cellular and make sure it's turned off. (Note that if you're offline, you'll need to be online at least once a month so Spotify can verify your account. This way, you can't download music to your device, cancel your Spotify account, and listen to it indefinitely.)
Data Saver Mode is an optional mobile app feature for data-conscious streamers. From the gear icon in the app, tap Data Saver and turn it on or off as needed. Data Saver will store data from recently played songs on your smartphone to help your device use less data when streaming music. Spotify says the feature can reduce data usage by up to 75%, but if you have an unlimited data plan, you can turn it off and save space on your device.
Music may be Spotify's forte, but Spotify has also invested heavily in podcasts . However, with over 6 million podcasts on the platform, it can be difficult to weed out the junk. Show off the best part of your podcast by sharing an episode from a specific point in the show. Tap the share button inside an episode and you'll see an option to "Share from [timestamp]" . Toggle this on, select your desired sharing platform, and the shared clip will start at the timestamp you selected.
In 2021, Spotify began testing a number of accessibility features for podcasts, including transcript generation. Initially, these were only available for Spotify Originals, but in the fall of 2023, Spotify rolled out auto-generated, time-synced transcripts to more creators and shows, allowing you to read along with millions of podcast episodes. On supported shows, look for the “Episode Transcript” option below the episode description.
Spotify's latest big bet after music and podcasts is audiobooks . Anyone with an individual Premium plan or those who manage plans for Family and Duo accounts gets 15 hours of listening each month. Just look for "Included in Premium" on select books. If you've listened to those 15 hours and don't want to wait for your 15 hours to be replenished, you can buy an additional 10 hours or buy the book you're listening to outright. Track your listening through Settings and privacy > Account . Tap your plan and select the audiobooks option at the top, which will tell you how much listening time you have left and/or when your listening hours will be renewed.
Have you ever accidentally hit “delete” on one of your playlists, only to see a pop-up asking if you really want to delete it? Luckily, Spotify has your back and allows you to recover deleted playlists. Log in to your profile page on the Spotify website and click Recover playlists , where you’ll find your deleted playlists. Click Restore to restore them.
Spotify Friend Activity lets you share your listening habits. But maybe you’re having an afternoon jamming to NSYNC’s greatest hits and don’t want anyone else to know. Switch to Private Session, which will temporarily stop sharing music. Navigate to Settings > Privacy & Social > Private session . Your account will be private for 6 hours, so keep track of your listening time.
The benefit here is that it doesn’t ruin your Spotify Wrapped. In recent years, many people have found that their most-streamed music of the year includes things they listen to while they sleep, or hours of music for their toddlers. However, things you listen to in Private Sessions don’t count toward Spotify recommendations or Spotify Wrapped, so before you fall asleep to the sound of rain for two hours, open a Private Session. Meanwhile, if you have a Spotify Premium Family plan, download the Spotify Kids app to separate your kids’ music from yours.
Spotify populates popular playlists like Discover Weekly with songs it thinks you’ll like. But if you listen to music all over the place (workout music, kids’ playlists, white noise podcasts before bed), Spotify can make confusing recommendations. Give Spotify a little direction by removing certain playlists from your Taste Profile. Just click the three-dot menu on the offending playlist and select Exclude from your Taste Profile .
Meanwhile, the Spotify Premium Family plan is the only way to share your account. And the people you share the account with have to live in the same place. For example, you can’t sign up for a family plan and add profiles for your mom and sister who live in different cities. Spotify doesn’t really explain how it verifies that everyone lives in the same place, beyond asking you to enter your address when you sign up for a family plan. But if Spotify somehow detects that you’re lying, the platform will kick you out, so it’s probably not worth trying to game the system. The family plan costs $19.99/month and supports up to six different accounts.
Spotify users can use the app to stream music to supported devices on the same Wi-Fi network. This includes laptops, smart speakers, consoles, or nearby Airplay or Bluetooth devices. To use it, open the Spotify app, select a song, go full screen, and look for the Connect icon in the lower left corner. In the pop-up window, select the device you want to connect to. Some settings require a Spotify Premium account.
Having trouble with a specific Spotify member? Block them. Before November 2021, the only way to ban an annoying or abusive person was to contact customer support, but Spotify has now built that functionality into its app. Navigate to the offender's profile, select the three-dot menu, and tap Block.
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