{"id":497588,"date":"2026-03-01T14:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T14:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/497588\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T14:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T14:04:12","slug":"i-love-spotify-but-its-android-app-still-gets-one-thing-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/497588\/","title":{"rendered":"I love Spotify, but its Android app still gets one thing wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"spotify<\/p>\n

Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

Judging by the sentiment shared by my colleagues, I\u2019m probably the only person at Android Authority and perhaps the wider world who dislikes Spotify<\/a>\u2019s overreliance on shortcut gestures. What can I say? I prefer tangible feedback, the type that only tapping a button provides.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a firm believer in giving consumers options, especially when it comes to app design. Prescribing a specific workflow to consumers assumes that everyone is the same, and this simply isn\u2019t true. We all have different needs, expectations, and methods for completing a task effectively. It\u2019s important that you understand my point of view, as it\u2019s not the functionality that Spotify\u2019s shortcut gestures provide that alienates me, but rather the forced implementation of them.<\/p>\n

Do you want Spotify to give you more control over the app’s gestures?<\/p>\n

19 votes<\/p>\n

No, the gesture system is fine as is.<\/p>\n

32%<\/p>\n

Yes, I’d appreciate having more options and control.<\/p>\n

68%<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a Spotify user, you\u2019ll likely need some additional context \u2014 just know that the app offers so many shortcut swipes, taps, and long-presses for playback and queue management. You can swipe right to add songs to the queue, which is supremely useful when actively managing a session. Then there\u2019s the swipe left in the queue to remove the track from it. Other options include the rather natural swiping up\/down to hide or reveal the Now Playing screen, swiping left or right on the playing bar to skip or return to the previous track, and long-pressing on a song to bring up the track\u2019s context menu.<\/p>\n

\"Spotify<\/p>\n

Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

On the surface, Spotify\u2019s gesture system alongside its fluid interface makes sense. In practice, it encourages errors from errant swipes and taps.<\/p>\n

Let me provide a real-world example. My fianc\u00e9e and I were recently listening to tracks in our living room while I browsed YouTube and she studied. I had a pretty great flow going, jumping from Solange to Janet Jackson, Cornershop, and a-ha. When the last few songs in the queue arrived, I wanted to add more tracks from my library. I swiped back to return to the previous screen \u2014 you know, the default Android back gesture \u2014 but Spotify instead interpreted it as a swipe across the playing bar. This forced a skip to the next track, despite this being the last thing I wanted.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve done this, either. I\u2019ve also accidentally removed tracks from my queue and from carefully curated playlists containing hundreds of songs.<\/p>\n

\"spotifySwipe to remove from queue.\"spotifySwipe to add to queue.\"spotifySwipe to skip.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll admit, gestures are useful. As I mentioned above, swiping left or right on a track in a playlist is a quick way to move select tracks to the queue. It\u2019s a far smoother, more natural action than multiple taps to achieve the same result. But I live in constant fear that I\u2019ll accidentally remove a song from a playlist, accidentally skip a track, or like a song I\u2019ve never even heard. I only find some Spotify gestures useful, and the app provides no way to disable the ones I don\u2019t. Importantly, such a change wouldn\u2019t just benefit me. Offering various control options is accessibility-friendly.<\/p>\n

\"spotify<\/p>\n

Andy Walker \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

Thankfully, I feel that there\u2019s a simple fix for my gripe. Spotify could easily add a menu item in settings, call it Gestures, and add toggles for each gesture. From there, users can decide which actions to activate or deactivate, thereby crafting their own workflows.<\/p>\n

Gestures can be useful, but I don’t require access to every single one. I’d like to turn off those I don’t use.<\/p>\n

Better yet, Spotify could go one step further and let users rearrange, hide, or add buttons to the Now Playing screen and the playback bar. I only use the Connect button once per session; it\u2019s wasting space that could be used for the Queue or Shuffle buttons. The same goes for the Like button.<\/p>\n

\"spotify<\/p>\n

Andy Walker \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

The Create button is a clear demonstration that Spotify developers understand that different users need direct access to different things. The Reduce animations toggle also indicates they recognize the importance of accessibility options. Why can\u2019t this thinking manifest in other areas of the app?<\/p>\n

I want to make this very clear: I\u2019m not for one minute saying that Spotify should bin its intricate gesture shortcut system. The current system won\u2019t make the jump to another streaming service, either. I\u2019ve spent plenty of time with YouTube Music<\/a>, and it, too, has various gesture shortcuts with no options to switch them off or change them.<\/p>\n

All I want is more customization options and the option to turn off the distracting and disruptive gestures. Choice is a positive for all users, whether you love or dislike Spotify shortcut swipe controls.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n

\"google\"google<\/a><\/p>\n

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority Judging by the sentiment shared by my colleagues, I\u2019m probably the only person…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[165,11710,74],"class_list":["post-497588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-mobile","tag-spotify","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}