Help Sorting in a Playlist

[JamsFlams]

Plan

Free

Country

USA

Device

Motorola Moto E4

Operating System

Android Nougat

Spotify App Version

8.5.29.828

My Question or Issue

I am unable to sort songs in a playlist. Per the instructions in the Sort and Filter help page, I should be able to sort songs in a playlist by doing the following: [1. Go to the playlist you’d like to sort. 2. Tap (3 vertical dots) in the top-right corner. 3. Tap Sort playlist. 4. Tap how you’d like to sort e.g. by Recently added.] This does not work for me. When I go into the playlist I want to sort and use the 3 dot menu, the only options I see are: add songs, make collaborative, rename playlist, delete playlist, share, and make secret. In that order. How can I sort songs in a playlist on my android device?

[Loxer]

Hey @JamsFlams, welcome to the Community.

Hope you're doing great!

Unfortunately, since repeating songs and playing them on demand is a Premium feature only. You can learn more here what you can do with the free version.

Since the you will be able to play only on a shuffle tied mode, the order of the songs won't make any impact on it.

Hope it helps 🙂

[JamsFlams]

Please read the issue description again. I'm not having an issue with the repeat, shuffle, or play on demand functions. I know that while using the free version I cannot play songs in a certain order. Per this page (https://support.spotify.com/us/article/sorting-and-filtering/) I know that sorting within a playlist is possible. The instructions to find the sort option for mobile and what I see in the attached image do not match up. That is the issue for which I'm needing a resolution.

[Loxer]

Hey @JamsFlams,

Per my last reply, sorting on mobile for the free version users is not possible, because whatever the place of the song the playlist will be played in shuffle.

Hope it helps 🙂

[smacchia]

I started having this issue in the last month (Jan 2023). Spotify tells me to sort on the desktop app and while that works, the sort of songs in the playlist IS NOT REFLECTED in the android app. I'm a premium customer and this is really CRITICAL feature for me.

[AlejaR]

Hey @smacchia,

Thanks for your reply.

If the song order in your playlists is not synching between devices, could make sure that they have Custom sorting order enabled? You can learn how to do this here.

If that doesn't don the trick, we recommend you log out everywhere and run a clean reinstall on all your devices, this involves deleting the cache files of the app and will force a account wide resynchronization of your info. You can have a look at this guide for the steps relevant to each device.

Lastly, we'd like to add that the sorting option that sync between devices is the Custom order one. Is expected behavior that the other options available don't sync between devices.

Keep us in the loop!

[smacchia]

I have been using the desktop sort by feature for the songs in my playlists for several years. I usually choose "date added" in ascending order (newest first). In the past this was ALWAYS reflected in my android app and in other desktop apps in other systems. For the last month, the order is NOT reflected anywhere but the desktop app that I set the order in.

This is incredibly annoying. If I choose custom order,  it works, but this is INCREDIBLY tedious when all I want is to sort by date added. Sometime within the last month this has been broken. I contacted spotify chat and tried all of the above (spotify cleared my cache, I installed/reinstalled the app, I cleared the app data, etc. etc. All with no results.
When I started with spotify back in 2017(ish), the app on the phone used to have a sort feature built in and I could custom sort and could sort by date added, etc. In addition, I could "find in playlist" in the android app and that is gone too.

For me - this is a very serious bug. When I travel I do NOT have access to a desktop app, just my tablet and phone. What do I need to do to get this fixed? I've tried reporting it but am unable to get it seen as a real bug, which it very much is.

[MihailY]

Hey @smacchia,

Thanks for the additional info you've provided.

The current app experience is that your sorting preferences (apart from the custom one) are saved locally and are not synchronized across your devices.  

Regarding the search and sort options missing on your mobile device, can you please confirm that you don't see them at the top of your screen when you scroll up after opening a playlist (see screenshot below)? If yes, is it possible to send us a few screenshots of how things look on your end so we can investigate further?

Keep us posted.

[smacchia]

Thank you SO much for pointing this out. So the app changed the UI on me and I had no way to know that swiping down gave me those 2 features that I rely on !! Do you know if there are release notes with each release so I can track changes like this?

[OscarDC]

Hey @smacchia,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

We're glad to know that everything is clearer now 🙂

If you want to be up to date with the new releases, even when we don't include release notes on the updates, you have the Newsroom website where Spotify posts all the recent changes made to the app, along with new features coming and more. You can check the page at this link.

Hope this helps. If you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[smacchia]

Thanks! This will help alot when features like this move to a new (hidden!) spot.