[Desktop] Native client for Linux

[rvfet]

Plan

Premium

Country

Azerbaijan

Operating System

(Fedora 40, Android 14)

My Question or Issue

The lack of a native desktop client for Fedora (and other Linux distributions) is unacceptable. As a paying subscriber, I shouldn't have to resort to workarounds just to listen to music. The Flatpak version is unreliable, sluggish and problematic. I'm tired of installating additional extensions (like AppIndicator for Gnome, just to enable background playback), or configuring Flatseal just to allow the spotify various permissions to work, and generally needing to use a containerized application for basic functionality like background music streaming. The Flatpak version of Spotify frequently desynchronizes, displaying incorrect playback information and unresponsive controls while I'm listening on my phone. It also constantly crashes (Blank page but the music is playing in background, only way to fix is to forcibly-kill the app and restart it). Along with having sluggish performance.

Spotify needs a native desktop application for Linux users. I understand that as a large greedy company, prioritizing the majority of users and reducing costs is what y'all are after, and Linux has relatively smaller market share. However, providing a subpar application to appease a minority of your customer base is not a solution. Numerous posts on Reddit and other forums (over 1000) complain about the very issue that I'm writing about - either being forced to use the Flatpak version or keep a browser tab open as PWA version with basically only music playback functionality working. This is an extremely frustrating situation for a simple service that you are paying for.

If the only Linux option in 2025 remains the current Flatpak application, I will discontinue my subscription. I'm not gonna lie, switching to a competitor sounds more appealing than having to do all the above f*ckery.