Disable Shuffle by default on new album view

[Glitched]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

iPhone X

Operating System

iOS 13

My Question or Issue

I like the new UI update, but hate that the play button for albums defaults to shuffle play, as seen below. I don't want to shuffle albums, pretty much ever. I would also appreciate the ability to disable it for my playlists where the order of the songs matter.

 

[Emilia_8]

Hi @Glitched, 

Thank you for reaching out here in the Community!

If you click the first song in the album, they should play in original order, as long as shuffle is off in the Now Playing bar. 

However, you're always welcome to post your ideas in the Idea Exchange part of the community. For more details on that, check this article. 

I hope you'll find this helpful! 

[clocksworth]

Plan

Premium

Country

Australia

Device

iPhone XS

Spotify App Version

8.5.54.1127

My Question or Issue

The new playlist/album play button FORCES shuffle mode.

Knowing Spotify's past UX update performance it would not be surprising if this was an "intentional update". But there's zero indication if this is within user control or not.

Pressing play changes the button to pause. If you pause, then hit play again, the song changes in shuffle! Absolutely not the expected result!

Changing such a significant piece of the UI needs to be communicated to customers, if that is the case.

If it's not, please provide information on how to fix this.

Playlists and albums are usually designed to be played back in a specified order (why even allow users to change the order of a playlist if you choose not to honor the specified order???), and this blind UX change has potentially to severely negatively impact a large amount of customer's experience.

An image is attached to show you specifically what the play button looks like. 

Please advise on how to resolve this.

[5av10ur]

Amen to this. So astoundingly, amazingly, infuriatingly annoying. Why is there no press-and-hold to bring up other play options or a way of turning this off in settings? If I want to shuffle an album or playlist I’ll add it to the queue and shuffle that. If I want to listen to an album I want to be able to do this IN THE ORDER THE ARTIST INTENDED!!! Please Spotify don’t assume you know what I want to do or how I want to listen to music.

[GraemeKerr]

This has been driving me mad too. There is a typically Spotifyesque work around.

1. Go into one of your own playlists

2. Hit play

3. Go in to the 'currently playing' screen.

4. Turn off shuffle with the 'two crossed arrows' symbol/button.

5. Go back into Release Radar or other Spotify created playlist.

6. Hit play on the first or whatever track and they'll play sequentially. DO NOT USE THE SHUFFLE PLAY BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THE PLAYLIST!

This works for me on Android. I'm not an iOS user so can't say if this'll be a help.

Pretty classic Spotify, top down, daddy knows best updates that have clearly been designed with as little thought as possible. The culture at Spotify is ghastly.

[clocksworth]

@GraemeKerr

Thanks for this workaround Graeme.
I am also very frustrated with this as shuffle play has historically been widely marketed as a limitation of the free plan. I would not expect to see this shuffle play inconveniently thrust on premium users as well, through UI decisions like this.

On iOS the green play button at the top of albums and playlists is now ALWAYS this forced shuffle play. There is also a similar workaround on iOS, by directly selecting the first track and ignoring the green play button (lol!) -- but fact is, as paying customers we shouldn't have to use workarounds and unintuitive methods to use the app the way it had functioned for the last 5 years.

I do not know what testing this went through, decisions like this are honestly baffling. No value has been added by this change. Only a worse user experience.

It begs the question to Spotify: Why make it harder and significantly less-intuitive for the user to achieve the default task they always have had: play music sequentially?

No other music streaming service makes such a basic task more complex than it needs to be.
A play button has always historically represented sequential play.
A complimentary shuffle button has always historically represented toggle for shuffle play.

But almost a hundred years of learned intuition is disregarded arbitrarily in these mobile apps. Innovation, I think not.

[GraemeKerr]

Oh, I see what you mean now, that is a super odd design decision.

On Android where the shuffle toggle button should be there is a button to favourite/add to your library the track playing. Kinda useful but not at the expense of being able to turn shuffle off. 

[bigdadrecords]

I’m experiencing the same “shuffle only” **bleep** that Spotify for IOS has now become. Support has no clue how to tell me that this is just the way it is now. Spotify, please go back to the straightforward green Play button. Shuffle play can be the option it always was.

The shortest workaround currently is selecting the three dots on the playlist page and selecting “add to queue”. 

[clocksworth]

Are these forums monitored? Any additional information on this?

Most apps onboard major changes in features, but this hasn't been done with Spotify and users have received no explanation... what gives?

[25bees]

Hi, I don’t know if the new update has had an error, but the bar with shuffle etc. that is present on phones won’t appear on the iPad now. All I can do is return or skip songs on the side bar and always on shuffle.

no where is there in the settings an option to turn off shuffle. 

 

[Emilia_8]

Hi @25bees, 

Does it also play on shuffle when you choose the first song from an album, playlist or Artist main page?

You can read more on the new design, including the shuffle button, here. 

Keep me posted! 

[25bees]

Hi,

It is always on shuffle, no matter we’re I start playing music from.
That article has the layout of the mobile style, the tablet one looks
different like in the picture I sent.

Cheers

[Emilia_8]

Hello @25bees, 

There's a small circle with the Shuffle Play symbol right under the big green Play button on the right. Looks like the Shuffle Play symbol is green which means the feature is activated. 

Could you tap on the circle and see if it helps? 

Let me know how it goes!

[25bees]

Hiya,

It’s not actually a button, it’s just telling you it’s on shuffle when you
click the big green play button.

[Emilia_8]

Hi @25bees, 

Thanks for your response!

In this case, I'd recommend performing clean reinstall of your Spotify app. It's different than regular reinstallation.
Just find your device in this article and follow the steps provided there.

If it doesn't help either, a screenshot of what you see after taping on the album art in the bottom left corner would be helpful. 

I hope the clean reinstall helps!

[Knitterbaum]

I have the same problem with my iPad Pro

[Emilia_8]

Hello @Knitterbaum, 

I'd suggest you to turn the shuffle option off first.

Then you can tap the first song, so the songs are no longer in shuffle mode. 

You can find more info about shuffle in this Support Article.

Note: The play button on top of a playlist will always activate shuffle. To play in order, you have to choose the first song of an album/playlist/artist. 

If you have any idea on how to improve Spotify, you're always welcome to post it in the Idea Exchange part of the Community. 

For more details on that, make sure to check out this series of articles. 

Have a great day! 

[slibbidy]

Right, but WHY would anyone want to shuffle by default on an album? A playlist, sure go for it, but the default for an album should absolutely be in order. There is a reason an artist arranges their songs on an album in a specific way. 

[ktaylor01]

Hi, This doesn't seem to work - when I press on the first song, it just stops after playing that song. How do I play a whole album, starting from track one?
I have uninstalled and reinstalled spotify, an checked it knows I am a premium account, but still no luck

[Emilia_8]

Hello @slibbidy, the Shuffle button is displayed everywhere in the app, including albums. If you don't want to shuffle, make sure to tap the first song form an album and make sure the shuffle is off. The album should be playing in order. 

If you'd like to see just a play button in the albums, you're always welcome to submit a post in the Idea Exchange part of the Community. 

More details on it can be found here.

Hi @ktaylor01, you've mentioned reinstalling the app, but have you tried clean reinstall? It's different than regular reinstallation.
Just find your device in this article and follow the steps provided there.

Let me know how it goes!