It’s 2022, and Spotify is adding the most basic features to its iOS and Android apps: dedicated buttons for playing and shuffling playlists and album pages. Until now, tapping the button on most playlists started playback with shuffle mode enabled. To play the songs in order, you need to tap on an individual song.
Split play and shuffle buttons will only be available to Spotify Premium subscribers. While it may seem odd at first to only give paying members access to individual icons, it makes sense. Apart from select playlists, free users can only use Spotify in shuffle mode on a mobile device (this does not apply to the desktop or tablet app). In the coming weeks, Spotify will release the separate play and shuffle buttons that really should have been integrated into the app from the start.
Last year, Adele pressured the streaming platform to remove the shuffle button from albums. She argues that albums should be listened to in order, the way the artists intended them. Spotify seems to have agreed, as it’s started showing just a simple play button for albums — though it’s putting the shuffle button back on those pages with the latest update.
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