How Spotify Redesigned Its Desktop App: What Changed and Why

Spotify made two major overhauls to its desktop application in recent years. The first came in March 2021 and the second in June 2023. Each update changed how people find music, manage playlists, and control what's playing when they use Spotify on a computer instead of a phone.

2021: Adding Features That Mobile Already Had

For years, Spotify's desktop app was missing features that were already available on phones. On March 25, 2021, Spotify launched a redesign to close those gaps.

The update added a search box built directly into playlists. Before this, if you wanted to add a song to a playlist, you had to leave that playlist, search elsewhere, and come back. Now you could search without leaving.

The app also let you manage your queue—the list of songs coming up next. You could rearrange songs, skip ahead, or see what you've just listened to. This was something phone users could already do, so the desktop version finally caught up.

A new sorting system made it easier to organize your saved music. Instead of manually arranging songs, you could sort by artist, date added, or other options from a dropdown menu.

Spotify also made the desktop app available through the Windows Store and Epic Games Store during this time. This meant people could install it more easily from places they already used.

2023: Rethinking the Layout for a Bigger Screen

Two years later, on June 20, 2023, Spotify tackled a bigger problem: the actual layout of the app. The new design split the screen into three columns.

Your music library went on the left. What's now playing appeared on the right. In the middle, you could discover and browse content. This meant you could see your saved songs, the current song with its album cover, and playback controls all at once—without windows popping up and covering what you were looking at.

The "now playing" section got a lot more space. Album artwork became bigger, song details were easier to read, and controls were more prominent. Desktop users often run Spotify in the background while working in other programs, so having information you can glance at became more important.

Your saved music library stayed visible at all times. Before, you had to click to expand it. Now it was always there on the left side.

There is a pattern here worth understanding. Many music and communication apps—Slack, Discord, and others—started by copying their phone designs to the desktop. But desktop computers have bigger screens and different ways of working. Eventually, these apps redesigned themselves to take advantage of that extra space and the fact that people use computers differently. Spotify followed the same path.

How Updates Reached Users

Both updates worked across all the ways you can use Spotify on a computer: the downloadable app, the Windows Store version, and the Epic Games Store version all received the same changes. The web version you access through a browser also got updated at the same time.

When you updated Spotify, you didn't lose anything. Your playlists, saved songs, and settings all stayed exactly as they were. There was no complicated migration or need to start fresh.

Why Desktop Deserves Its Own Design

The way people use Spotify on a desktop is genuinely different from how they use it on a phone. On a phone, you focus on the app for a few moments at a time. On a desktop, Spotify often runs in the background while you're working, and you glance at it without switching away from other tasks.

The 2023 redesign understood that. It made sure everything you needed was visible without clicking around or dealing with popup windows. You could see what's playing, browse your music, and jump to a new song without leaving your main workspace.

The redesign also reflected that many music-streaming competitors were building better desktop experiences. By creating a design that truly worked for computers—rather than just shrinking a phone interface—Spotify positioned itself more competitively against other players optimized for desktop.

This shift makes sense from the industry's broader perspective. When web services first became popular, companies often built one design and adapted it for every screen size. Over time, successful services realized that phones, tablets, and computers are used so differently that each deserves its own approach. Desktop gets more screen space and different interaction patterns. Taking advantage of that means better experiences for the people actually using them.