I love Spotify, but its Android app still gets one thing wrong
I love Spotify, but its Android app still gets one thing wrong
https://www.androidauthority.com/spotify-shortcuts-gestures-android-3644492/
Publish Date: 2026-03-01 05:40:00
Source Domain: www.androidauthority.com
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Judging by the sentiment shared by my colleagues, I’m probably the only person at Android Authority and perhaps the wider world who dislikes Spotify’s overreliance on shortcut gestures. What can I say? I prefer tangible feedback, the type that only tapping a button provides.
I’m a firm believer in giving consumers options, especially when it comes to app design. Prescribing a specific workflow to consumers assumes that everyone is the same, and this simply isn’t true. We all have different needs, expectations, and methods for completing a task effectively. It’s important that you understand my point of view, as it’s not the functionality that Spotify’s shortcut gestures provide that alienates me, but rather the forced implementation of them.
Do you want Spotify to give you more control over the app’s gestures?
3 votes
No, the gesture system is fine as is.
67%
Yes, I’d appreciate having more options and control.
33%
If you’re not a Spotify user, you’ll likely need some additional context — just know that the app offers so many shortcut swipes, taps, and long-presses for playback and queue management. You can swipe right to add songs to the queue, which is supremely useful when actively managing a session. Then there’s the swipe left in the queue to remove the track from it. Other options include the rather natural swiping up/down to hide or reveal the Now Playing screen, swiping left or right on the playing bar to skip or return to the previous track, and long-pressing on a song to bring up the track’s context menu.
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
On the surface, Spotify’s gesture system alongside its fluid interface makes sense. In practice, it encourages errors from errant swipes and taps.
Let me provide a real-world example. My fiancée and I were recently listening to tracks in our living room while I browsed YouTube and she studied. I had a pretty great flow going, jumping from Solange to Janet Jackson,…
