Spotify announced today that it is consolidating the heart and “Add to Playlist” icons into a single plus button, allowing users to save any song, album, playlist, audiobook, podcast or episode to their library with a single tap.
To add a song to ‘Liked Songs’, users tap the plus button on the right in the ‘Now Playing View’. After tapping it, the icon changes to a green check mark to let the user know that it has been saved to the list. If users then want to add the song to another playlist, they can tap the plus icon again. Users can also select the new button on podcast episodes and add them to “Your Episodes.”
Starting today, the new icon will be rolled out worldwide on iOS and Android devices. It will become available to all Spotify users in the coming weeks. Some users already have the icon, as Spotify has been testing the change since last year.
Image Credits: Spotify
While it’s a minor change, it may be difficult for some users to get used to. A heart icon is widely used in many popular apps, including Spotify competitors like Apple Music and social media platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. In fact, Twitter changed the star-shaped favorite/like button to a heart in 2015, as the heart is a more universal symbol.
However, Spotify is confident that the new plus button will help users save time as it gives them the ability to add to multiple playlists at once. While testing the feature, Spotify said that users would listen to the favorite song more often once it was saved.
In recent months, Spotify has launched many ways to improve the user experience. Last week, for example, the music streaming service rolled out “DJ,” a new AI feature that gives users a curated selection of music alongside AI-powered spoken commentary about their favorite songs and artists. The new feature is still in beta and is only available in English to paying subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Earlier this month, Spotify announced an “Exclude from Your Taste Profile” feature that allows users to control which playlists are excluded from their personalized recommendations.
The company also launched a new Home experience in the summer, where “Music” and “Podcasts & Shows” are separate feeds.