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Spotify Now Offers Lock Screen Widget on iPhone

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Spotify today announced that it now offers a Lock Screen widget on the iPhone, allowing users to quickly access the app with a single tap. The widget is available with the latest version of the Spotify app released on the App Store earlier today.

Spotify-Lock-Screen-Widget.jpg

Lock Screen widgets require iOS 16 or later. To add a widget, tap and hold the Lock Screen, tap on the Customize button, tap on the Lock Screen, tap on Add Widgets, select Spotify from the list that appears, and tap on the widget. For emphasis, the Spotify widget will only appear in the list if the app has been updated to the latest version.

While a Lock Screen widget is nice, Spotify has still yet to implement native support for the HomePod, meaning that Spotify cannot be fully controlled with Siri on the speaker like Apple Music can be. Spotify also lacks support for AirPlay 2, which launched in 2018 with less buffering, support for stereo-paired HomePods, and more.

Article Link: Spotify Now Offers Lock Screen Widget on iPhone
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/04/13/spotify-lock-screen-widget/
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hacky said:
If that's so, than it is lazy implementation on the Apple side. Let 3rd party apps show some data here. Just like Apple widgets do.
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It’s more illogical nonsense from Apple. Widgets (both on the Home Screen and Lock Screen) are still largely useless on iOS compared to Android. I don’t understand why Apple holds back on things like this. It’s not like they lack talented developers. They just willingly choose, year after year, to give us handicapped versions of features that Android has had for a decade now. The “Apple waits to implement things and then does them better” just isn’t true lately. I love Apple products. But that doesn’t mean that many of the choices they make aren’t infuriating. I used the Lock Screen widgets for about a week until I realized they were mostly useless and cosmetic. Apple can do much, much better. It’s not Spotify’s fault that widgets suck.
 
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Choco Taco said:
It’s more illogical nonsense from Apple. Widgets (both on the Home Screen and Lock Screen) are still largely useless on iOS compared to Android. I don’t understand why Apple holds back on things like this. It’s not like they lack talented developers. They just willingly choose, year after year, to give us handicapped versions of features that Android has had for a decade now. The “Apple waits to implement things and then does them better” just isn’t true lately. I love Apple products. But that doesn’t mean that many of the choices they make aren’t infuriating. I used the Lock Screen widgets for about a week until I realized they were mostly useless and cosmetic. Apple can do much, much better. It’s not Spotify’s fault that widgets suck.
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And don't forget the iPad didn't even get that. Maybe this year we get lucky and finally can choose a wallpaper with different fonts. Can't innovate my ass.
 
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YouTube Music shows at least the last played album or playlist and starts playing that if you tap it.
 
Choco Taco said:
It’s more illogical nonsense from Apple. Widgets (both on the Home Screen and Lock Screen) are still largely useless on iOS compared to Android. I don’t understand why Apple holds back on things like this. It’s not like they lack talented developers. They just willingly choose, year after year, to give us handicapped versions of features that Android has had for a decade now. The “Apple waits to implement things and then does them better” just isn’t true lately. I love Apple products. But that doesn’t mean that many of the choices they make aren’t infuriating. I used the Lock Screen widgets for about a week until I realized they were mostly useless and cosmetic. Apple can do much, much better. It’s not Spotify’s fault that widgets suck.
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Just because Apple makes the APK available doesn't mean app devs use it. There are plenty of apps that have active widgets; this isn't one. That's on Spotify, not Apple.
 
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OneBar said:
Just because Apple makes the APK available doesn't mean app devs use it. There are plenty of apps that have active widgets; this isn't one. That's on Spotify, not Apple.
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Even the active widgets are terrible. The iPad still doesn’t have a calculator app. Apple can be a very frustrating company. The utter lack of customization of the widgets, especially sizing and positioning, makes them even worse. They’re incredibly limited in their functionality. Apple can do more. A lot more. The widgets were a very big thing they were pushing and they are very disappointing in real world usage.
 
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Updated Spotify to the new release from today and am running the most recent iOS 16 release as well and the spotify doesn’t show on the widgets list. Sounds like I’m not really missing anything anyway.
 
For me, it makes it one tap instead of three! I made my own with Widgy, and I love it. Nice to have some thing native now.
boak said:
Never really understood the purpose of such widgets. Not much time saved and it's placed so far high up to reach anyway.
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Choco Taco said:
They made the Home Screen customization seem 100 times cooler than it actually is during the keynote. They really need to pump up their customization game. 😬
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Yeah, I mean... 8 fonts? Could you just give me a list of every font installed? What about moving the objects of the lock screen? Maybe in ten years.
 
Congrats to Spotify developers, every tiny step they take to close the massive gap in quality between their product and Apple Music is admirable. :p
 
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