When users first found out that Spotify was removing support for an Android widget, there was some confusion as to why they would do that and then eventual anger when they actually pushed through with it. Of course, companies know they should never underestimate a passionate fan base, even if it’s over something simple as a widget. And so the music streaming giant seems to be backtracking on their decision and is bringing back the feature in their next update.
A post on the Android Widget thread in the Spotify Community site shows one of their admins post an update last September 3, saying that they have made “improvements to the performance and visuals” of the aforementioned Android Widget. And then if you were wondering what widget they were talking about when they just removed it a few weeks ago, the next sentence says that they are reinstating it by the next update or “upcoming release on Android”.
This may probably be due to the 16,000 yes votes that they got in the Spotify Community system when they launched the poll asking if people wanted to bring the widget back. While initially, they insisted that they were not bringing the widget back, that number of votes and the news and commentaries written about it online probably helped push them in the “right” direction. So now all those who wanted the widget back have to wait for when the update will bring it back.
One of its main competitors, Apple Music, has an Android widget and so people were surprised that the multi-platform Spotify would give them any sort of advantage by removing their own widget. The two have always been more competitive when it comes to the same features and so this didn’t make much sense.
Thankfully, they have seen the light and may even be bringing new things to the widget since they mentioned “improvements”. No news yet when this update will roll out but they will probably benefit more by bringing it sooner rather than later.
