I’ve been a loyal Spotify subscriber for the best part of 10 years, and there are many reasons why I’ve stuck with it (my Daylist is the first thing that comes to mind). However, despite this, there are several downsides to one of the best music streaming services – its Smart Shuffle feature being one. But now there’s a new way to disable this annoying feature altogether.
Spotify introduced Smart Shuffle in 2023, a feature that weaves song recommendations in between the ones in your personally curated playlists, and it didn’t sit well with music fans- myself included – to say the very least. Thankfully, you no longer have to put up with its annoyances as users have spotted a new way to disable it.
Eagle-eyed users on Reddit brought attention to the new ‘Enable all play modes’ toggle in the Spotify app settings that was added very quietly. When this setting is enabled, you can sift through the Linear, Shuffle, and Smart Shuffle options when listening to your playlists. Disabling it turns off Smart Shuffle for all of your playlists.
This new setting appears differently for some users (see below) but has the exact same functionality. So far, it seems as though it’s gradually rolling out globally – I’ve already taken advantage of it – so it may not be visible to all Spotify users just yet.
Comment from r/truespotify
Goodbye Smart Shuffle, we never needed you anyway
Though it was designed to ‘breathe new life’ into your listening experience and offer a personal new music discovery alternative, a large portion of Spotify subscribers never warmed up to the feature as a whole, complaining that its rotation of song suggestions lack in variety and don’t live up to its daily renewal promises. On top of that, Smart Shuffle annoyingly interrupts the standard Shuffle function.
When Spotify first brought out Smart Shuffle, I dabbled in it mainly as a means of finding similar songs to fill out my specific playlists, an alternative way of using the ‘Recommended songs’ list at the bottom of each playlist. At first, it was handy, but the novelty wore off rather quickly.
For a feature that uses your music habits as well as the knowledge of Spotify’s music experts to offer new song suggestions, it’s not the most dynamic music discovery feature and lacks scope. There are far better features out there for music discovery – I stand by the trusty New Music Friday playlist that’s generated weekly, and I’ll reiterate my soft spot for Spotify Daylists. So, for now, it’s time to disable Smart Shuffle until Spotify can come up with a better solution.
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