How to use Spotify on your smartphone

As we have mentioned before in the Smartphone School, Spotify lets you listen to almost all the world's music on your computer or smartphone.

Elvis, the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Bowie, Cliff Richard: there is no need to buy CDs any more. You can listen anywhere, through headphones on a walk or through the stereo at home.

What is Spotify?

Spotify is a streaming service. This means you listen to music over the internet instead of buying albums.

You can use Spotify for free, or pay a monthly fee for extra features. It works on both smartphones and computers. To get started, you first need to create an account on one of them.

Get Spotify for free on your mobile

Download the Spotify app from the Play Store if you have an Android phone, or from the App Store if you have an iPhone.

When the app has downloaded, tap Open. You can then choose to log in or sign up.
Tap SIGN UP.
Sign up with your Facebook account, or enter your email address and the other details you are asked for. Then tap SIGN UP.

Make your own playlists

With Spotify, it is easy to find your favourite artists and songs and collect them in your own lists. You could save songs by several artists in one list, gather the hits from a particular year, or make a list of your favourite Christmas songs.

To add songs to a playlist:

Log in with your username and password.
Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines). This opens the menu.
Tap Search to find a song or artist.
Type the name of an artist, song or album.
Tap the icon with three dots to add the song to a playlist, or to create a new playlist.
Repeat these steps to add more songs.

To find the playlists you have saved, tap the menu icon (three lines) and choose Your Library.

How to play a song

Tap Search, find a song or artist, then tap the song to play it.

Playlists and suggestions for you

Spotify also offers playlists that other listeners have saved, as well as playlists that Spotify recommends to you. This is a good way to discover new music.

The recommendations can be based on your mood, your favourite artists and what you are doing.

Shuffle your music

When you play a playlist or an album, you can listen to the songs in order or let Spotify play them in random order.

To shuffle, choose a playlist or album and tap the green Shuffle Play button. This is handy at a party, for example.

Free or Premium: which should you choose?

Spotify Premium removes the ads and gives you all of Spotify's features. You can choose exactly which songs to play, skip as many songs as you like and enjoy better sound quality.

You can try Premium for free for a limited time, and you can end your subscription at any time at no extra cost.

The free version has ads, and it limits which songs you can choose and how often you can skip.

Activate Spotify Premium on your mobile

With the app installed on your smartphone, you can start a free trial of Spotify Premium.

Open the Spotify app.
In the menu at the bottom of the screen, tap Your Library.
Tap GO PREMIUM and read the details of the offer.
Tap START MY TRIAL to activate it.