As a few users have noticed over the past day, Spotify has begun rolling out a small but significant design change to its iOS app that does away with the hamburger menu and replaces it with an easier-to-understand navigation bar across the bottom of the experience. The new bar more closely resembles the rest of the apps in Apple's ecosystem, particularly the navigation menu on its own streaming music service, Apple Music, which is now rumored for a design overhaul announcement at WWDC.

Before the update, Spotify users had to tap on the three-line hamburger button in the top-left corner of the app to open up a launch pad menu that would bring them to other sections of the service like its radio and music library. Hiding much-needed areas of Spotify from the immediate view of its users made it somewhat of a hassle, especially for newcomers, so the introduction of the straightforward traversal cues presented by the navigation bar should help everyone out.

spotify nav bar 3
Specifically, the new bar houses tabs for Spotify's Home launching pad, an area to browse new music, a search function, access to radio, and your own library of music. Understandably, some in-house testing by Spotify discovered that with the tab bar, user interactivity with these menu options jumped up 30 percent over the hamburger UI, while also encouraging new music and artist discovery and keeping users inside the service instead of seeking alternative solutions in other music streaming apps.

iPhone users in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Sweden will begin seeing the navigation bar update as the rollout continues today, with the company promising additional markets and platforms in the coming months. Spotify Music is available to download from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Spotify

Top Rated Comments

masteroflondon Avatar
92 months ago
"across the bottom of the experience" ?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cambookpro Avatar
92 months ago
Finally - I've lost count of the number of times I've been caught in some hellish Back > Back > Back > Back > Back > Back > Hamburger Menu loop just to get back to the home screen when looking at an album or artist.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
smacrumon Avatar
92 months ago
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=4]Hamburger requires an extra touch just to reveal what's available inside the bun. Less touches the better.
Keeping it clear, simple and easy to use. What a brilliant formula.[/SIZE][/FONT]
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannys1 Avatar
92 months ago
"Hamburger menu" is one of cringiest terms ever. I refuse to use it.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Corrode Avatar
92 months ago
Thanks goodness the hamburger seems to be dying across most apps. The bottom menu of five is much better UX.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
leoformaggio Avatar
92 months ago
Well done, Spotify! But actually this is a tab bar, not a navigation bar. Please, update the article if possible. Reference: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/Bars.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40006556-CH12-SW52
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)