Spotify Mobile App Lets You Search Songs By Lyrics At Long Last
Spotify may still be the household name in music streaming despite the many controversies and rivalry from Apple Music, but that doesn't always mean it has all the best features in town. It may have been even too busy fending off those attacks that it may have been slow to roll out updates. Now it's announcing a rather small but potentially important feature for its users who will now be able to search for songs on Android and iOS by simply typing in parts of the lyrics.
The feature works simply enough. Just key in a phrase in the mobile app and Spotify will show songs that contain that, at least the songs that's in its massive collection. It's admittedly a handy feature when you're already in the Spotify app anyway.
My team just shipped something on iOS and Android –
now you can find songs by lyrics 😉 on Spotify
Give it a try 😊 pic.twitter.com/bOs4Ob9O84
— Lina 💎 (@linafab) October 5, 2020
The problem with this feature is that it is quite late to the party. Apple Music already had such a feature that did exactly that in 2018, three years after the service launched.
There's also the fact that there may be quickest ways to discover songs based on their lyrics than searching on Spotify. Shazam, which Apple now owns, and Google Assistant can do that for you if the song is playing and Google is most likely people's first resort when searching for things on the Web. Still, for Spotify users who practically live in the mobile app, it's a nice touch nonetheless.
This tiny and almost silent update follows a steady stream of new features revolving around Spotify playlists and podcasts. The most high-profile news Spotify may have been involved lately, however, is its participation in the new Coalition for App Fairness formed by Epic Games and other apps and services that have a bone to pick with Apple, which, of course, includes Spotify.