Spotify’s UI has undergone several changes in recent years and many fans of the music streaming service are unhappy with it. Here is a detailed guide on what all the icons and symbols mean in the Spotify app. We will go through each Spotify screen, menu, and tab to explain what the icons and symbols look like and mean so you know what to expect when you tap on them.
Table of Contents
Home Tab
The home tab is where you land when you open the app for the first time. So let’s begin from there and understand what each icon and symbol means in Spotify’s home tab.
Note: Previously, the home tab had three icons – bell, clock, and cog icons. Now, all three options have been tucked away in a single menu that you can access by tapping on your profile photo in the upper left corner.
- Profile (Your picture or initials) Icon: Open your profile tab with more options.
- Connect (Monitor with speaker) Icon: That’s the Spotify Jam icon, formerly called Spotify Connect. Start a jamming session with your friends from here and listen to songs or podcasts together. Also, connect to other devices on the same Wi-Fi network and switch devices while playing songs.
- Play (White triangle) Icon: Play the song or album shown.
- Spotify Icon on Playlist Cover: Indicates a playlist created by Spotify specifically for you, based on your listening habits.
- Add to Episode (Grey plus sign in a circle) Icon: Adds the podcast episode to your ‘Saved Episodes’ section.
- Play (Black triangle in a white circle) Icon: Play the selected podcast episode.
- Add to Library (White plus sign in a circle) Icon: Adds that playlist to your music library by tapping.
- Previous Song (Left white arrow in black circle) Icon: Plays the preview of the last song in the playlist.
- Next Song (Right white arrow in black circle) Icon: Plays the next song preview in the playlist.
- Unmute (Loudspeaker with cross) Icon: Unmutes the song preview for the playlist.
- More Options (Three dots) Icon: Opens a menu with additional options for the playlist, such as “Not Interested,” “Download,” and “Share.”
Notice the song playing at the bottom of the screen? Tap on that to expand it and find more options.
Trick: You can now use one of the Spotify songs or tracks as your morning alarm.
Profile Tab
Let’s head over to your Profile tab. This is where you can manage your account settings, find your listening history, and customize your Spotify experience. Let’s break down the icons and options you’ll find here:
What’s New
The ‘What’s New’ section is your hub for discovering fresh content. It highlights new releases from artists, podcasts, and shows you follow. Let’s explore the icons that help you manage these new releases.
- Tick and Down Arrow in Green Circle Icon: Indicates that the episode has been downloaded (after previously tapping the grey down arrow in a circle) and added to your saved episode playlist.
- Grey Plus and Down Arrow in Circle Icon: Allows you to download the episode and add it to your playlist.
Your Sound Capsule (Premium)
Your Sound Capsule lets you revisit your past listening memories. These icons help you navigate and share those musical memories.
- Scroll (White up and down arrow) Icon: Allows you to scroll through different months to access your music throwbacks.
- Share (Up arrow in a box) Icon: Share your music throwback with friends.
Recent Tab
The ‘Recents’ section keeps track of your listening history. These icons help you understand and interact with your recently played tracks and episodes.
- Show Song (Down arrow inside a circle) Icon: Reveals the song within the album.
- Green Progress Bar (Inside a grey bar) Icon: Indicates how much of the episode or podcast you’ve listened to.
Song Screen (When You Play a Song)
When you play a song, this is the screen you see where you can interact with the song, view lyrics, and do more. Let’s explore the icons and symbols on this screen:
- Minimize (Downward-pointing arrow) Icon: Minimizes the current song screen, usually returning you to the previous page you were on.
- Don’t Play Again (Minus sign in a circle) Icon: Prevents the current song from playing again in the current session or being suggested to you in the future. It might also hide the song from the current list.
- Add to Liked Songs (White plus sign in a circle) Icon: Adds the current song to your “Liked Songs” playlist (or your designated liked songs playlist).
- Progress Bar (Moving white dot on a grey bar) Icon: Shows how much of the song has been played.
- Shuffle (Criss-crossed arrows) Icon: Toggles shuffle mode for the current playlist or queue. Green means shuffle is ON, grey means it’s OFF.
- Beginning/Previous Song (Backward arrow with a vertical line) Icon: Tap once to go back to the beginning of the current song. Tap twice quickly to play the previous song.
- Pause/Play (Two vertical black lines / black triangle) Icon: Indicates the current playback status. Two lines mean the song is paused; a triangle means it will play.
- Next Song (Forward arrow with a vertical line) Icon: Plays the next song in your playlist or queue.
- Repeat (Rectangle Arrow) Icon: Controls the repeat music function:
- a) Grey: No repeat.
- b) Green: Repeat the entire playlist.
- c) Green with 1 in middle: Repeats the current song.
- Connected Audio Device (Headphone) Icon: Indicates that a wired or wireless headphones or audio output device is currently connected to your device.
- Share Song (Up arrow in a box) Icon: Allows you to share the currently playing song with your friends through various platforms.
- Queue (Capsule with two horizontal lines) Icon: Opens your current song queue, showing the list of songs to be played next.
- Translate Lyrics (Chinese character with the letter “A”) Icon: Offer a translation of the lyrics into your phone’s system language.
- Share Lyrics (Up arrow in a box) Icon: Allows you to share the lyrics of the current song.
- Expand Lyrics (Two opposite-facing arrows in a diagonal style) Icon: Expands the lyrics view to take up more of the screen.
- Report Lyrics (Flag) Icon: Allows you to report any issues or inaccuracies you find within the displayed lyrics.
Inside Song Queue Screen
Inside the Queue screen, you will see songs that will be played next. Let’s explore what these three Horizontal lines icons mean.
Reshuffle (Three Parallel Horizontal Line): Hold-n-drag to reshuffle the play order using the three-line icon on the right side of the song.
E Icon
E stands for Explicit, meaning the lyrics of the song have violent, adult, or offensive words.
Search Tab
Search for songs, albums, artists, podcasts, etc.
Camera Icon
Spotify users can create a unique barcode with an album cover for any song, album, artist, or playlist on Spotify. Anyone Spotify user can then use their camera icon to scan these bar codes and immediately load the song or playlist shared. Tapping it launches the in-app camera.
Your Library Tab
This is where you will find your saved and created music playlists, podcasts you have subscribed to, and songs and episodes you liked. You will also find special playlists created by Spotify and other recommended content.
- Search (Magnifying Glass) Icon: Open the search bar, where you can type keywords like song titles, lyrics, podcast episode names, album titles, or artist names to find specific content within Spotify.
- Create New Playlist (Plus symbol) Icon: Allows you to create a new playlist and give it a name.
- Sorting (Up and down arrows) Icon: Open a menu where you can choose how your playlists are sorted. Options typically include “Most Recent,” “Alphabetically,” “Recently Added,” and “Creator.”
- Grid View (Four squares) Icon: Toggles the visual layout of your library between a list view and a grid view with larger album or playlist art. The icon will change to three vertical lines with dots when grid view is enabled.
- Bookmark (Pin) Icon: Tapping the pin icon next to a playlist will bookmark it, making it appear at the top of your “Your Library” section for easy access.
Podcasts List Page
Spotify also carries podcasts. Since this is an entirely different section, the icons and symbols are slightly different here.
- Notification (Bell) Icon: Indicates that you will receive notifications for new episodes of this podcast.
- Settings (Gear) Icon: Opens the settings menu specifically for this podcast.
- Menu (Three horizontal dots) Icon: Opens a menu with various options related to the podcast, such as rating the show or sharing it.
- Shorts (Cover page card) Icon: Opens a section featuring short video clips related to the podcast.
- Filter (Two horizontal parallel lines with circles) Icon: Opens a menu allowing you to filter and sort the available episodes.
- Add to Episodes (Plus sign in a circle) Icon: Adds the selected podcast episode to your “Episodes” playlist or saved episodes.
- Download (Downward-pointing arrow in a circle) Icon: Allows you to download the episode for offline listening.
- Episode Menu (Three horizontal dots) Icon: Opens a menu with options specific to that episode, such as marking it as finished or going to the episode details.
- Share (Upward-pointing arrow in a box) Icon: Allows you to share the podcast episode with others.
Podcast Player
Just like the music player screen above, there is a podcast player screen too which appears when you are listening to an episode. The options here are slightly different.
- Playback Speed (Number with “x”) Icon: Adjust the playback speed of the podcast, with options ranging from 0.5x to 3.5x.
- Rewind 15 Seconds (Counter-clockwise circular arrow with “15”) Icon: Jump backward 15 seconds in the current podcast episode.
- Forward 15 Seconds (Clockwise circular arrow with “15”) Icon: Jump forward 15 seconds in the current podcast episode.
- Sleep Timer (Stopwatch) Icon: Set a sleep timer for the podcast. You can select from preset durations (5 minutes to 1 hour or until the episode ends), but custom time entry is not available.
Short Videos of Songs in Playlists
Sometimes, within playlists, you’ll find short, looping videos accompanying certain songs. Here’s what the icons in that Shorts video section mean:
- Profile (Artist’s profile picture or initials) Icon: Will take you to the artist’s page, where you can find more of their music.
- Add to Library (White plus sign in a circle) Icon: Adds the song to your library. After tapping, the plus sign will likely change to a green circle with a white checkmark, indicating it has been added.
- Mute/Unmute (Speaker with curved lines / Speaker with a cross) Icon: Tap the speaker icon to toggle the sound on or off for the short video. The icon with curved lines indicates the sound is ON, while the icon with a cross indicates it’s MUTED.
- Share (Upward-pointing arrow in a box) Icon: Allows you to share the short video with others.
- Menu (Three horizontal dots) Icon: This opens a menu with various options related to the song, similar to the standard song menu.
- Add to Liked Songs (White plus sign in a circle) Icon: Adds the song to your “Liked Songs” playlist. Similar to adding to the library, it may change to a green circle with a white checkmark after being added.
- Progress Bar (White bar within a grey bar) Icon: The white bar inside the grey bar visually represents how much of the short video has played.
Lock Screen
You can access the music or podcast player from the lock screen, too.
Triangle With Three Circles
That’s the AirPlay icon and is visible only on an iPhone or iPad. Tap that icon to connect Spotify with nearby Apple devices like speakers or MacBooks and listen to podcasts.
Spotify app is riddled with several icons and symbols and while some are easy to understand, others you may figure out after tapping on it. But some symbols are just there for information and you don’t know what that means. One such symbol for me was the E icon. I hope this guide on the meaning of Spotify icons and symbols helped clear some air.
Not happy with Spotify or moved to a different music streaming service? Learn how to delete your Spotify account permanently.
