Spotify for iPhone updated with new interface
Spotify has just updated its mobile app for iPhone with a new interface that puts it on par with last year's overhauled Android version. There are a few big changes to the interface, and the most prominent is the addition of a swipe-across menu …
Context & Ripple Effects
Spotify’s iPhone app had already established a mobile foothold by the first look at its iPhone app in 2009. Aligning its interface with Android’s earlier overhaul makes cross-platform consistency, rather than basic mobile availability, the immediate product issue.
First-order effects
- iPhone users receive swipe-based navigation and an interface intended to match the experience Spotify had already introduced on Android.
- Spotify must maintain a more consistent interaction model across its two named mobile platforms.
Second-order effects
- A shared mobile interface reduces the scope for platform-specific product divergence, concentrating Spotify’s design and support work on keeping equivalent experiences aligned.
- Android and iPhone become more directly comparable entry points to Spotify, leaving uneven interface design less able to shape which platform offers the better service experience.
Third-order effects
- If Spotify sustains interface parity, mobile music services increasingly compete through a common cross-platform product layer rather than separate iOS and Android designs.
The trend: Streaming apps are moving toward cross-platform design parity so the service experience travels more consistently between major mobile operating systems.