Spotify for Android gets a bottom bar navigation

Fariha Khan
November 24, 2016
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If you are a regular Spotify user on Android, you might have noticed a change today. Spotify has flipped the server-side switch to enable bottom navigation for users in the stable channel (finally). It is something really wonderful as it means you will not have to deal with the hamburger menu anymore. Woahh…

With this update accessing Browse, Home, Search, Radio, and Your Library is a matter of just a click. It is similar as in the iPhone app now. You don’t have to open up the hamburger menu by tapping a button at the top corner (as you had to do before) and tap once more to pick the app section that you want to navigate to.

Bottom bar navigation is more suitable for many users over hamburger menus. In a case like Spotify when you’re frequently using the app while driving, having the ability to navigate around without having to open and close a secondary menu constantly is very useful.

For this reason, Spotify is one of those apps that you may find very easy to use on iOS and now on Android as well.

With the release of a Google+ update in January, Google started adding bottom bar navigation to some of its apps. The same style of navigation was used for Google Photos and then to third-party apps like Spotify.

In case you are one of those who feel hamburger menus are better, you should explore Google’s description of bottom navigation in the Material Design spec. “Tapping on a bottom navigation icon takes you directly to the associated view,” Google says. That is what the best way is. So here is some great news for Spotify users and something that most of them would really cherish and make the most of now and in future.