5 Spotify Hacks Every Free User Needs To Know

Whether you’re discovering your new favorite song or queuing up the latest episode of the hottest podcasts, Spotify is always innovating to deliver the best experience possible. And our Free users around the world have unprecedented access to the very best of what the platform has to offer: personalized music recommendations, a mobile-friendly data saver mode, the freedom to stream their favorite music and podcasts available on over 2,000 devices, and the ability to share the music they love via social media. 

To make the most of the Free music-listening experience on Spotify, we’ve compiled this list of hacks that every Free user needs to know (and some pro tips to help you stay on top of your streaming game).

Follow along with your next listening session

When you find yourself listening to a song and want to follow along—or you just want to figure out what someone is saying—our shareable Lyrics feature is here to help. 

With Lyrics, you can cultivate an even deeper connection to the music and artists you love, diving into the meaning behind each song. When listening to a song with available lyrics, users can swipe up from the bottom of the Now Playing screen in the Spotify mobile app to display the track’s lyrics, which will scroll line by line in real time as the song is playing.

Pro tip: With social sharing functionality built right into Lyrics, you can express how you’re feeling and share it with your friends via Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and more. 

Discover music that perfectly fits your mood

If you’re looking for the right songs to get you hyped up for a morning workout or focused for your nightly study sessions, daylist has you covered. 

A one-of-a-kind playlist that understands and reflects what types of music you like to listen to during particular moments in the day, or on specific days of the week, daylist is available to Free users around the world, regularly updating with different songs and titles, made for every version of you.

Pro tip: When there’s a specific daylist playlist you love, you can make a copy of it and save it by tapping the three-dot menu, scrolling down to “Add to playlist,” then tapping “New playlist.” Then, it will be available to revisit whenever you like.

Give your playlist covers a unique touch

You’ve mastered the art of curating incredible playlists, but if you want them to truly feel “made by you,” you can design your own playlist cover right on Spotify. Available in 65 Spotify markets around the world, this feature lets you personalize your playlist covers with unique images, colors, and text effects, graphic elements that match the distinct vibe of your playlists. 

Whether you’re on iOS or Android, just head to the Spotify mobile app (make sure it’s up-to-date) and select a playlist that you personally created (or create a new one) to get started. Then tap the three-dot menu and choose “Create cover art.” 

Pro tip: You can only save one custom cover art per playlist at a time, and each new cover you create will override the previous one for that specific playlist.

Revisit your favorite blasts from the past

Whether you’re looking to take a trip down memory lane with one of your all-time favorite songs or you want to rediscover a hit you haven’t thought about in years, you can jump into one of several personalized playlists that will take you back. 

Just head to the Made for You hub and let Repeat Rewind bring you back to some of your more recent past favorites, or press play on one of the Your Decades Mixes and let the nostalgia from a particular era wash over you. 

Pro tip: If you want to explore more of the biggest hits that you’ve loved over the years, our editorial team has curated playlists to take you further down memory lane, including Throwback Thursday, after school club 🪄, Throwback Jams, y2k, and our Decades hub, full of era-specific playlists rounding up all of the biggest anthems from the 1950s to the 2010s.

Jump outside of your musical comfort zone

Looking for your next favorite song but don’t know where to start? You can expand your own horizons through playlists like Discover Weekly, which offers a weekly dose of personalized recommendations based on your listening history, or you can stay ahead of the curve with Release Radar, which delivers the latest releases from the artists you follow.

Pro tip: Keep up with your favorite artists by navigating to their profile pages and tapping the follow button at the top. 

Want to take your listening to the next level? Check out our 5 premium hacks every Spotify user needs to know.