On September 15, 2025, Spotify released a couple of new features that users of Spotify Free are able to enjoy. These features include: access to pick and play music, access to search and play music, and access to share and play music

What’s special about these features?

Pick and play allows for users to choose a song that is in an album or playlist and listen to it directly. Similarly, search and play allows for users to search for songs that they want to listen to and play without the interference of the shuffle button. Lastly, share and play allows users to listen to a song directly using a link that was shared with them. Although for some these functions might seem like the basic minimum for a streaming service, unfortunately, they were not available to those without the Spotify Premium subscription prior to the update.

Additionally, on August 26, 2025, Spotify created and launched a new feature called Messages. This update allows for users with both free and premium subscriptions to communicate with each other through the app. They are able to not only send messages to each other, but also send songs and playlists directly through the app. This feature works similarly to direct messaging in apps like Instagram or Snapchat, where users can also send reactions to their friend’s messages.

While these features of the update allows fewer restrictions for free listeners, it is also worth mentioning that this update isn’t exactly new. A couple of years ago, Spotify had these features available for Spotify Free users before limiting these features to only Spotify Premium users. In addition to these features made available for Spotify Free users, there are features such as the amount of skips users have (six skips per hour), the inclusion of ads and downloading music for offline listening are made available only to Spotify Premium users instead of Spotify Free users and are not going to be changed soon. 

How these features deter users 

Although many people were glad to receive this increase in the amount of features they can use, this upgrade also brought up the controversial topic of how Spotify limits these features from Spotify Free users in the first place. Features such as run-on ads, limited skips, and the shuffle button are some of the reasons why users switch from Spotify to other platforms like YouTube music, Apple music, Musi, and many others. 

Conclusion

With the rise of newer music apps that allow users to play the music that they choose, it can be seen that there is less of an appeal for previous Spotify users to keep using the app. With this newer feature, it could potentially move previous users back to the platform.