Integration of Spotify's desktop-only feature of viewing friends' listening habits to mobile Spotify interface.
Project Overview
For this project, my primary goal was to enhance Spotify's mobile interface by making its existing social features more prominent. The "Friend Activity" feature, which lets users see their friends' live listening activity, has long been available on the desktop version but hasn't yet been integrated into the mobile app. By making these features more visible and accessible, I aimed to position Spotify as not only a music streaming service but also a platform for social interaction—enabling users to connect with friends over their music preferences and listening habits.
Through this design, I aimed to address two key issues:
1. Visibility: Many of Spotify’s social features are buried within the app and require multiple clicks to access, reducing their usage.
2. Integration: The “Friend Activity” feature is available only on desktop, leaving mobile users unable to share in the experience of viewing what their friends are currently listening to.
My solution was to create a design that surfaces these social features and enhances the user experience by making them easily accessible and integrated to Spotify mobile users.
This project primarily focused on increasing the visibility of the "Friend Activity" button and the pages linked to it. However, after studying the existing interface, I noticed that the home page could feel less cluttered if some linked buttons on the home page had fixed functionality. This adjustment highlighted key social features and streamlined the layout for a more organized user experience. After making this design choice, I determined that the "Friend Activity" button should be placed in the last row. This positioning reflects the idea that social interaction remains a secondary action in the Spotify experience—true to the platform's music-first brand—while still boosting its visibility on the home page.
Using Figma, I first recreated the existing user interface to gain a clear understanding of the current interactions on Spotify mobile. From there, I developed a low-fidelity wireframe that outlined the integrated features: four fixed buttons on the home page, the "Friend Activity" page, and the addition of a "currently listening" section on friends' individual profiles. Once the placement and flow were finalized, I transitioned to a high-fidelity version, incorporating accurate typography, refined interactions, and realistic content to present a cohesive design that aligns with the Spotify brand.
Key Features
The final concept introduces four fixed buttons on the home screen: Liked Songs, Daylist, Made for You, and Friend Activity. These buttons remain visible on the home page, offering quick access to key features that encourage both music discovery and social engagement. While the first three buttons focus on personal music experiences—Liked Songs as a personalized playlist, Daylist as a dynamic playlist based on daily listening habits, and Made for You offering tailored recommendations—the focus for this project is the Friend Activity feature and its linked pages.
Clicking on the Friend Activity button leads to a page that doesn't currently exist in the mobile interface. This page displays a user's friends' most recent listening activity, showing the tracks they are currently or have recently played. It also features Spotify’s Blends, allowing users to view and create shared playlists with friends. Additionally, the page provides an option to sync contacts and/or Facebook friends, expanding the user's social network on Spotify and encouraging more interaction.
From the Friend Activity page, users can click on individual friends’ activity, which takes them to the friend’s personal profile. Here, they can view the track the friend is currently listening to, explore their recently played albums, and discover their top listened-to artists. This integrated flow enhances Spotify’s social features by making it easier for users to connect over their music preferences, while still prioritizing the core music experience.
