Spotify finally lets free users pick and play songs

Spotify is shaking up the listening experience for millions of its free-tier users worldwide. After recently launching long-promised lossless streaming for its Premium subscribers, the streaming giant is now rolling out a set of long-awaited upgrades for those who don’t pay for the service. The announcement, made on Monday, confirms that free users across the globe will be able to search for, pick, and play individual tracks on demand — a significant departure from the shuffle-only model that has long defined Spotify’s free mobile experience.

The new functionality is grouped under three names: “Pick & Play,” “Search & Play,” and “Share & Play.” Each label reflects a slightly different use case. With “Pick & Play,” free listeners can open the app, tap on any song they want, and listen to it directly. “Search & Play” extends that ability, allowing users to hunt down specific tracks by typing them in and hitting play. Meanwhile, “Share & Play” is designed for the social era, encouraging free-tier listeners to interact with music discovered through platforms like Instagram, where Spotify tracks can already be shared to Stories and Notes with sound.

For years, free users on mobile devices were confined to a shuffle mode with only a limited number of skips. That restriction has often been a frustration for those not willing to pay for Premium. Now, the company appears to be loosening its grip, though the new freedom won’t be without caveats. In response to questions from TechCrunch, Spotify explained that mobile users on the free tier will receive an “on-demand time” allowance. Once they reach that daily limit, playback will revert to the familiar constraints, including a restricted number of skips per hour. Spotify has yet to disclose the precise length of this daily time allocation, but confirmed that Premium subscribers will continue to enjoy unlimited on-demand listening with no such boundaries.