Spotify finally adds option to disable Smart Shuffle

For many Spotify listeners, the shuffle button hasn’t always been a simple affair. A quick tap might shuffle your playlist as expected, but a slightly longer press, or perhaps an accidental double-tap, could activate “Smart Shuffle.” This feature injects Spotify’s own recommendations into your queue, aiming for music discovery. While potentially useful for some, for a significant number of users, it’s been a source of frustration, disrupting the flow of carefully curated playlists or liked songs.

The calls to permanently disable this often unwanted feature have echoed across forums like Reddit for many months. Users just wanted a straightforward way to shuffle their music without unexpected additions. Now, it seems Spotify has listened. A new toggle switch is quietly rolling out, allowing users to opt out of Smart Shuffle entirely.

The frustration wasn’t just about unwanted songs. As Reddit user CrossFire43 pointed out, the feature could be particularly troublesome when interacting with the app distractedly: “It’s a pain when your driving and it would flip flop when you press the shuffle button too long”. Others felt the “smart” aspect wasn’t living up to its name.

User Mooncakepink07 commented, “Smart shuffle isnt that smart, they just recommend the same songs… Now, they just recommend popular songs that i dont want to hear over and over again.” For these users and many others, the ability to turn it off is a huge relief.

If you want to banish Smart Shuffle, head into your Spotify app’s settings menu and look under the ‘Playback’ section. The option might be labelled slightly differently depending on your device or app version. On my Android device, for instance, it appears as a toggle labelled “Enable all play modes”.

Another user, however, reported seeing the option simply labeled as Smart Shuffle.

That said, don’t be surprised if you don’t see the option just yet. Evidence suggests this is a phased rollout. While I found the setting available on my Android phone, it was missing from my Spotify app on iOS. Interestingly, the original Reddit user who highlighted the feature (kwabb) appeared to be using iOS, indicating it is coming to both platforms, just not necessarily all at once for everyone. Even some users enrolled in Spotify’s beta program reported not having the feature yet. It also appears, based on user comments, that this setting is currently only available on the mobile apps, not the desktop version.

For those who have received the update, it’s a welcome return to simpler shuffling. It’s a small change in the settings menu, but one that puts playlist control firmly back in the hands of the listener – exactly where many believe it should be.