“good songs and the layout is good but I'm getting too many ads at a time and when I close the app and restard it the song starts 12 seconds in and ruins it. I also can only pick 6 songs a day to listen to and even then after picking 3…”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 6,339 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-06.
4.6 ★78,849,336 ratings
1B+Downloads
12+Age rating
313 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
With the Spotify app, you can explore an extensive library of music and podcasts for free. Curate the best playlists and stream millions of free songs, albums, and original podcasts on your phone or tablet. Subscribe to Spotify Premium to download and listen offline wherever you are, and unlock our catalog of audiobooks.
Why choose Spotify as your go-to music and podcast app? Here, you can: • Listen to over 100 million songs and 6 million podcast titles • Explore our selection of specially-crafted artist playlists • Easily search for your favorite songs, albums, artists, and podcasts • Discover personalized music recommendations tailored to your unique taste • Subscribe to your favorite free podcasts so you never miss an episode, and even curate your own podcast library
Spotify Free is more than a music player - find the sounds you love and stream music and podcasts online, for free.…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
App Store
This analysis describes version 9.1.88 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 9.1.88, updated 2026-10-01.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 9.1.82.2160 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version VARY, updated 2026-09-29.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Says how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
3 or more themes reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
80–89% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
From the package we downloaded and read — version 9.1.82.2160, scanned 2026-09-17.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
6 or more requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
1–2 found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
None found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
The catch list 1
Charges we publish at a strength we stand behind: measured from an artefact, agreed by independent sources, or reported by enough users to clear that charge's own published bar.
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Raised by 254 distinct reviewers — 6.4% of the 3,941 reviews scanned on this store leg (App Store).
Context 1
Measured and published because a reader would want to know — deliberately not a charge. The measurement alone does not show a harm.
Asks for more sensitive permissions than similar apps
The package requests substantially more of the device's sensitive permissions than the typical app in its category. This is a measurement, not an accusation: a permission is granted because a feature needs it, and a wide request list is a reason to look rather than a finding on its own.
What we saw: Requests 7 sensitive permissions (ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, CAMERA, READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, READ_MEDIA_IMAGES, READ_PHONE_STATE, RECORD_AUDIO); the median for 74 scanned apps in Music & Audio is 2
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
States a price, or offers a one-time purchase
The app's own text offers a one-time or lifetime purchase, or reviewers report that the price is stated clearly.
What we saw: Offers a one-time or lifetime purchase: "Subscribe or one-time payment"
One source only — shown, not confirmed 6
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 17 distinct reviewers (0.4% of 3941 reviews scanned)
In the app's own text: A plan is pre-picked as 'recommended'
The purchase screen arrives with one plan already framed as the recommended or most popular choice, so the default is the app's preference rather than the user's. We do not compare the plans' prices, and only the app's own text evidences this, so it is shown, but never counted as a charge.
What we saw: Purchase screen steers the choice: "Most popular"
Reported by users: Price keeps rising
The price of the paid tier has been raised on existing users.
What we saw: Price keeps rising: raised by 23 distinct reviewers (0.6% of 3941 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Upgrade prompts use guilt-trip wording
Declining an upgrade is written as a loss ('No thanks, I don't want to improve'), or users report being repeatedly pushed to subscribe during normal use.
What we saw: Constant upsell pressure: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (0.2% of 2398 reviews scanned)
In the app's own text: Countdown-timer purchase pressure
The app's own purchase copy attaches a deadline to buying — a countdown, 'offer ends in', 'limited time' — or ships a countdown view on a purchase-screen layout.
What we saw: Deadline pressure in the app's own copy: "Offer ends in 6 days"
Reported by users: Users describe the free version as usable
Reviewers repeatedly say the free version is worth using on its own. Nothing we can measure corroborates that — a free listing with in-app purchases looks identical whether the free tier is generous or a demo — so this is published as what reviewers say, not as a measured credit.
What we saw: Reviewers describe the free version as usable: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (0.1% of 3941 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Spotify has become really frustrating for free users. There are too many ads and constant Premium pop-ups. We should be able to choose songs from our own playlists. Forced shuffle makes listening to specific songs difficult. Playback…”
“Too many ads don't use this app very chutiya app”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 9.1.88.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.