Spotify for Android testing option to disable those music videos that replace album covers

Ben Schoon | Mar 11 2019 - 7:37 am PT

Spotify is one of the most used music services in the world right now, and it’s continually adding new features to its apps. One feature that many weren’t all that happy with, though, has been the addition of music videos that show up on the “Now Playing” screen. Now, Spotify is testing an option on Android which lets users disable “canvas” videos.

As spotted on Reddit over the weekend, a recent Spotify update enabled an option in the app’s settings menu to disable “canvas” videos on certain tracks. These first started appearing last year and Spotify says they’re “optimized to use very little data and battery,” but many users have noted how they can get in the way. When played, they often mess with the UI in negative ways. One especially notable annoyance is that it hides the playback controls.

Thankfully, it won’t be long until it’s easy to toggle them off. As Android Police further reports, this new setting is live now in both the latest alpha and beta versions of Spotify for Android. That means that, more than likely, the same setting will show up in the next couple of stable updates.

Here’s what Spotify’s canvas toggle looks like

When the toggle is on, which is the default, users will be greeted with fullscreen videos on the Now Playing screen. These don’t appear for every song, but they’re becoming more and more common. Once the toggle is turned off, users will just be left with the same old album covers.