This one Spotify change made it way harder to jam out on my runs

I love Spotify. I’ve said it before, and I’ve been paying for some form of Spotify Premium for nearly a decade. It’s gotten to the point that I know where every last button, menu, and playlist lives, so I can navigate my favorite songs without looking down at my phone. When I head out to run with music, I feel safe enough knowing that I can bounce from playlist to playlist without taking my eyes off traffic. Or, at least, I could do it until Spotify decided to get creative.

As both a runner and a writer, you could say I’m a creature of habit. I have my favorite routes around the city, just like I have preferred corners of my apartment to sit and get stuff done. When something shakes up that routine, it throws me off for a day or two. And, while that might not sound too bad, that could be a difference of 12 good miles vs 12 bad ones, and it could slow me down from completing several articles at a time.

So, as you might imagine, my need for regularity also extends to what’s on my phone. I port the same — or nearly the same — layout from one device to the next, doing my best to keep things in the same spot so I can use my phone without paying as much attention. As above, a slight interruption goes a long way. When X added a dedicated Grok button, it threw me off. When Instagram shuffled its tabs, I had to relearn how to doomscroll as efficiently.

And now, Spotify is messing with me. After several years with just three tabs across its bottom row — covering Home, Search, and Your Library — it decided to add a fourth. Yes, after first seeing it on a friend’s interface, I now have the Create tab staring back at me, too. I like what the tab is designed to do — make it easier to create playlists and start jams — but I thought Spotify’s interface for that was already easy enough.

In fact, by adding the tab, Spotify now has two ways to do the same thing, and my muscle memory will keep pulling me back to the menu in my library rather than the brand-new tab. It’s like finding a new running route, yet I can’t break the habit of a path I know like the back of my hand. Instead of memorizing a button on the left, one on the right, and one in between, I have to add a fourth to my routine for making playlists. I can’t just vaguely tap somewhere in the middle and expect to get quick access to my daylist or somewhere off to the right for my saved podcasts. I have to go somewhere in the middle for both, meaning I spend even less time straying from the Home tab.

Of course, learning to use the Create tab while I’m sitting around my apartment isn’t so bad. I can focus on the interface, carefully tapping on the right button to browse my library or search for the new Mt. Joy record instead. If I desperately need a new playlist, I’ll reach for Create, but I usually let Spotify take the wheel and generate mixes instead.

The problem, for me anyway, is when I try to use Spotify while out and about. As a city-based runner, I spend a good chunk of my weekly miles with my head on a swivel. I have to watch for cars while crossing streets, dog walkers at all times, and cyclists, seemingly only when I’m on the sidewalk. And, if I’m doing all that, I need to know where the buttons are when I want to change my playlist. Up until the addition of the Create tab, I was fine. Now, I feel as if I have to stop, look down at my phone, select a playlist, and carry on.

In fact, I feel like adding the Create tab has changed the devices I feel comfortable running with. Normally, I’ll run with whatever my personal SIM is attached to, but now I’m leaning towards whatever device has the most straightforward music interface. These days, that means a flip phone. I love the simplified eight-option grid that the Motorola Razr series ships with, and the version on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 isn’t far behind. They might not let me search or pick songs in the same way that opening the full Spotify interface would, but if I’m careful about which artists and albums I’ve played recently, maybe it won’t matter?

For now, I’ll keep flipping back and forth, trying to teach myself to love the Create tab, but as a creature of habit, my hopes aren’t all that high. If I’m lucky, Spotify will introduce a way to make the tab optional, and I promise I’ll be going right back to the old layout — for running safety, of course.