In November 2011, Spotify introduced a Spotify Apps service that made it possible for third-party developers to design applications that could be hosted within the Spotify computer software. The applications provided features such as synchronised lyrics, music reviews, and song recommendations. Spotify is now free on the Windows Phone. Listen to your music, wherever you are. With Spotify, you have access to a world of music. You can listen to artists and albums, or create your own playlist of your favourite songs. Want to discover new music? Choose a ready-made playlist that suits your mood or get personalized recommendations. Spotify is the best way to listen to music and podcasts on mobile or tablet. Search for any track, artist or album and listen for free. Make and share playlists. Build your biggest, best ever music collection. Get inspired with personal recommendations, and readymade playlists for just about eve. With Spotify Connect, you can listen on speakers, TVs, and other devices using the Spotify app as a remote. Check out Spotify Everywhere for compatible devices. If you don’t see yours there, you can check with the manufacturer.
Spotify—one of Apple's main rivals in both the latter's services strategy and in antitrust investigations—has released a new version of its iPhone app that supports home screen widgets, one of the flagship features of iOS 14.
Last month's release of iOS 14 brought home screen widgets—previously only the domain of iPads and Android phones—to iPhones. As we noted in our iOS 14 review, the value of the feature depends entirely on strong adoption and clever uses by third-party app developers.
Releases of widget-supporting apps from developers have been slow. Part of that was because Apple launched iOS 14 with less notice to developers than usual, meaning many were racing to play catch-up. But even now, a month later, the roster of widget-supporting apps has only grown a little.Spotify is one of the most high-profile apps on the App Store, and it finally made the jump with version 8.5.80 of its iOS app. Unfortunately, the new widget isn't all that powerful or useful. It essentially does the exact same thing the Music widget does: it shows a list of recently played songs or playlists that you can tap into from the home screen.
Advertisement Tapping an entry doesn't just take you to the song in the app—it starts playing it right away, saving you an extra tap. Many users will wish they could customize what appears in the list or that they could control playback, as they currently can in the Android widget. As the setup stands now, the widget offers no customization options at all.
Some app developers (like Spark) have found creative ways to use the somewhat limited iOS widgets API (WidgetKit) to offer multiple, flexible uses of that precious home screen real estate. But users have said a lot of widgets just aren't that useful at the moment.
Those same users might wonder why we're not seeing essentially fully working slices of apps appearing on the home screen. Apple is likely to expand what developers can do with WidgetKit in future software releases, but there will always be some big limitations because of an emphasis on maintaining battery life.Lots of interactivity and live data from multiple apps on the home screen could have a negative impact there—that's probably why Apple and many devs have generally been conservative in terms of making widgets ultra-powerful.
By contrast, the Android Spotify widget offers playback control. But Spotify actually removed that comparatively powerful widget in August of last year, only to reintroduce an improved version of it shortly afterward when users complained. The brief removal led to a plethora of user-made widgets to replace the lost functionality.
How To Use Spotify Free
But at least Spotify is supporting widgets on iPhones at all—that wasn't a foregone conclusion.
Listing image by Samuel Axon
ThinkMobiles is one of most trusted companies conducting IT & software reviews since 2011. Our mission is to provide best reviews, analysis, user feedback and vendor profiles. Learn more about review process.
Disclosure:
We may receive compensation when you click on links. Neither our writers nor our editors get paid to publish content and are fully committed to editorial standards .
From a startup in 2008 to 100 million monthly active subscribers in 2017, Spotify has claimed the throne of music streaming business. Having a smartphone is synonymous to listening to music, practically. With customers in such abundance within reach, how much does it cost to make an app like Spotify is a hot topic.
Music streaming business is on the rise, as people do not have to download anything anymore. Vinyls and record collectors is a different story of itself. Our subject here in is how much does it cost to make an app like Spotify. Music just about equals Spotify and/or iTunes for millennials. What does it mean for mobile app development industry? Finding out the cost to create a music app.
How does Spotify work
Spotify is a music streaming and playlist social sharing service available in 60 countries. It has over 30 million songs in its library and works across almost all devices. Users do not have to download songs and store them on a hard drive to listen. In Spotify users just find a song or album and play it online right away.
You have to be a registered user first to have access to basic Spotify features for free. But you’ll see in-app advertisement and won’t be able to listen to music offline. Paid Spotify subscriptions grant you full features, like downloading, no ads, or hi-fi sound quality in Premium. More Q&As below.
How much does Spotify cost?
There are 2 versions: free and Spotify premium for $10/month.
There are 2 versions: free and Spotify premium for $10/month.
How to download music from Spotify?
Available only in Premium account, go to Library, select song or album. Then slide the Available Offline button to the right.
Available only in Premium account, go to Library, select song or album. Then slide the Available Offline button to the right.
How to listen Spotify offline?
Select a playlist, tap Edit, and check if the arrow-icon next to it is grey or green. Tap grey ones to turn it green, which means a playlist is synced to your device. Press Done afterwards.
Select a playlist, tap Edit, and check if the arrow-icon next to it is grey or green. Tap grey ones to turn it green, which means a playlist is synced to your device. Press Done afterwards.
How to make playlists in Spotify?
Library > Playlists > Create new playlist. Name it, add tracks, or edit it at any moment.
Library > Playlists > Create new playlist. Name it, add tracks, or edit it at any moment.
How do you share a playlist on Spotify?
Select a song or playlist, tap the 3-dotted icon, and tap Share. Choose between Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr options and tap Post.
Select a song or playlist, tap the 3-dotted icon, and tap Share. Choose between Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr options and tap Post.
Next in our agenda of how much does it cost to make an app like Spotify are app features. Both basic and extra. So what makes up a music streaming business?
![How Was The Spotify App Made How Was The Spotify App Made](/uploads/1/3/3/9/133906942/512231874.png)
Let's Build Your App like Spotify
Provide us with your contact details and we will contact you today
Thank you for feedback.
Spotify features
Currently, Spotify is not covering all the existing markets. In many countries users get the “Not available” notification. Hence, opportunities for music apps or to create music streaming website are still open. And the cost to make an app like Spotify would, of course confide in features and type of app. Here are core features of Spotify app:
What sets Spotify apart from other music services and radios is audio streaming. This technology allowed to enjoy music as easily as never before. More on that in our next section. Now, to make a music streaming app like Spotify one would have to implement the following features:
- User profiles and authorization: forms for users to register and login, using email address or social media accounts
- Audio streaming service: to enable constant online access to music files through cloud storages
- Search and organize options: search and navigate algorithms to find songs by titles or artists, and save favorite tracks
- Playlists: that users can save, edit and listen and share both in online and offline
- Offline availability: saving music to users’ devices or computers, or caching files
- Social sharing: options to share songs/playlists with friends and see what others are sharing, privately or publicly
- Notifications: to get news from friends, artists and community.
In addition, you would almost definitely need to create subscription plans for a music app. The main way to earn money on Spotify-like app is to grant access to cool features with paid subscription. Or if you make a free music app, you can monetize on ads.
Let’s move on to specific ingredients to start your own music streaming service.
Technology stack for music streaming app
How much does it cost to make an app like Shazam
And technology behind the app explained. Separate costs for iOS & Android....
April 191
Spotify App For Mac
Simply put, Spotify stores all the music on servers and sends requested songs to users’ devices. All files are cached on smartphones or laptops so there’s no need to retrieve it again from servers. For this, and all other features, Spotify use Cassandra, PostgreSQL and general memory caching system.
To make a music streaming app you can build your tech stack around Python and JavaScript, like Spotify team does. PHP is used to some extent on server side, though Spotify backend structure is mainly built with Java. Also, consider these tools that impact the cost to make an app like Spotify too:
- Kafka software: to manage and process data in real-time
- GraphWalker to conduct model-based testing and integrate with Python services
- Amazon S3 (or similar) to store audio files, caching with CDNs
- Dataproc or other Google cloud platforms for platform infrastructure
- Chromium embedded framework (CEF) to build UI for desktop application
- Bootstrap and/or HTML5 for web app development
- Nginx as open source HTTP and proxy server
Cost components of Spotify-like app
There’s no plain and precise way to answer how much does it cost to make an app like Spotify. As you may know, mobile app development is a lengthy and complex venture. Consider dev team hired, hourly rate (or fixed price), business strategy, type of mobile app, features and app infrastructure, timeline, etc.
In most cases, developer rate is a defining factor to app cost. To make a music streaming app, or any mobile app, takes hundreds or thousands of hours. So, $25 per hour or $150 per hour rate for same app would make a fortune in between. As we’ve settled earlier with Shazam, Starbucks or Instagram cost articles, let’s use median $50 hourly rate for estimation.
How Was The Spotify App Made To Be
For music app like Spotify the biggest chunk of work would be backend (20%) and app development (40%).
Spotify App For Pc
Though do not dismiss design/UX, web/front-end and quality assurance. These tasks are critical as well to make an app similar to Spotify. And together, it all suggests hiring a team of 7-10 experts, at least.
Backend for app like Spotify
The architecture (backend) to an app like Spotify could quickly turn quite entangled. This is due to use of many supplementary services, like Spotify apparently does include hundreds of them. Most of them are written in Java and Python, others with Clojure and HTML5 languages. Less of PHP, used primarily for server-side logic.
Spotify team utilizes C++ for Mac/Windows client, Java for Android and Objective-C for iOS applications, nothing new here. The main principle behind Spotify backend is partitioning by features. Each app feature has a team of developers assigned. To make an app like Spotify you would also need to link the JS and backend with so called ‘access point’.
We’ve also prepared a chart of broad architecture for audio streaming app like Spotify:
Backend development estimation: 200+ hours.
Related topic: How to make an app in 10 steps.
Android/iOS platforms
Now comes the most time-consuming and costly part of actual mobile app development. Developers you’ve hired would start programming a music app for Android, or a music app for iPhone. Our issue of how much does it cost to make an app like Spotify is resolved here.
Spotify Android SDK and Spotify iOS SDK are now available publicly. It aims to ease developers work a bit for features like music streaming and authentication. Though services like Android Multimedia Framework can help integrate audio/media files, you still can’t make it quick.
Here is our time estimate breakdown by features to make an app like Spotify:
Feature | Android (hours) | iOS (hours) |
App skeleton | 50 | 50 |
Main screen | 60 | 55 |
Login | 24 | 20 |
Registration | 32 | 30 |
Music player | 150 | 150 |
Search | 80 | 80 |
Browse | 60 | 60 |
Video player | 150 | 150 |
Library | 80 | 75 |
Artist | 24 | 20 |
Album | 24 | 20 |
Playlist | 24 | 20 |
Advertisement | 40 | 45 |
Downloading | 24 | 25 |
Social integration | 40 | 40 |
Settings | 80 | 75 |
Push notifications | 40 | 30 |
These are only essential features not to bore you with too many details.
Native platform development estimation: 1400 hours.
Conclusion: the cost
And now we are ready to reveal how much does it cost to make an app like Spotify. Note, we are outlining only a generalized estimation of costs, based on features and tech stack for a music streaming app. Also remember, we’ve used $50 hourly rate to evaluate the cost of Spotify-like app. Though, we have skilled app engineers to hire at $30 hourly rate at ThinkMobiles .
iOS application | Android application | App for multiple platforms | |
Backend | $10.000 | $10.000 | |
Development | $60.000 | $70.000 | $130.000 |
Design | $8.000 | $10.000 | $20.000 |
Desktop app | $5.000 | $5.000 | |
QA / PM | $7.000 | $10.000 | $20.000 |
Total cost (approx.) | $90.000 | $105.000 | $185.000 |
WIth all those variables in mind, a music app like Spotify would cost you:
- $70.000 for MVP with basic functionality only
- $90.000+ for iOS music streaming app
- $105.000+ for Android app similar to Spotify
- $185.000 for multi-platform full feature application.
In conclusion, the fact that $14 billion was floating around as Spotify acquisition deal says volumes. About the value as well as music streaming business prospects. Spotify alternatives are already on the march – Pandora, Deezer, iTunes, Soundcloud, Grooveshark, Google Play. Wouldn’t you want to join?
Let's Build Your App like Spotify
![How Was The Spotify App Made How Was The Spotify App Made](/uploads/1/3/3/9/133906942/599638514.png)
Provide us with your contact details and we will contact you today