How to turn off Spotify’s annoying background videos

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If you haven’t noticed by now, Spotify recently pushed out an update to its mobile app that adds animated video backgrounds to a number of albums on the music streaming platform. The company calls it Canvas, and judging from all the rumblings online – folks don’t like it.

Sure, animated backgrounds are cool and all, but the biggest complaint users have to say about it is that it makes the ‘Now Playing’ screen difficult to navigate. For example, when these videos are turned on a particular album, it hides the app’s controls. Meaning, you’re going to have a hard time finding the pause or shuffle button. It’s pretty annoying, but luckily there is a quick fix to turn them off.  

How to disable Spotify’s background videos on iOS

• Tap the settings wheel on the top right-hand corner of the Spotify app
• Select “Playback”
• Scroll down to the bottom of the menu and toggle off “Canvas”

Image: Kevin Raposo / KnowTechie

How to disable them on Android

• Tap the settings wheel on the top right-hand corner of the Spotify app
• Scroll down to the bottom of the settings menu and toggle off “Canvas”

That’s it. Going forward, those annoying video backgrounds won’t show up when you’re playing a certain song or album. You’re welcome. 

Have you seen these video’s pop up on your Spotify app? Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com.