Spotify - Your Library (Pin items)
When Spotify redesigned Your Library with ML-powered sorting in 2020, users felt they'd lost control. Time-to-stream increased from 10 to 12 seconds, and users struggled to find their favorite content. We needed to restore user agency while maintaining the smart features.
Company
Spotify
Type
Product Design
Process
Working with the Identity and Investment team, I led the design of a pin-to-top solution that would give users back control. I started by looking at the data and user feedback to understand the real problem.
Research & Planning
I studied how other apps handled similar features to find the best ways for users to interact with them. Swiping seemed like the most natural choice for mobile users.
Design & Testing
I created a simple first version—users could pin their favorite items to the top of their library for easy access. The design included visual hints and phone vibrations to show when pinning worked.
User Testing
Working with our research team, I ran testing sessions with 8 users (4 premium, 4 free users). The testing showed a big problem: 7 out of 8 users couldn't find the feature at first, and 5 tried to drag items instead of swiping.
Fixing the Problems
Based on what we learned, I redesigned how users interact with the feature:
Added long-press as another way to pin for users who tried to drag items
Created smart onboarding that automatically pins the two most-used items ("Liked Songs" and "Your Episodes")
Made visual feedback clearer with better icons and phone vibrations
Made sure it worked in both list and grid views
Outcome
Reduced time-to-stream to 7 seconds (30% improvement)
1.7% of WAU actively used the pin feature
30% of consumption came from pinned items
76% of pins were playlists, showing clear user preference patterns
