Spotify Releases New Standalone Experimental Radio App That's Based On Playlist

Spotify has released a new standalone app, called Stations, for Android devices. The new experimental app allows users to listen to playlists that are created based on the user’s Spotify music preferences.

The app was actually first spotted by the app analytics firm Sensor Tower on Tuesday. The Spotify Stations app appears to be only available for users in Australia. When users log in with their Spotify account, the Stations app will immediately play stations baed on genre. The list of stations can be customized, but users won’t be able to create brand-new stations or skip songs, according to Mashable.

The Stations app is only able to create playlists based on what music the users has been listening to on Spotify. The app also has Spotify’s personalized playlists like Release Radar and Discover Weekly. To edit Stations in the app, users will simply tap on the hamburger menu on the top-right corner and tap on Edit Stations. A page will open showing other Stations available in the app. Users will simply have to tap on the “+” icon to add a Station to the app.

The Stations app functions pretty much like a radio music service that’s akin to something like Pandora. The app also supports ads and is completely free to users who have a Spotify account. Speaking of ads, these will play regardless of whether a user is subscribed to Spotify Free or Spotify Premium.

The Stations app is pretty simple and straightforward. The app solely relies on scrolling through playlists and users won’t even be able to search for stations by typing, as pointed out by The Verge. Stations are presented in a large font, and users will only have to scroll up and down to browse for playlists they may want to listen to. The idea behind the app appears to be reducing the steps necessary to start listening to music.

“Stations is the easiest way to listen to the music you love. Totally free,” Spotify said on the app’s Google Play Store page. “With Stations, you can listen immediately, and switching stations is simple and seamless--no searching or typing needed. As you listen, it learns what you like and creates personalized stations that you’ll love.

Spotify hasn’t given any information on whether it plans to release an iOS version of the Stations app. It is also unclear at this time if the music streaming service intends to release this new standalone app worldwide. For now, it’s merely an experimental app intended to make listening to music faster and easier than ever.