Does Spotify have an equalizer Android?

Spotify is the world’s most popular streaming music service, with over 180 million subscribers globally as of 2022 (Forbes). An equalizer allows users to customize the sound of their music by adjusting the audio frequency bands. This lets listeners tailor the sound profile to their preferences, boosting or reducing specific ranges like bass, mids, and treble.

Having an equalizer can be desirable for Spotify users who want more control over their listening experience. For example, boosting lower frequencies can help on headphones with weaker bass response. Reducing certain bands can help reduce listening fatigue. Overall, an equalizer gives music enthusiasts the ability to tweak Spotify’s default sound to their liking.

Availability of Equalizer on Spotify Mobile

The standard Spotify mobile app does not have a built-in equalizer, neither on iOS nor Android. Unlike the desktop app, the mobile version of Spotify lacks any settings to adjust EQ presets or customize frequencies ^[1]. This applies to both free and premium accounts on iOS and Android devices. Spotify has not included an equalizer in their mobile apps, despite many requests from users over the years ^[2].

Workarounds and Limitations

Since Spotify’s mobile app lacks a built-in equalizer, some users try to use external equalizer apps as a workaround. One popular option is Equalizer FX, which lets you customize audio settings for various apps including Spotify. However, there are some significant drawbacks to this approach.

The main limitation is that external equalizers can only affect the final audio output from Spotify, not the source audio itself. This means any adjustments are applied at the end of the audio processing chain, which reduces their effectiveness. Additionally, external equalizers have to run constantly in the background using up system resources.

There are also compatibility issues between Equalizer FX and certain Android devices or OS versions that can lead to crashes or audio glitches. And applying system-wide equalizer settings across all apps prevents you from tuning Spotify’s audio separately. Overall, while external equalizers provide some basic EQ functionality, they fail to deliver the customizable audio experience many users desire [1].

Equalizer Options Available on Spotify Desktop

Spotify launched a built-in equalizer for the desktop application in September 2015 [1]. However, the equalizer is not available on the mobile app for Android or iOS. The desktop equalizer allows users to adjust the audio output to customize the sound for different genres of music.

Specifically, the Spotify desktop application offers five equalizer presets:

Flat – balances sound levels across frequencies

Boost – amplifies higher and mid frequencies for popular music
Bass Boost – boosts bass levels
Treble Boost – emphasizes vocals and leads

Classical – optimizes for orchestral or acoustic genres

In addition to presets, there are sliders to manually adjust sound levels across frequency bands. Users can drag the different band sliders up or down to best tune the sound output for their speakers or headphones.

Overall, the desktop equalizer gives users more customization over their listening experience compared to mobile devices, which lack any built-in equalizer. The ability to emphasize certain frequencies or adjust levels can enhance audio quality for different songs.

Why No Equalizer on Mobile?

There are several possible technical and business reasons why Spotify has not yet added an equalizer feature to their mobile apps:

Mobile platforms like iOS and Android already have system-wide equalizers built in that can be used with Spotify. Adding their own equalizer would be redundant for many users. (1)
Developing and maintaining a custom equalizer is complex, requiring significant engineering resources. Spotify may have prioritized other features instead.

An in-app equalizer could impact performance and battery life on mobile devices, degrading the user experience.
Spotify wants feature parity between platforms, but adding an equalizer on mobile may be technically challenging compared to desktop.
Mobile licensing agreements and restrictions could limit Spotify’s ability to modify audio output on smartphones.

While users continue to request this feature, Spotify likely determined the cost/complexity outweighed the benefits so far. They may revisit this decision in the future as technology evolves.

User Demand and Feedback

Alternative Music Apps

Other popular music streaming apps like Apple Music have built-in equalizer support on their mobile apps. Apple Music includes several EQ presets to choose from like Bass Booster, Classical, Dance, Electronic, Hip Hop, Jazz, Latin, Loudness, Piano, Pop, R&B, Rock, Small Speakers, Spoken Word, Treble Booster, and Vocal Booster. Users can select their preferred preset to customize the sound.

This is in contrast to Spotify’s mobile app which lacks any equalizer feature. While Spotify does have an equalizer for its desktop application, it is not available on mobile. This can make Apple Music and other alternatives more appealing for users who desire more control over the audio experience on their phones.

Apps like Apple Music show that it is possible to incorporate an equalizer successfully into a mobile music platform. There is clearly demand from Spotify subscribers as well for similar capabilities. Though the company has not yet implemented such a feature, the availability of equalizers in competing apps puts increased pressure on Spotify to better accommodate user preferences around custom audio adjustments on mobile devices.

Future Outlook

There have been increasing calls from Spotify mobile users to add an equalizer option to the mobile apps. Although Spotify has not officially commented on future plans, there are some signs the company may be working on this.

In Reddit discussions, many users have requested the feature and provided feedback to Spotify. Additionally, Spotify has posted job listings for audio engineers to work on “creating the sound of Spotify on mobile”.

While concrete details are lacking, Spotify does have a patent for an “intelligent equalizer” that can automatically adjust settings based on a device’s acoustics profiles. Implementing such a technology on mobile apps would provide an improved listening experience.

Overall the outlook seems promising that Spotify may add more advanced audio options like an equalizer to its mobile apps. However, any specific timing remains unclear. Users will likely need to continue providing feedback and requesting the feature to demonstrate demand.

Workarounds

While the Spotify mobile app does not have a built-in equalizer, there are some things users can do to improve sound quality and adjust audio levels:

Upgrade to a higher-quality streaming option such as Spotify Premium, which unlocks options like Very High quality streaming.
Use headphones or speakers that have their own equalizer software/settings.
Adjust the volume levels on the mobile device itself to boost certain ranges.

Use a third party equalizer app alongside Spotify, though this only impacts audio output not the Spotify app sound.

The main limitation is the lack of in-app equalizer adjustments on mobile. However, focusing on quality headphones, speakers, streaming bitrates, and device volume controls can help compensate.

Conclusion

To summarize, currently Spotify mobile does not have a native equalizer feature. This differs from Spotify desktop, which does offer various equalizer presets and settings that users can customize. While the
reasons Spotify has not added an equalizer to mobile are not definitive, potential explanations include mobile platform limitations, user base size and priorities, licensing challenges, or resource constraints.

Despite user requests and feedback for an equalizer, there is no indication if or when Spotify might add this capability to its mobile apps. For now, mobile users have to resort to partial workarounds like third party apps (with limitations) or adjusting device sound settings instead of an in-app equalizer. Going forward, an equalizer may be an area Spotify improves due to competitive pressure from alternative music services. However, the company has not provided details on any development or launch plans for mobile equalizer functionality.