android central: Spotify’s iPhone and Android app get automatic podcast transcriptions and more

mardi 18 mai 2021

Spotify’s iPhone and Android app get automatic podcast transcriptions and more

The streaming wars are heating up. A day after Apple announced lossless audio was coming to Apple Music, Swedish streaming giant Spotify announced this morning three new updates to its iOS and Android apps that will improve the user experience for its 356 million listeners. These updates follow updates last month that improved the mobile app’s library aesthetic for easier navigation and the ability to listen to Spotify within the Facebook app.

As explained in a blog post on the company’s website, Spotify’s iPhone and Android apps will get automatic transcription for podcasts, increasing text size beyond the phone’s system limit, and app buttons that have new formatting and colors.

Spotify’s new update brings buttons with stronger formatting and bolder colors.

The aim of all these changes is to make the app easier for those with physical impairments. For example, larger text and buttons with different colors can help visually impaired people see the app easier on their phones, and podcast transcription makes it possible for those with hearing loss to still enjoy podcasts. Even for those who are fortunate enough to not be physically impaired, the ability to read a podcast instead of listening to it can be very useful. Users can also quickly scroll and navigate through the paragraph, tap on a specific word, and have audio begin playing from that point.

Spotify will soon be able to transcribe podcasts automatically for some of its podcasts.

The automatic podcast transcription is in its beta stage, according to the blog post, and will only work for Spotify’s “Original and Exclusive” podcasts right now. However, the company says its goal is to eventually offer this service for all podcasts on Spotify.