Skip to main content

Spotify Connect transforms your phone into a remote control for your desktop

spotify connect phone controls desktop music
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Sometimes getting off the couch to change the song that’s playing takes too much effort. Luckily, Spotify feels your pain. The music streaming service now lets you use your phone as a remote control for music playing on your desktop. The feature, called Spotify Connect, is already available for those who own an Amazon Fire TV or one of many Wi-Fi enabled speakers.

With Spotify Connect, you can play music from your phone directly on any Wi-Fi connected device, and it’s pretty easy to set up, too. all you have to do is open the Spotify app on your desktop, play a song on your phone, look through the “playing now” menu, and select the connect icon.

The Spotify app on your phone will then search for devices on the same Wi-Fi network nearby. Once it’s found the device in question, whatever song you were just playing on your phone will play on your desktop instead. From that moment on, you’re free to remotely control your music.

The feature also works with select speakers, including Libratone, Bose, Bluesound, and others. There’s a catch, though. Spotify Connect is only accessible to subscribers who pay $10 a month for the company’s premium features. Essentially, Spotify Connect just makes it easier to control your music from where ever you are, but it also frees up your phone for other uses. It may not be a killer feature that will make everyone go premium, but it is cool, especially if you’re already a paying subscriber.

Editors' Recommendations

Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
How to connect your iPhone to a Samsung TV
A beach scene on a Samsung S95C OLED TV.

Casting content from the tiny screen of your smartphone to a big, beautiful TV makes for a much better experience for viewing photos and watching videos. You can mirror whatever is on the screen of your handheld device. With Apple's AirPlay system, casting audio and video from your iOS device couldn't be more streamlined — especially for Apple ecosystem devotees. But did you know that you can also use AirPlay 2 with an assortment of compatible smart TVs?

Read more
How to cancel Spotify Premium
The app screen on Spotify that says Cancel Premium.

Spotify is the world's most popular music and podcast streaming service for a reason. It has a catalog of over 100 million songs, the interface is fun and easy to use, and it's full of features that allow for music discovery, great playlist creation, and sharing. And while its main Achilles heel is that it doesn't offer higher resolution audio like many of its competitors such as Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music, it's Premium tiers are reasonably priced at between $10 and $16 per month. So why would anyone want to cancel Spotify?

Read more
Common Spotify problems and how to fix them
How to fix common Spotify problems

Spotify may be the most popular music streaming service in the world, with more than 200 million subscribers, easy-to-use interface, some pretty excellent music discovery, and an ever-expanding lineup of fun new features like its AI-driven DJ. But the downside to all that innovation is that there's a longer list of Spotify problems and issues that can occur that can put a damper on your listening session.

Lost your playlists? App keeps crashing? Is the sound bad? Accidentally delete a playlist? We've got some simple solutions the these and many more common Spotify problems in the paragraphs below. Take a look and see what solutions address your Spotify woes.

Read more