Bad news for people who like streaming Spotify playlists app-free on their Macbooks, as Spotify is ending web support for Apple’s Safari browser.
If you are a Safari fan and try and visit the Spotify Web Player page you get a message than in no uncertain terms closes the digital door in your browser’s virtual face.
“This browser doesn’t support Spotify Web Player. Switch browsers or download Spotify for your desktop,” the message says.
Currently, Google’s Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox, Microsoft’s Edge, and the Opera browsers support Spotify web streaming, meaning there are a good few alternatives to Safari. But the move could annoy some Apple and macOS fans who don’t want to use a third-party browser or be forced to download the Spotify app.
The end of Safari support cropped up in the Spotify community forums, with user riegelstamm highlighting the issues and contacting customer support.
The response from Spotify was also posted and reads: “After taking a look backstage, we can confirm that after recent updates Safari is no longer a supported browser for Web Player. We’re always testing things by adding or removing features to make Spotify better overall. We’re sorry that this means you’re not able to use the Web Player like you could before.”
“We can’t say if or when any specific features will be back. But as soon as we’ve got anything to announce, we’ll let everyone know via the Spotify Community,” Spotify’s customer services said.
So it would appear that for the time being at least it’s game over for Spotify streaming in Safari, which riegelstamm notes is likely due to the browser not supporting the Google Widevine content decryption module, which Apple has claimed is not secure enough for Safari.
The crossfire between Apple and Google disagreeing on browser features and security, looks to have winged a few bystanders; Spotify user DJJJ44 was particularity disgruntled at not being able to stream Spotify in Safari.
“If this is the case, I will be cancelling my Spotify account as I prefer to use the play.spotify website on Safari,” DJJJ44 posted.
“No worries lets all use Deezer. . .If Spotify decides to have us back it can let us in again :),” a more upbeat Dominic70s added to the conversation.
Related: Best music streaming services
Do you prefer to use Spotify in app form or stream via the web? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
