Spotify restores original app icon after disco ball design sparks user backlash

Spotify quietly restored its original 2D green app icon on iPhone on Thursday, ending a month-long experiment with a glowing disco ball logo that drew widespread complaints from users who found it pixelated, visually displeasing, and generally unwelcome.

Variety had previously reported on the backlash surrounding the disco ball icon, as well as its original launch.

Why Spotify introduced the disco ball

The glowing mirrorball icon was never meant to be permanent. Spotify introduced it as a celebratory nod to its 20th anniversary, tied to the "Spotify 20: Your Party of the Year(s)" campaign — a mobile-only in-app experience that allowed users to look back at their personal listening history.

Users were not impressed

While some defended the disco ball as a creative risk and a festive gesture from a major platform, the criticism far outweighed the praise. Many users complained the icon appeared pixelated on small phone screens and was simply unpleasant to look at.

"The person who designed this logo should be fired," one user wrote on X. Spotify's official account responded on 17 May, writing: "We know glitter is not for everyone. Our temp glow up ends soon. Your regularly scheduled Spotify icon returns next week." The return took somewhat longer than that promise suggested, but the original icon is now back in place.

A lesson for product designers

The episode underlines how acutely users can react to even the most minor visual changes to products they use daily. Spotify had not anticipated that a small, temporary logo swap would generate the level of displeasure it did — a reminder that familiarity carries significant weight in product design.