Roger Fingas
Streaming music service Spotify has apparently dropped access to its Web Player for users of Apple's Safari, despite it continuing to work on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera.
On trying to reach the Web Player, Safari users are encountering a message telling them their browser is unsupported, and asking them to either download the native Mac client or switch to another browser. Safari has been removed from an official compatibility list.
A poster on Spotify's support forums said they contacted the company for help and received a confirmation.
"After taking a look backstage, we can confirm that after recent updates Safari is no longer a supported browser for Web Player," the reply read. "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."
One possible explanation is a Google plugin, Widevine, which is required for streaming Spotify on the Web but flagged by macOS because it doesn't "support the highest level of security for Safari plug-ins," and may risk hackers accessing personal data.
Apple and Spotify have become rivals in the streaming music space since the 2015 launch of Apple Music. Spotify remains firmly in the lead in terms of paid subscribers, with over 60 million versus Apple's 27 million. It's believed to have even more people on its ad-based free tier, whereas Apple Music is paid-only after a three-month trial.
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
29 Comments
Not sure why you'd stream in a browser if you're on a Mac when you can download and use Spotify Mac app.
Okay. Just stop using Spotify, then.
"One possible explanation is a Google plugin, Widevine, which is required for streaming Spotify on the Web but flagged by macOS because it doesn't "support the highest level of security for Safari plug-ins," and may risk hackers accessing personal data."
Says it all. If it's not this, it could always be the issue of too many hops, which are generally used for ad clicks. Apple continues to try and make sure Mac users are not subjected to privacy and security breaches. Something places like Equifax should be more interested in.
Why bother with either, when I can listen to Amazon Music for free? (No ads)