I’m working on embedding a Spotify player widget into my interactive media project and I need it to start playing music automatically when the page loads. Right now users have to click the play button twice which creates a poor user experience. I’ve seen other music streaming services like SoundCloud offer autoplay parameters for their embedded players. Does Spotify provide any URL parameters or configuration options that would allow the embedded player to begin playback immediately? I’m looking for something similar to how video players can be set to autoplay when the iframe is loaded.
Spotify killed autoplay in their embedded players a few years back because of browser restrictions and privacy stuff. Hit the same wall when I built a music site last year. That double-click thing you’re seeing? It’s browsers blocking media from playing without someone actually clicking first. Even if you hack around it, Chrome, Firefox, Safari - they’ll all block autoplay no matter what you try. Best bet is working with it instead of fighting it. Make your play button bigger or add some clear instructions. I’ve seen devs throw a custom overlay with a huge play button over the embed to make it more obvious, but there’s no way around needing that user click.
Yeah, Spotify killed autoplay in their embedded players back in 2018. Wasn’t an accident either - they did it to comply with browser policies that block auto-playing media without user interaction. I hit this same wall building a portfolio site where my client wanted background music. That double-click thing you’re seeing? That’s the browser’s autoplay protection forcing users to actually engage before audio starts. You’ve got two real options: use Spotify’s Web Playback SDK for better control (but users need to authenticate) or just redesign your interface so the manual play feels intentional instead of fighting it.
totally get ya! autoplay is tough w/ Spotify now. they stopped allowing it cuz browsers block it for user experience. best bet is to use the web API for more control or just keep it manual, unfortunately.
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