How to use the open-source Spotify client on Linux

Are you using the Spotify music service on your Linux PC? Do you feel like the official Spotify app isn’t very good? Check out the Spot app! It’s an open-source Spotify client (based on librespot) that gives a fresh, Linux-native look. Here’s how to use it on your system.

Note: To use the Spot client, you must have a premium Spotify account. The Spot app does not work with free Spotify accounts, and developers have no plans to add support for free accounts.

Installing Spot on Linux

The Spot app works on Linux in many ways. The first way to install the application is via Flathub as a Flatpak. The second way is via a Snap package from the Ubuntu Snap package store. Users can also build the software from its source code. In this guide, we’ll cover all three.

To start the Spot on your Linux PC’s installation process, open up a terminal window on the desktop. To open up a terminal window, press the Ctrl + Alt + T keyboard combination. Or, search for “Terminal” in the application menu on your desktop.

Once the terminal window is open, follow the command-line installation instructions below that correspond with the Linux operating system you are using.

Flatpak installation instructions

The Flatpak installation method is considered the official method for installing Spot, as the developer directly links to the Spot Flathub page on Github. As a result, it’s straightforward to get going.

Note: Spot is still under heavy development, so you may have to update the Spot flatpak frequently. To update Flatpak, write flatpak update in the terminal.

To install the Spot app as a Flatpak package on your computer, you will need to first install the Flatpak runtime on your system. To install the Flatpak runtime, open up a terminal window and install the “flatpak” package.

If you’re having trouble setting up the Flatpak runtime on your Linux PC, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered! Follow along with our in-depth guide on how to set up the Flatpak runtime on your Linux PC.

After setting up the Flatpak runtime, you must set up the Flathub app store. To set up the Flathub app store, make use of the flatpak remote-add command below.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Once the Flathub app store is set up on your Linux PC, you can install the Spot application as a Flatpak using the following flatpak install command.

flatpak install flathub dev.alextren.Spot

Snap package installation instructions

If Flatpak isn’t your thing, there’s also a Snap package for the Spot client. However, this Snap package is unofficial, and not maintained by the developer, so keep that in mind.

To start installing the Spot client as a Snap package, you will need to install the Snap runtime. To install the Snap runtime, install the “snapd” package on your computer, and enable the “snapd.socket” service via systemctl commands.

Note: having issues setting up the Snap runtime on your Linux PC? Please take a look at our in-depth guide on how to set up Snap packages on Linux! It’ll help you get everything configured and set up!

Once the Snap runtime is set up on your Linux PC, the Spot client can be installed on your Linux system using the following snap install command.

sudo snap install spot --edge

Building from source

It is possible to build the Spot client from the source code. If you would like to do this, head over to the Spot Github page and read the build instructions provided there.

Setting up Spot

Setting up Spot isn’t a challenging process. To start, head over to the Spotify website and learn your username. If you can’t figure out your username, the Spotify email also works. Sadly, you cannot log into Spot by connecting to Facebook like the official app.

After finding out what your Spotify username is, launch Spot on the Linux desktop by searching for “Spot” in the app menu. Once Spot is open, a login window will appear. In this login window, you’ll see a message “Please note that a premium account is required to use Spot.”

Log into the premium Spot login window using your Spotify username and password. Then, press the “Login” button to continue. Once you’ve logged in, Spot will load in your playlists, artists, etc.

How to use Spot

To listen to music in Spot, click on “Library.” In the “Library” area, you’ll see your Spotify albums, artists, etc. To access and play playlists, select the “Playlists” section in the side-bar.

Need to find something specific to listen to? Select the search box, type out the name of a song, and it’ll appear.