What Is Stranger Things Mode On Spotify

Spotify Stranger Things Mode: The Spotify app on your iPhone has something called “Stranger Things Mode” that ties in with the popular Netflix show. By activating this mode and listening to a compatible album on Spotify, the screen will change to appear as though you are in the “Upside Down” realm from the show.

Our tutorial below will show you where to find this setting in the Spotify app on your iPhone. We also provide a link to an album in Spotify where you can see what Stranger Things mode looks like. Some users appear to have trouble getting this to work, so it’s possible that it’s a little buggy on certain devices, or with certain versions of the Spotify app or iOS.

Stranger Things Mode Spotify

The music streaming service has added a spooky Upside Down filter to its web player and desktop app that will make you even more desperate for the new episodes to drop.

You don’t need to conduct reality-shattering experiments to conjure the dark, oozing parallel universe. Just load Spotify in your browser, play the show’s soundtrack, and leave your cursor alone.

The steps in this article were performed on an iPhone 7 Plus in iOS 11.2.2. The version of Spotify being used is the most current version of the app available at the time this article was written. Note that the “Stranger Things” mode will only activate when you are listening to a compatible playlist.

Netflix’s series proved a surprise hit last summer, arriving at positive reviews and significant word-of-mouth praise. The show follows a group of kids in small-town America in the 1980s as they encounter dark forces, taking plenty of influence from Stephen King novels and classic Steven Spielberg films.

What Is Stranger Things Mode Spotify

In honor of Stranger Things’ upcoming second season, which premieres this Friday on Netflix, Spotify has hidden a spooky little gem in its web player: a re-skin that turns the black-and-green media player into The Upside Down. It won’t affect the music you’re playing, but it will add some floating spores and a flashlight beam to make your listening experience a little creepier.

Triggering the Easter egg is pretty simple: pull up your Spotify account on either the browser or app, start the Stranger Things soundtrack for either season and let it play. Wait a few seconds, and you’ll enter the home of the Demogorgon. If you move your mouse or browse around Spotify, however, it’ll disappear.

Neither I nor my colleagues were able to activate it on the desktop app, though several readers have had better luck. It also only applies to the Stranger Things soundtracks — sadly, I could not get Drake to take the plunge — and Spotify only supports specific browsers, like Chrome. Nevertheless, it is Halloween season, and who doesn’t appreciate a little visual panache with their moody playlists?

What Is Spotify Stranger Things Mode

After marketing stunts that’ve included a Netflix countdown clock and “Strange Mode” themed Lyft rides, one more charming Stranger Things gimmick to add to the mix: tied to today’s season two release, Spotify has rolled out custom playlists themed to different characters on the show, and will analyze your listening habits to select your “character profile” and playlist.

But you can also click around to view the playlists for a total of 13 characters, including “Joyce’s Halloween House Party”: 1And “Jonathan’s Outsider Looking In” (we seriously doubt he’d be listening to Jet in any decade, but you get the idea):

Using the playlists will also occasionally turn the media player into a spooky Upside Down mode, pictured up top. As the Verge has reported, this doesn’t affect your playback, and is hard to intentionally trigger, but looks cool nonetheless.

Just a little something to keep you occupied until you can get home and start bingeing the new season already.

Stranger Things Mode Spotify Mobile

Netflix’s sci-fi/fantasy hit Stranger Things involves an alternate dimension with a monster the kids at the center of the story name the Demogorgon (after their favorite Dungeons & Dragons enemy). Season 1 revolves around the abduction of one boy, Will Byers, who spends much of the season trapped in a terrifying parallel dimension they call the “Upside Down” full of ash spores, creepy mist, and root-like tendrils everywhere. In Season 2, Will is plagued by flashing visions of the Upside Down despite being back in the real world. It makes for a perfect way to corrupt your Spotify music player.

The Easter egg currently running only on Spotify’s web player transforms the window with a re-skin adding mist, ash, and creepy organic vine growths everywhere. Everything goes dark and the song progress bar becomes a rotating flashlight.

All you need to do to trigger the transformation is to play the official soundtrack for Stranger Things first or the second season. After a few seconds, everything will change — but as soon as you move the cursor again it all vanishes. It sounds a bit like the visions plaguing Will Byers in Season 2, which makes for some pretty creepy stuff.

In the past, Spotify has done similar re-skins for Star Wars, turning the progress bar into an expanding lightsaber for Rogue One. Who knows what Spotify might do next, but if the platform has a partnership with Stranger Things akin to what they have for Star Wars, then Season 2 of Netflix’s darling show has a lot to live up to.