How to Use Spotify MiniPlayer for Desktop

Part 1. Does Spotify Have a Mini Player?

Spotify first introduced its Mini Player a few years ago through the web player on Google Chrome. It offered a small, floating playback window that stayed visible above other windows—simple, unobtrusive, and incredibly useful. I soon found myself relying on it. Being able to control what I was listening to without breaking my focus made it feel like an essential part of my setup.

Around March 2024, Spotify has taken that same idea and brought the Mini Player to its desktop app. It's positioned down in the bottom-right corner, right between the volume slider and the full-screen toggle. Click it once, and the Mini Player pops up—a compact window that lets you pause, skip tracks, or adjust volume, all without needing to return to the main app. It's the kind of feature that quietly blends into your workflow.

At first, this feature was only available to Premium users, but it's now being rolled out to free users as well. As someone using the free tier, I was glad to see it appear without any workaround. That said, not everything is unlocked—when I tried resizing the Mini Player to make it smaller, a message popped up: "You discovered a Premium feature." So, while free users get the core controls, some finer adjustments remain locked behind a paywall.

Still, I've found the Mini Player to be a solid everyday tool. It stays out of the way, and when I'm done, I just close it and get back to whatever I was doing. I don't use it to browse or search—those tasks still feel easier in the main app—but for quick switching and essential control, it's exactly what I need.

Part 2. How to Get Spotify Mini Player

It's easy to get the Spotify Mini Player. Here's what you do:

For Music, Podcasts (Video), & Audiobooks:

1. Start by ensuring your Spotify app is up-to-date. Head to your app store - like the Apple App Store or Google Play Store - and check for any available updates. If there's a newer version, download and install it.
2. Once you've updated the app, open Spotify. On the free tier, you won't find the Mini Player- it's exclusive to the premium version. It's usually located at the bottom right of the screen, or the top right of the Now Playing view for podcasts. But if you're unsure, refer to the image below:



3. After locating the Mini Player, activate it. Now, play your music or podcast as usual, and the Mini Player will pop up. It includes all the controls you need - play, pause, skip, shuffle, and volume adjustment.



4. With just a quick update and a few clicks, you're ready to enjoy the Spotify Mini Player. Give it a spin and discover how it enhances your music-listening experience.

Pro Tip: Similar Experience on Xbox Game Bar:

If you're a gamer who wants a pop-up Mini Player for Spotify while playing games on your Windows desktop, you can make it happen by using the Xbox Game Bar. This feature lets you control your music while you're deep into your gaming sessions. Here's how to set it up:

1. Go to Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar from your Start Menu.



2. Make sure the Xbox Game Bar is turned on. You can check by pressing the Win+G shortcut.
3. While you're playing a game or using any app, press Win+G to open the Xbox Game Bar.
4. Click on the Spotify widget and select "Link Account." Follow the prompts to enter your Spotify login details. If you haven't already, launch the Spotify desktop app.

Now you'll have a Mini Player for Spotify where you can control your music playback smoothly. Pick a playlist, hit play, and keep gaming or using other apps. This setup brings the Spotify Mini Player right to your desktop, so you can manage your music library without interrupting your gaming sessions.

Part 3. Best Apps to Get Spotify Mini Player

Users have found different ways to access the Spotify Mini Player on various devices and platforms. These options are for those who want to control their music without switching between apps. Here are some choices for Windows and Mac users:

Windows & Mac Alternatives:

• MiniPlay for Spotify & iTunes [Mac]:

  MiniPlay for Spotify & iTunes is a handy app that displays what's currently playing on Spotify. You can control playback and adjust the sound volume directly from this app, eliminating the need to switch back to Spotify. It also shows full-sized album artwork and provides quick access to the current track information via the notification center. To use MiniPlay for Spotify & iTunes, find it in the App Store on your Mac, install it, and then open the app to start enjoying your music with ease.

• Alfred Spotify Mini Player [Mac]:

  

  The Alfred Spotify Mini Player is a powerful tool that gives you control over almost everything you can do on Spotify. Setting it up involves downloading the workflow and configuring it, which might be a bit tricky for those unfamiliar with this type of setup. However, with a bit of patience, you can unlock its full potential and explore its many features. Once installed, you can enjoy using a Spotify mini player on your Mac to listen to your favorite music.

• AudioBand [Windows]:

  AudioBand is a tool from GitHub. It adds a mini player to your taskbar for Spotify, iTunes, and MusicBee. This player lets you control your music without opening the main app. It shows song info like album art and progress. To use it, download and install AudioBand, then choose Spotify as the audio source. It's simple and convenient to use while you're working or doing other tasks on your computer.

• Lofi Spotify Mini Player [Windows]:

  

  Lofi is a small desktop client for Spotify. It has a tiny window, only 150×150 pixels, where you can play, pause, skip songs, and see album artwork. Lofi also has cool visual effects like Blue Wave and Rainbow Road. You can download Lofi from its website, log in with your Spotify account, and start using it right away.

Part 4. Best Alternatives for Getting a Spotify Mini Player

Even though Spotify now has a built-in Mini Player, the other options we talked about are still useful—if you're using the free version of Spotify. Those mini player apps give you basic controls, but you still have to deal with ads, limited skips, and no offline listening. So even with the Mini Player, it can still feel a bit limited.

Why ViWizard Spotify Music Converter?

That's why I think ViWizard Spotify Music Converter is a great tool to have. It lets you download your favorite songs, playlists, or albums from Spotify and save them as MP3 files or other common formats. And the best part? You don't need a Premium account to use it. I've used it myself to save music and play it through apps like Windows Media Player or Apple Music, both of which have their own Mini Player features. You can even use it with things like Rainmeter to make your own custom music widgets.

ViWizard also keeps all the details—like the song title, artist name, and album cover—so everything looks nice and neat. If you want more freedom with how and where you listen to music, especially if you're not paying for Spotify Premium, ViWizard is a super helpful option.

Spotify Music Converter

A brilliant Spotify music downloader designed to download and convert Spotify songs, playlists, albums, artists, podcasts, and audiobooks to MP3, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, M4A, and M4B losslessly. The sound stays as clear as the original, and all track details are preserved, offering a seamless experience to enjoy your Spotify music offline on any player or device.

Free Trial

Free Trial

Step 1Install ViWizard on Your Computer

First, download the right version of ViWizard for your system—Mac or Windows. After the download, install the app like you would any other. Once it's set up, open the app and get ready to bring your Spotify music offline.

Step 2Open Spotify in ViWizard and Pick Your Songs

Once inside ViWizard, log into your Spotify account. You'll see all your playlists, albums, and saved songs. Just browse or search for what you want to keep, then hit the Add button to load those tracks into the converter.

Step 3Pick the Format You Want

Now head over to the settings. MP3 is the safest bet since it works with pretty much every player. You can also bump up the quality to 320kbps for the best sound. Leave the other settings as-is unless you know what you're changing.

Step 4Convert and Save Your Music

When everything's set, click Convert. ViWizard will start saving your songs to your computer as audio files. Once done, you can open the folder and use those files however you want—whether that's in a media player with a built-in MiniPlayer, synced to another device, or organized in your own music library.

Step 4Import Spotify Music to Other Media Players

Now you have converted Spotify songs to MP3 or other playable audio formats. Then you can use those default media player on a Mac or PC computer to play those Spotify songs. Here's how to use Windows Media Player on PC and Apple Music app for Mac.

Best for Windows: Windows Media Player

1. Open Windows Media Player and then click Open Files to add Spotify music files.
2. Start playing those Spotify songs by clicking on the Play button.
3. Click on the Mini player button at the bottom right or press Ctrl+M to open the mini player.

Best for Mac: Apple Music

1. Open Apple Music on Mac and then transfer the song downloaded from Spotify to Music.
2. Start to play the song and click Window > Switch to MiniPlayer. Then you can listen to Spotify songs with Music MiniPlayer on Mac.

You can click the Lyrics button to see the lyrics of the song you're listening to. When you want to leave the mini mode, simply choose the Close button.

Conclusion

To use mini player while listening to Spotify, you have various choices, such as Lofi Spotify Mini Player and Alfred Spotify Mini Player. But if you use a third-party mini player to play Spotify music, it is necessary to own a Spotify Premium account. At the same times, the audio quality will be not good. So, the better solution is to download and convert Spotify songs at first. Then you can use the default music player with a mini player on your computer to play your liked Spotify songs.