How Virtual Shuffle Works

When you open the app and check the 'Enable shuffling' checkbox:


  • Virtual Shuffle will ask Spotify's server for an access and refresh token which it uses to ask Spotify to perform actions. This requires an internet connection.
  • Spotify will tell Virtual Shuffle what you are listening whenever there is a change.
  • Whenever there is a change in the track in the same playlist, album, or liked songs, Virtual Shuffle will check how many songs are in your playlist.
  • Let's say there are 500 songs in your playlist. Virtual Shuffle will generate a random number from 1 to 500.
  • It will then tell Spotify to add the song at that random position in the playlist to the queue. This way, you will play truly random songs.
  • In the event that you want to change the Spotify account Virtual Shuffle works on, press the menu button and click the "Change Spotify Account" button.


You can also click the "About" menu button. The about page shows my name and email address at the bottom. You can tap on it and it'll allow you to send me an email. You could tell me about features you'd like me to add, bugs you've found or just say thank you.


I do not take any personal data that could be used to identify you. I take logs to help identify bugs so I can fix them. The only other data I take is a random value your device generates the first time you turn it on. I use it to determine if you have installed the device before. The value looks something like this: g19cf2ca05c384x9. There is no way it can be used to uniquely identify you. I also use Google firebase for analytics to figure out how many people are using Virtual Shuffle


This service will also start automatically when your phone reboots if the checkbox is enabled.


Note that the name of the app requesting permission will be "Change Playlist Image" instead of "Virtual Shuffle".

This is because Spotify wants me to fill a ton of forms and wait for 7 weeks for approval and I quite honestly have better things to do.


"Change Playlist Image" is a website I wrote a long time ago to help people change their Spotify playlist's image way before Spotify allowed us to do so. So I simply used the client ID and secret from "Change Playlist Image" in this project "Virtual Shuffle". So disregard the fact that Spotify will tell you that "Change Playlist Image" wants to access your account details. Just approve it.


If you look at your queue you'll notice a truly random song will be injected whenever a new track starts playing.


This app requires a network connection to work. And remember, you must be a Spotify premium user.


This app has a trial period of 7 days, After which you'll have to pay $1.99, one time purchase, to continue using it forever. I will continue to improve the app based on your feedback.


Note: I am not an employee of Spotify.

Note something beautiful: Say you have a Spotify account named "My Spotify account". You log into "My Spotify account" on Spotify (On your android device) and on Virtual Shuffle (On your android device). You also log into "My Spotify account" on Spotify on your Iphone. The same random songs will be injected into your Spotify queue on your Iphone. Say what you will about Spotify but they built a truly interconnected system