Spotify is making a small but meaningful design change on iOS today: it's removing the hamburger button and replacing it with a navigation bar along the bottom of the screen. This better matches the rest of iOS, and — more importantly — does a better job of putting commonly used features right in front of users.

Nav bars are in, hamburgers are out

The hamburger button — those three lines in the top corner of the screen that reveal a slide out menu — has always been a bit more of an Android thing, and even on Android it's starting to go away. In March, Google began instructing developers to use bottom navigation bars instead of hamburger buttons since they make it easier to navigate between sections of an app. So, like Spotify, we can expect to see more and more apps chose this type of design.

Spotify's update moves the core areas of its app, previously accessible through the side menu, into individual buttons on the bottom of the screen. Those include browsing music, searching, accessing radio stations, opening your own library, and going to the home page. Having a row of buttons along the bottom of the screen doesn't necessarily make for a more attractive design, but it'll definitely make navigating Spotify a bit easier.

The change is rolling out on iOS today in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Sweden. It'll expand to other countries and other platforms in the "coming months" — so Android users, get ready for a nav bar, too.