Welcome to our podcast! Today, we're diving into an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how Spotify releases its mobile app. With over 675 million users, Spotify faces a massive challenge with each weekly release, balancing speed and quality. The Release team plays a pivotal role, ensuring that any changes developers make are deployed to users as quickly as possible, without compromising on app stability.

As highlighted in the article, "The core responsibilities of the Release team are twofold: making sure the time from code merging to user access is short and ensuring quality meets our standards." During the development cycle for version 8.9.2, they launched the highly anticipated Audiobooks feature. This process kicked off every Friday, with rigorous testing and coordination to catch issues early on.

The release culminates in a phased rollout: first to a small percentage of users, then ramping up to everyone. If any critical issues arise, the team acts swiftly, sometimes pausing the rollout to ensure a seamless experience for users. The structure put in place allows them to roll out over 95% of releases each week.

Stay tuned for part two, where we’ll explore the systems and tools behind this impressive release management process!
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