Private Session - overview

Xenia — Tue, 20 May 2025 14:34:38 GMT

Answer:

By default, anyone who follows you on Spotify can see what you’re listening to with the Friend Activity feature.

If you don’t want others to know what you’re listening to, you can start a Private Session.

How to switch Private Session on/off?

Mobile and tablet

Tap Home .
Tap on your profile picture in the upper left corner of the screen.
Select Settings and privacy
Under Privacy and social, turn Private Session on .

To end a Private Session and continue sharing your listening activity, repeat the steps and switch it off.

Note: The Private Session ends automatically when you completely exit out of Spotify, or after 6 hours of inactivity.

Desktop

Click on your profile picture in the upper right corner of the screen.
Select Private Session.

A blue padlock next to your profile picture means the Private Session is active.

I don't want to activate Private Sessions every time. Is there a way to permanently hide what I'm listening?

Yes! If you don't want to share your listening activity at all or show your recently played artists, you can turn it off in the app Settings under Social:

Note that this will only affect what is shown on your profile and the Friend Activity.

Can I make my personal playlists private?

Yes! You can choose which playlists are shown on your profile. There's more info on how to do this here.

To go even further, it's also possible to make a playlist completely private in order to hide it from search and prevent anyone but the owner from accessing it. Check out this article for more info.

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Private Session - overview