topic Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread in Spotify for Developers

February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

ThePodfather — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 13:13:35 GMT

Hey everyone, I’ve created this thread to provide an open space for discussion, feedback, concerns or ideas on an upcoming update to Spotify for Developers access.

We’ve shared a blog post that explains what’s changing and why. Please use this thread to share any thoughts about the update.

We'll try our best to answer questions but we're not in a position to respond to every reply in this thread. Where appropriate we will add updates in this post to ensure visibility to all commentators (instead of burying the information in the comments). I am not able to reply to individual DM’s but please note that everything shared here will be read and considered. If related questions or discussions pop up elsewhere in the community, we’ll link or merge them back here so everything stays in one place.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Update:
After some review and following feedback we have received from you below, we have decided to postpone endpoint access changes for existing Development Mode integrations. All other changes, including the Spotify Premium requirement, the authorized user cap and one Client ID per developer limit, will take effect for existing Development Mode integrations as planned. Newly created Development Mode Client IDs remain subject to the updated rules introduced on February 11. We will share additional details on revised timelines as they become available.

You can find the full details in the blog post, and we’ll add links to any supporting documentation there as it becomes available.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

Jayoir — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:36:17 GMT

It's ultimately Spotify's discretion as to which APIs remain available and the access/quotas applied thereto, but this is a really disappointing update. It seems to be the final nail in a coffin already saturated with nails.

The quota updates last year (limiting developers to an allowlist of 25 users that can use the app unless they are a company with 250k users and other extremely high-bar requirements) has already materially killed off the ability for people to build applications using Spotify's platform.

This more recent update (limiting access even further from 25 → 5 users) ~~and removing some key endpoints like listing a user's playlists~~) is poor for developers and the users of their apps, but it is merely one more step down the road of killing the developer platform.

As I said, if Spotify wants to go in this direction then that's a business choice, but it would be great if this could be discussed candidly rather than speciously, as though the developer platform at Spotify still exists and serves developers, that innovation with Spotify's APIs is encouraged and supported.

Presumably this is in response to abuse of APIs and data mining Spotify's catalogue by some bad actors (though this is just a guess); it's disappointing that an esteemed engineering company such as Spotify's attempt to solve that problem is to pull developer access from their platform rather than actually fixing the root problem.

No shade to you, @ThePodFather, as the messenger, but as a developer that just built a web app that helps me (and ideally my friends) organise my Spotify library in a fun way, it's just galling and disappointing to see things getting even worse.

edit: in my original post I mentioned that the API endpoint for fetching a user's playlists was being removed; this isn't the case – you can still fetch playlists of the current user (aka `me`) but not of other users, which is still an annoying limitation, but not as bad as I thought.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

t3pco — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:16:24 GMT

Spoti-bye 🙂

As always, there will be good alternatives - and the artists you want to "protect" are already exploited by yourself. Other platforms are doing better. Feel bad for everyone being negatively affected by this decision - I can hear the screams from your internal developers that had to remove all the endpoints.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

Ryanatgeckomedi — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:21:06 GMT

limiting developers to an allowlist of 25 users that can use the app unless they are a company with 250k users and other extremely high-bar requirements

^^^ Yes, this is simply ridiculous. It is impossible to build anything. We are between a rock and a hard place.

removing some key endpoints like listing a user's playlists

^^ Goodbye Spotify. What is the point.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

Ryanatgeckomedi — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:26:02 GMT

Whilst it doesn't solve the broader issues, there is still actually a GET playlist endpoint for the current authenticated user:

Get Current User's Playlists (GET /me/playlists) – Retrieves playlists for the current authenticated user.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

Jayoir — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:34:48 GMT

Ah thanks @Ryanatgeckomedi – I didn't spot that initially, I'll edit my original post to retract that bit. As you say, it doesn't solve the broader issues (and the new changes e.g. further reducing the number of users that are allowed to use an app).

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

bluewave41 — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:42:59 GMT

This is absolutely laughable.

Development Mode use will require a Spotify Premium account

You're delusional if you think I'm going to subscribe again after you shut down app creation since CHRISTMAS and said screw you to anyone asking about it. What's stopping you from doing it again? What policies are you actually putting into place to solve this?

I'll take my apps somewhere else that doesn't treat their userbase**bleep**.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

dyl_nm — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 17:52:16 GMT

I wish the blog post would cover what Spotify are doing to make the experience better for developers not abusing the system. There are a number of factors that makes developing for the Spotify ecosystem not worth it, primarily:

unexplainably long waiting times for approval (which is why developers "use developer mode to scale up"
unexplainable approval rejections that are silently reversed on re-application

What is Spotify's plan to address these issues? And what does the migration path look like for these endpoints that are being removed?

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

JoaoAranha — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:56:51 GMT

There is lack of information if the 5 allowed testing accounts need to be Premium or not ?

Each Client ID will be limited to up to five authorized users

As they will share the same app id, there were changes in the amount of request quotas ?

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

Novy — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 20:56:39 GMT

Hey @JoaoAranha,

We can confirm that only the main account needs to be on Premium, the authorized accounts used for testing do not need to have a subscription.

Hope this helps!

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

Upl — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 01:44:32 GMT

Please can you .e provide access token create app

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

bluewave41 — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 01:47:38 GMT

You're not getting access until February 11th like everyone else as it clearly says: https://developer.spotify.com/blog/2026-02-06-update-on-developer-access-and-platform-security

At this point just leave Spotify and start looking into Tidal or Deezer. It's unacceptable how Spotify runs their API.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

NASMusicManager — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 02:34:01 GMT

The answer to the user Joao helps a lot, but still his second question about the usage quota, since now are not allowed more 25 users and just 5. Another point is that, as is going to be allowed only one app per account, how Spotify is going to choose the app from users that are going to stay at 9 march, since some developers could have more than one in their dashboard that were previous created ? Who is going to do the pick ? Spotify ? User ? If Spotify, based in which criteria ?

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

bdubsw — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 03:48:21 GMT

The reduction of end points again is so incredibly frustrating. What really is a you problem is being passed along to your paying customers. There are so many ways you could have blocked out the scraping. Properly authenticating identities of developers, better algorithms to detect scraping to name a few.

At the end of the day, who cares if the AI giants scrape your meta data. Take it as a compliment. If anything it benefits artists and gets their names out there. On another note, looks like Tidal offers an extensive api. Looks promising and I’m excited to explore switching my smart home solutions over.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

baehaqirafly3 — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 05:02:13 GMT

Thanks for the information. While I understand the need for updates, I have some concerns about how these changes might impact smaller independent developers. I’ll be sharing more detailed feedback once I’ve fully tested the new documentation. Thanks for keeping the discussion open!

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

IamANode — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 09:30:52 GMT

One step forward and 100 steps back! Hurray!

Why are there always so much negatives coming out of successful corporations? Always good to look at your infrastructure and make improvements. However this smells bad management and panic far beyond Putins farts!

The negative effect this will have on independent and developers in smaller organisations.

Development Mode use will require a Spotify Premium account
Why? This is only closing doors and pushing development backwards. STUPID!
Developers will be limited to one Development Mode Client ID
Understandable. Still looks like another panic action and not a proper solution.
Each Client ID will be limited to up to five authorised users
Guess this will work for smaller orgainstaions... hey wait. They are pusched away anyway... see this is a act of panic and not a solution.
API access will be limited to a smaller set of supported endpoints
Weak weak weak… and again weak! Again, one step forward and 100 steps back!

Two many negatives with Spotify lately. Support the corporations and organisations that are working for positive developments and are openminded to new ways to improve for users.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

JoaoAranha — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 11:24:00 GMT

Hi there, NASMusicManager have a great point and i think that is at interest from everyone that already were creating apps for a long time: "
Another point is that, as is going to be allowed only one app per account, how Spotify is going to choose the app from users that are going to stay at 9 march, since some developers could have more than one in their dashboard that were previous created ? Who is going to do the pick ? Spotify ? User ? If Spotify, based in which criteria ? "

Can someone with the knowledge about this question please wave in to we that have more than one app already created get to know if they are going to be grandfathered or how this pick is going to take place ? This is huge important, since involves the need to choose and i think that would be a break of TOS from Spotify 4 Developers simply erase apps from users that were not abusing the system. A reply would be great appreciated to we at least see some consideration from the Spotify team, after so much bad approaches with the "new" rules and with the ETA to put online so close too. IDK how you guys/girls handles things but in the real world, we dont give 5 days to great amount of code to our apps be changed and really expect that "this is cool" after almost 2 months of radio silence with a community that dedicated years using yours API and dont get me wrong, i'm a developer for more time than much here have of age, and Spotify took advantage of our codes testing the API and with our feedback to enhance the blind spots and flaws that are common in all API's development, and that's what make all more sad. But let's go, your code, your rules, let's at least be clear about the scopes and limits that we need to follow and most of all try to be at least fair with a community that dedicated a lot of time to help your service too to become now a profitable company after years of existence...

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

manmnaww44 — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 11:25:53 GMT

this is nice

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

mabdullahoztop — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 13:24:31 GMT

For me, the firing of Glenn McDonald marked a symbolic turning point, Spotify’s shift from a startup, culture-driven company to a corporate, top-down mindset. We saw the same transition reflected in the UI changes that followed.

Spotify was built on its users: their playlists, their descriptions, their listening habits, and their curiosity. Undermining that ecosystem will eventually come back to erode Spotify’s true tailwind: indie artists, indie developers, and indie listeners. These are not peripheral contributors; they are core engines of growth.

This decision will inevitably push good actors toward paid third-party APIs like Chartmetric, while bad actors will simply develop alternative scraping methods.

We’ve seen this pattern before. Adobe’s slow drift away from a user-first mentality, contrasted with Canva’s maker-first approach, didn’t happen overnight. It was the result of years of corporate blindness and hubris. The consequences are structural, not cosmetic.

When a platform stops listening to its core users for two or three years, the damage compounds. Spotify has already removed preview URLs and audio features. At that point, one has to ask: what meaningful harm could a bad actor realistically cause with record-label metadata alone?

This is not irreversible. But it requires recognizing that trust, openness and developer goodwill are not liabilities they are strategic assets.

Rest my case.

Re: February 2026 Spotify for Developers update: thread

alexs1986 — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 15:09:57 GMT

Spotify, these new developer restrictions don’t just limit APIs, they limit innovation. By reducing testing users, removing endpoints, requiring Premium for development, and effectively shutting out independent builders, you risk dismantling the very ecosystem that helped make Spotify powerful: curious developers, creative tools, and passionate communities. Security and anti-scraping efforts are important, but broad restrictions that punish legitimate developers are not a sustainable solution.

Great platforms grow by empowering builders, not by closing doors. Today’s indie developer can become tomorrow’s strategic partner, but only if the platform remains accessible.

Please reconsider the direction here. Transparency, fair approval processes, and meaningful support for responsible developers would protect both your platform and the goodwill you’ve spent years building. Trust and openness are not vulnerabilities, they are competitive advantages.