topic Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session in Your Library

Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

wurdahmekanik — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 08:00:25 GMT

Devices

All devices

Operating System

All OSs

My Question or Issue

Pretty self explanatory: artists are suddenly showing up in my Recently Played Artists list despite me being in a Private Session. This never used to be the case, but I noticed it started happening a few days ago. This seems to be a bug.

As a side note: the layout of this community forum is horrible and it's really unclear if this is actually a good place to file a bug report, or if this is just going to be treated as a discussion that no one from the team ever actually sees.

Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

MateusM — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 16:36:22 GMT

Hey @wurdahmekanik! Thanks for reaching out!

Can you double-check if the “Recently played artists” option is turned off? You can find it by going to Settings > Privacy and social > and then look under Listening activity. Turning that off should completely prevent your recent artists from showing up on your profile. You can find more details about it here.

Keep me posted, and let me know if you meant something else!
/Mateus

Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

wurdahmekanik — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 21:13:20 GMT

That's not what I meant. The expected / previous behavior was that when in a private session, any artists played would not show in Recently Played Artists. Adding artists to the RPA list regardless of whether one is in a private session is new behavior, and I would consider it a bug because it goes against the idea of activity being private if it can still be viewed.

Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

MateusM — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 22:32:43 GMT

Thanks for clarifying @wurdahmekanik!

Private Sessions automatically end after 6 hours or when you restart the app, so it’s possible the session ended without you realizing. Also, make sure it was switched on right before you started listening (padlock icon on desktop or toggle in mobile settings). You can read more details about this here.

If everything was set up correctly and artists still showed up in your Recently Played, can you send me the make and model of your device, along the OS and Spotify version you're using?

Keep me in the loop!
/Mateus

Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

wurdahmekanik — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 04:15:36 GMT

It definitely did not end, and they were being logged while the padlock was on and while the Android app displayed "private session" at the bottom. This happens on every device I use and every Spotify client I use, which is why I put "all devices" and "all OSs" in my original message (this includes but is not limited to Asus Zenfone 10, Linux desktop app, and Windows desktop app)

Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

MateusM — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:13:58 GMT

Hey @wurdahmekanik!

Thanks for the extra info and for confirming you’re using Private Session the right way.

We’ve passed this on to the right team so they can take a closer look too. There’s no specific timeframe for now, but in the meantime, make sure to keep the app updated so you don’t miss any fixes.

Hope this helps!
/Mateus

Artists show up on a profile's "recently played artist" while listening on a private session

Olika — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 21:08:41 GMT

Hi, recently noticed that while listening to music on "private session" the history is visible on profile's "recently played artists". It never happened before, always the artists stayed also private, and were not included in my public profile view. Why such a change? I hope this is an temporary error.

Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

Dessi — Thu, 01 May 2025 13:38:28 GMT

Hey folks,

Thanks for the patience!

We can confirm this was fixed. In case the issue persists, make sure you're running the latest version of the app.

Take care.

Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

marcosreis8 — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 17:16:20 GMT

Hi!

Can you tell me if, when the private session is active, the algorithm and its recommendations related to what we are currently hearing are also disabled? Sometimes we want to hear something that runs away in our usual and doesn’t want recommendations related to it.

Re: Artists showing in Recently Played Artists list despite being in private session

Paula_Vi — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 19:21:10 GMT

Hi there @marcosreis8,

Thanks for reaching out!

When a Private Session is active, the data collection used to influence your personalized recommendations and algorithmic mixes gets paused.

You can also try the Exclude from Taste Profile feature on specific playlists to keep some content out of your recommendations. More info about this here.

In any case, if an issue appears when using any of these features mentioned, let us know.

If anything else comes up, the Community will be here for you!