[Privacy] Private Session should stay active

[jakenfinn]

Let's face it. We've all used Spotify to listen to music that we would be embarassed to advertise publically.

Whether it's kittens meowing Christmas songs, that your friends would never let you live down, or a hardcore rap album, that you wouldn't want your 8 year old cousin to go and listen to because his cool aunt or uncle likes it.

When it comes to this social music app, privacy is not a convenient bonus feature, it's a critical necessity.

Currently, the only way to listen to songs privately on Spotify, is to go to the settings and activate a private session. This is not only annoying, since I constantly have to navigate through settings to activate privacy on my phone, it's stressful because you have to worry about whether or not certain people can see what you're listening too. My primary music app should not cause anxiety about what I share publically.

From a 2011 blog post "Spotify is all about sharing and discovering new music. It’s entirely up to you what you decide to share and what you keep private."

With the first part in mind, it makes sense that spotify would default to making all of the music you listen to public to your followers but the second part is not true. Anyone can follow me on Spotify and if I have to continuously activate a private session, there will inevitably be times when I forget. As a paying customer, I should have the ability to hide what I listen to if I please and activate privacy indefinitely.

[Pgrino69]

It's now 2018. The request for making Privacy session default or at least allowing us to use it as default has been around for five years. Why exactly is this option marked "Not just now"? Surely something like that doesn't require re-coding the entire package from the ground up?

[jomo111]

I've been coming back to the forums over the past three years now because I can not believe that there is seriously no progress regarding this "feature". We all now that this would require ridicoulusly little effort. The private session feature was built YEARS ago. What kind of political message is this?! Stop behaving like obstinate mules for goodness' sake! Users have been getting really angry about this for years now. I know of at least 2 people that switched to apple music for that sole reason. It's not like we are not paying a whole lot of money for our premium accounts!

[donna6]

Come on Spotify. In an age when privacy matters, this is just 101 stuff. Reverse the toggle so it's opt IN not opt OUT. I've complained before and been told to just toggle it of which is all well and good if you remember every. single. time. and then on a mobile it's a PITA to even work out how to do it there (not sure if it's even possible!).   This is the perfect example of a platform not listening to its users.  Apple Music anyone? I'm considering it and I've been a long time user of Spotify with a family account. Your devs could fix this in no time at all if you actually cared! 

[cagataymetin]

This is a major user experience issue. 

[Goodman]

Updated on 2019-10-17

Hi folks.

Thank you for all your feedback and votes.

At this time we do not have any plans to implement this, so we're setting it to Case Closed for now.

If anything changes we will update you here.

[audesmnn]

Dear Spotify, a privacy setting, such as being able to listen to our music anonymously BY DEFAULT and PERMANENTLY would be the bare minimum on your platform (for which we are paying by the way).

Turning on the "private session" option almost every time we open Spotify is NOT a thoughtful nor effective solution for our privacy. What are you waiting for?!

Privacy rights are fundamental rights, as mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the United Nation, Article 12 ("No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. ».

Can you understand that the music we are listening to, at what time we are listening it, from which and who's playlist we are listening it etc. can be intimate? Can you understand it can be something we do not want to share with the entire world ? Can you understand that it is hence problematic if available to people we have not chosen (indeed, everyone following us have access to it) ?

I don’t want to spend my time checking whether my “private session” option is turned on or not. I want to turn it on and not think about it anymore. I want to turn it on and not think about whether a certain person who’s following me has access to what music I am listening to right now anymore!

[Alex]

Updated on 2021-06-06

Hello and thanks for submitting your idea to the Idea Exchange!

We've gone ahead and marked this as a new suggestion. Spotify Staff will look into this idea once it reaches the necessary amount of votes.

More info on how your feedback reaches Spotify via the Idea Exchange can be found here.

Cheers!

[musicmemore]

Oh yes!

Friends, family, and followers know every time we have our intimate moments here since we're listening to appropriate music. That is not ok.

[huntc99]

Please!!! I did not see this before posting an identical idea. 

My family members refuse to use Spotify for exactly this reason. They want Private Session on at all times, or at least do not want to be paranoid about it turning off without notice after x many hours. 

Many people with privacy concerns turn away from Spotify due to this issue. It seems it would be conducive to user engagement and even could be a marketing tool “At Spotify, we value privacy, ...” !!!

[Luan]

Updated on 2021-08-11

Hello!

Your idea has been submitted a while ago but unfortunately hasn't gathered enough kudos yet. In order to keep an overview of the active ideas in this forum, we will close this idea for now. However, this does not mean that your idea has been declined by Spotify.

If you still feel strongly about your request, we encourage you to continue sharing it to get more kudos. Folks can still add their votes and comments in order to support it.

Do you have any further questions on how the idea exchange is managed? Just click here.