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[Privacy] Private Session should stay active

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.

Updated on 2023-03-30

Hey everyone,

 

It seems that this idea ended up in the wrong board accidentally, so we're bringing it back.

 

We're keeping the previous Not Right Now status, as we don't have any immediate plans to implement this. As soon as we have any new information to share, rest assured we'll check back in here.

 

Take care.

Comments
JohnLockNKey

Hey @Meredith 

Your cheerful condescension is by far the most smug and placating response I have ever seen from a community manager. You can't even offer a single reason as to why you have actively pulled a bait and switch in regards to our privacy.  You don't even attempt to explain.  Instead you ignore us.  Thanking people for feedback and patting them on the head while offering nothing in return is far worse than not responding at all. I have put my next premium payment in the "Not Right Now" category. I'll be using Google Play from now on but my community account will still be open for "kudos." If my account is passed due I suggest you open a new thread and discuss it amongst yourself. I have no plan to pay the balance in the near future but surely you can live on "kudos." Someone on here will gladly show you how.

jbcpep

My son is a minor and on my family plan. I find it disturbing that we cannot make his profile private. You'd be surprised how much friendly and unfriendly kid at school are aware of someone's listening habits on spotify.  Also, making him invoke private session every time he activates the app is unreasonable. You should reconsider your privacy policy, this feels creepily like Facebook.

d7b

That's a really good point about a child and bullies.

 

What is the big deal Spotify?.make sessions private indefinitely...

 

Im paying for a service where you shaft the musicians making the music for your profit and here you are.... Shafting the listeners as well!

 

I am already backing up my playlists to convert to another service. This is a joke. Your intolerance to listen to your users is tyrannical and absolutely moronic. "Too big to fail" attitudes will leave you rotting with the likes of the Lehmann Brothers... 

mozarthum

When will Spotify listen their customers? Altough votes are low here, not everyone bothers to suggest a needed option. Some years ago many premium users are waiting for this option, and so far, still "Not now" is very disappointing.

JohnLockNKey
It's important to recognize that Spotify is aware of this restriction. Let's not waste any time thinking we just have to make Spotify recognize it. They know. They do not care. The money from outside sources being allowed to track what we listen to is far more worth it than the customers they lose over this. More than pays for the ill will and lost trust their customers endure. Unfortunately of Spotify and for us, this is not a lasting business model and Spotify will be gone in a flash when the next service roles around that gives customers what they want and does it actively lie to them.
KKamin

What a go f yourself response from Spotify. As a paying customer, I should be able to choose what I share without the hassle of having to activate the private session every time I log in which I'm bound to forget to do sometimes

Ítalo

Please!

kyledeb

This is a huge invasion of privacy. We should have to opt-in to sharing our listening publicly, not have to opt-out every time. Please fix this ASAP Spotify. 

bud_of_death

This needs to be a thing I'm highly annoyed by invasion of my privacy

jovanic

This must be implemented, I can't believe that we're discussing it at all!