disable group sessions

[Cawanga]

Disable / remove group sessions.

We need the option in settings to disable group sessions. End of suggestion.

Thoughts:

For many users this is a unwanted feature.

Keep it for those who need it. Even let it remain default behavior if you feel you must, but not allowing us to disable it is not acceptable.

[MafeG]

Hi @Cawanga,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community.

We've moved your post to this help board to better assist you with this. Group Sessions are never ON by default, if you toggle it ON, it will remain ON until you decide to turn it OFF. 

Could you confirm if you're really referring to the Group Session feature? Or are you referring to something else?

Some screenshots of what you're seeing on the app will come in handy, so we can take a better look at them.

Keep us posted.

[barcazama]

If I'm not mistaken, there is no option to disable this feature (tested on Android and Windows). I'm often on public Wi-Fi and I constantly have pop-up offering me to join up group session with random people.

I think the moderator misunderstood what OP was asking for, and the post should be moved back to suggestion.

[MillspawP]

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

Sh*tbox Android

Operating System

Whatever the latest Android version is, ask a nerd who cares

My Question or Issue

Why am I being constantly prompted to join the group sessions or listen in on the devices of other people? I have turned every possible social feature off, I have changed my password, I have uninstalled and reinstalled and updated to latest Android version of the app. 

I want to hide my phone from or disable this awful feature. I constantly have to be vigilant to make sure I don't accidentally take control of or listen in on what others are listening to. This is a very bad feature with no apparent off switch, please at the very bare minimum make a toggle, or scrap this awful feature entirely. Or at least only ask me ONCE, not multiple times a day, every day. This feature is annoying, creepy, ill-conceived and poorly executed. 

[Karlemagne1]

I live alone and spotify gives me constant hassles with 'joined sessions' trying to listen to music both in my home office and the lounge. In the lounge I use my smartphone and a different bluetooth player than my office, where spotify runs on my tablet. Moving to the lounge, spotify will 'join' my smartphone session to my tablet and then play music in the office. Great, just what I needed! Switching the 'joined session' over to my smart phone then gets me reminders I should be buying a 'couple's tariff' or similar. Am I not paying to get ad free content?

[mikerawsonnz]

for hotels this feature is a nightmare and end result is we have had to turn off all of spotify to protect our guests privacy - so goof work spotify you have dropped in a B2C feature with no thoughts on how B2B players can manage it - and end result is spotify completely blocked from casting due to privacy breaches with the data that spotify broadcasts

[antishadow8]

I work in a warehouse and on the company wifi. Any time I open the app to find a song to play, I see "Would you like to join C" 

No, I don't want to join them. I don't even know who they are. It wouldn't be so bad, but I can't figure out how to stop it from asking or at least make it a once in a while question. **bleep**, even just the option to block groups so I can't see them would help me not go to tap on a song and have the popup get in the way, have me join the group that I don't know, and play music I flat don't like. There has to be a way to disable the feature.

[ParentalControl]

If you're on public wifi. I highly recommend you use VPN android or disable local wifi sharing on your device on ios settings.

iOS:

If an app would like to connect to devices on your local network - Apple Support

Android:

applications - Is there an option to block local network access for apps? - Android Enthusiasts Stac...

May Requires you to use VPN.

Here is android help page: Change app permissions on your Android phone - Google Play Help

Honeslty Public wifi runs the risk of phishing and getting hacked so it's not recommended. Better to use cellurlar data or go to offline mode and used downloaded music since all premium members only have this group sharing feature. Or switch to Free account as this disabled the function entirely.

The Risks Of Public Wi-Fi – Forbes Advisor

[kischde79]

I switched from Deezer to Spotify some time ago.

As I now get constantly annoyed by that damn so called 'feature' group session multiple times a day in every week's day and don't have a possibility to deactivate such a unappreciated thingy plus having to see that Spotify don't understand that this issue is serious to some of us I have to think about  returning with my family (HiFi account) back to Deezer or move to another provider.

[JoeWalsh]

Is there any resolution to this? I still get prompted to join complete strangers music sessions. Why would I even consider this? The reason I'm paying for Spotify Premium is so that I can have a personalized listening experience. If I wanted to listen to what a complete stranger thought was a good song I can turn on the radio.

Please fix this.

[barcazama]

It's almost been a year since my last post about the "new amazing feature" and I found a "solution". I'm now subscribed to Deezer and I found the UI much cleaner, the algorithm seems better (need to confirm still) and I'm not having this "feature" any more 😄

[kischde79]

I´m thinking about that step, too. The only problem to solve for me is how to connect to Yamaha MusicCast speakers. Spotify seems to be the only one who made it to connect out of their app to the speakers so that you can connect a playlist with the speakers, skip for- and backwards, change volume and so on.

[codySydney]

Deezer you say.  Well, I've been a paid Spotify member for a long time but this "feature" routinely annoys the bleep out of me, and they show no interest in a fix.  How hard can it be.  Time to start looking for alternatives.

Edit:  (note the spelling error is theirs)

You'll soon lose access to Spotify Premium.

You've canceled your Spotify Premium subscription, which will end on 2023-07-16.

[codySydney]

In case it's of interest.  I tried YTM and there are several artists and mixes there which aren't on Spotify, and YTM makes it easy to flick to music videos.  However - big problem, they don't do volume normalization which is a very bad thing.  Track to track you can go from straining to listen to getting your ears blown off.  Not good when you're using BT earbuds and need to adjust volume on your Garmin watch. 

So I checked out Deezer.  Maximum tracks on Garmin watches is half what I have in Spotify and YTM which are only limited by the watch's memory, so Deezer is a no-go.  Looks like Spotify is the best overall experience.

I set up an additional SSID on my wifi, and will try connecting only my own gear to that; and see whether Spotify still keeps trying to connect to groups.  If so, it'll be a matter of deciding what I want to trade off.  Maybe I just need to get rid of my housemates...

[Waywardvoid]

In a public network like a hospital (where I get these the most when I stay) it will say so and so is listening to a playlist tap to join. I don't know these people I don't want to join and I never toggled these on, so they "ARE" on by default and I want to disable this "feature" on my end but have no option to do so. Stop adding unnecessary features like this and not so smart shuffle. I've very close to dropping Spotify because of these issues 

[thooner]

I think is a screenshot of the feature that we want to be able to switch off.

At least that is what I want.

[Yordan]

Hey folks,

Looks like an idea about being able to permanently dismiss the pop up has been submitted here - feel free check it out and show your support by giving it a thumbs up so it has a better chance of being considered.

Cheers!

[Kurtvee]

I haven’t been able to listen to anything all day because of this as it keeps reverting to that default. I’m canceling and switching to tidal. What a silly thing.