Announcements

Help Wizard

Step 1

NEXT STEP

FAQs

Please see below the most popular frequently asked questions.

Loading article...

Loading faqs...

VIEW ALL

Ongoing Issues

Please see below the current ongoing issues which are under investigation.

Loading issue...

Loading ongoing issues...

VIEW ALL

No way to check if playlist has been deleted via API

No way to check if playlist has been deleted via API

I have a web app that creates a playlist for users, and stores the playlistID for later, so if the user returns it can update that playlist. However, if the user creates a playlist, I store the playlistID, and then they go off on their own and delete the playlist -- purposefully or not -- when they come back and want to make a new one, I have the old playlistID stored which they have no access to.

 

This should not be a big deal, I should be able to query and see that the playlist has been deleted, or is not visible to anyone, or something along these lines, and thus know I need to create a new playlist, but there is no functionality for such a thing.

 

Anyone have any suggestions?

Reply
1 Reply

I believe you'd have to see if the owner still follows the playlist. Not sure if that's possible thru API if not listed on their account.

 

To my knowledge, playlists don't get deleted - only unfollowed, even by the creator, and the API Docs imply playlists are retained indefinitely after the so-called deletion (unfollow). 

 

In principle this is ludicrous and in function yeah it's a big deal lol.

"We have no endpoint for deleting a playlist in the Web API; the notion of deleting a playlist is not relevant within the Spotify’s playlist system. Even if you are the playlist’s owner and you choose to manually remove it from your own list of playlists, you are simply unfollowing it. Although this behavior may sound strange, it means that other users who are already following the playlist can keep enjoying it. Manually restoring a deleted playlist through the Spotify Accounts Service is the same thing as following one of your own playlists that you have previously unfollowed."

- API Doc 

Suggested posts

Type a product name