By default, anyone who follows you on Spotify can see what you’re listening to with the Friend Activity feature.
If you don’t want others to know what you’re listening to, you can start a Private Session. It will prevent any of your listening activity to be visible, even to some of our recommendation algorithms! Think of it a bit like incognito mode in your browser.
How to switch Private Session on/off?
Mobile and tablet
- Tap Home
.
- Tap Settings
.
- Under Social, turn Private Session on
.
To end a Private Session and continue sharing your listening activity, repeat the steps and switch it off.
Note: The Private Session ends automatically when you completely exit out of Spotify, or after a long period of inactivity.
Desktop
- Click on your profile name in the top-right.
- Select Private Session.
A blue padlock next to your profile picture means the Private Session is active.
To end a Private Session and continue sharing your listening activity, repeat the steps and switch it off.
Note: The Private Session ends automatically when you completely exit out of Spotify, or after a long period of inactivity.
How does it affect my recommendations?
When Private Session is on, any songs that are listened to won't be used to personalize playlists Made For You.
In general, if you find that the recommendations that you're getting don't match your taste, it's best to try and avoid using Private Sessions so that our recommendation algorithms can get to know you better. Alternatively, you can also make use of Private Sessions to specifically avoid certain listening activity from being taken into account.
I don't want to activate Private Sessions every time. Is there a way to permanently hide what I'm listening?
Yes! If you don't want to share your listening activity at all or show your recently played artists, you can turn it off in the app Settings under Social:
Note that this will only affect what is shown on your profile and the Friend Activity. Be sure to be on a Private Session if you specifically want to influence your recommendations and exclude some listening activity from affecting them.
Can I make my personal playlists private?
Yes! You can choose which playlists are shown on your profile. There's more info on how to do this here.
To go even further, using our mobile app (this setting is not available on desktop) it's also possible to make a playlist completely private in order to hide it from search and prevent anyone but the owner from accessing it.
- Open the playlist in question.
- Tap on the three dots menu.
- Select Make private.
- Confirm your choice.
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