How private is a private playlist?

[deb038]

Hi! I couldn't get the definitive answer anywhere here, maybe I missed something, but I was wonder:

How private is a Private playlist on Spotify? 

Let me explain: when I listen to a song from a private playlist, does that show in the spotify social/activity feed (on the right in the Desktop app) that my friends can see when I'm listening in public mode? It's fine if they know what song I listen to, but do they also see the 'source' from which I listen?

Alas, does it show the name of the playlist and is that playlist therefore then clickable for my friends? (In other words, are private playlists more like publicly 'unlisted' rather than actually private, like on YouTube) Or does it just show the 'original' data: the song, the artist and what album it's from? (Which would mean the playlist itself is private, just not the song & artist that I'm listening to at that time)

Don't get me wrong: I do understand you can listen in private mode. That removes all the information. I don't mind they know the songs I listen to, I just don't want them to see the playlist info like the name, the picture, etc.

So how private is a private playlist on Spotify? Is it private or unlisted? 🙂 Thanks!

[user-removed · Accepted solution]

Hi, deb038

When you are in private mode, then your friends/followers will not see a thing.

If you are in public mode and you are listening to "Private" playlist, your friends/followers will see artist's name, song name and the album name of that song, they won't see the playlist, though.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions regarding the "private" mode 🙂

[deb038]

That's really helpful! Thank you SO much! 😄 Have a good day 🙂

[jennalouise]

Hello! 

So this is what I hoped as well to be true, but i tested it and noticed that when I am listening it does show what playist and at theat point my friends can view that playlist. so rather than private it shows to be 'unlisted'. Now, is there anything I'm doing wrong in order to actually have it be private?

[coolybird]

Hey,

If you right-click the playlist in your playlist section, there should come up a list of "commands", in which there is one called "make secret" or something along those lines. 

Clicking this ensures the playlist is secret. Just be sure you have done this, if it still shows said playlist to your friends I am not sure, but simply double check you are playing from your own secret playlist.

-Alex