Spotify lets you listen to millions of songs and create and share playlists with the world, but there are times when you might want to listen to Spotify privately without anyone knowing what you’ve been listening to. If you’re concerned about what you share on the app, we’ll show you how to activate Spotify Private Session mode and also make sure you’re not sharing your listening activity or playlists with other people on Spotify.
There are several reasons why you might want to use the Spotify Private Session mode. If you have your Spotify account connected to Facebook it’s easy for your friends to find your Spotify account and take a look at your playlists and check out what you’ve been listening to and you might not want everyone knowing what you’ve been listening to.
By not taking a look at your Spotify privacy settings, the music streaming app could automatically make your new playlists public, publish your Spotify activity on the app for the world to see. This means if you’ve been binge-listening to Milli Vanilli’s entire discography, you might be sharing your listening habits with others on your Spotify friend feed.
Hide your activity using Spotify private session mode
On desktop
Sign in or launch the Spotify app.
At the top right of your screen click the downward pointing arrow next to your name and select Private Session.
Once selected, you’ll notice a little blue padlock covering your profile picture icon letting you know you’re in Spotify Private Session mode. With the private mode activated, you won’t share your activity on Spotify Social or show what you’re listening to.
On iPhone
Launch Spotify app.
At the bottom-right of the screen, tap Your Library.
At the top-right corner of the screen, tap the gear icon (Settings).
In the Settings menu, select Social.
In Social, switch Private Session to the on position.
There are two things you need to remember here. If you activate Spotify Private session, the feature will only hide your activity for six hours, so you just need to switch it back to private if you want to stay private for more than six hours. Also, if you exit the app when you’re in private session mode, you will have to set it again when you launch the app again.
Make Spotify playlists private
If you make playlists of your favorite music on Spotify, you might be interested in making sure those precious playlists stay private.
Desktop
Launch Spotify app.
At the bottom-right of the screen, tap Your Library.
At the top-right corner of the screen, tap the gear icon (Settings).
In the Settings menu, select Social.
In Social, switch the Automatically make new playlists public switch to the off position (grey).
This feature is important if you’re the type of person to create a lot of playlists with names and songs you may not want to share with the Spotify community. Of course, if you’re a DJ and want to share your carefully curated playlist with the world, it could be a way to show off your diverse taste in music. However, if you’ve created a special playlist for you and your partner to listen to, you may not want that available to people who can see your Spotify profile.
Spotify also lets you choose which playlists you want to make visible to others. If you’re using the desktop app or web player, you can right-click your playlist and select Make Secret. If you’re using a mobile device or tablet, you can click the three-dot icon next to your playlist and select Make Secret.
Can I make my Spotify profile completely private?
According to Spotify, your profile is always visible to other Spotify members even if they aren’t following you. They will be able to see the playlists you’ve made public, recently played artists, your followers and who you follow. Having the ability to make secret playlists and use Spotify Private Session mode, gives you some control over your Spotify experience and save yourself from any potentially embarrassing moments.
