Who can see your Spotify playlists?

Anyone can see a public playlist, and every playlist you create on Spotify is public by default. Make one private and nobody else can open it, even with a link to it or by searching its name. Public playlists also appear on your Spotify profile unless you switch that off.

Source: Spotify's help article Playlist privacy and access.

Make a playlist private

1. Tap or click the three dots at the top of the playlist.
2. Select Make private. Select Make public to undo it.

A private playlist that was on your profile disappears from it for other people.

Keep new playlists off your profile

Only public playlists are published to your profile, and new ones are published by default.

• Mobile and tablet: profile picture, Settings and privacy, Privacy and social, then switch Public playlists off under Playlist visibility.
• Desktop: profile picture, Settings, then switch Publish my new playlists on my profile off under Social.

To remove a single playlist from your profile, open its menu and select Remove from profile (Publishing playlists to your profile).

Share a private playlist with a few people

Share a link from the app: the people who open it get view access, their profile pictures appear at the top of the playlist, and you choose what each one can do. Shared links expire after 7 days. To let friends add and remove songs, make the playlist collaborative instead.

Are your Liked Songs private?

Spotify's Privacy and social settings list what other people can see on your profile: your public playlists, your followers and the people you follow, your recently played artists, and your listening activity. Your Liked Songs are not on that list. An app can read them only if you grant it the permission Spotify's consent screen calls "Access your saved content".

Sources: Privacy and social controls and Scopes, in Spotify's developer documentation.

Hide what you are listening to

A Private session keeps your listening out of your followers' Friend Activity and off your recently played artists while it runs. It applies to all your devices and ends after 6 hours, or when you restart the app (How to enable private listening).

Playlists created by Playlistation

Playlistation creates its playlists private. Make one public in Spotify and it stays public through every update (Edits made in Spotify). That is also how you share your likes: a playlist that gathers your Liked Songs, made public, is a link anyone can open.

Playlistation reads your Liked Songs with the "saved content" permission, and asks to see your private playlists to read the playlists it created, notice when you delete one, and back up the playlists you own (Library backups, The permissions asked for).

Common questions