Are My Spotify Playlists Private?

Are others able to view our newly created playlist on Spotify, or does it remain private until we want to make it public? Let’s take a look…

Sometimes, we like to keep our hobbies and interests private. This often applies to our music tastes as well. When we really like a genre, we’re usually less self-conscious about people knowing what we’re listening to, but sometimes, especially with artists that are less associated with our character types, we’d rather people didn’t know about it.

For example, Donald Trump would probably proudly crank his car speakers if he’s listening to ‘Summer Of ‘69’ by Bryan Adams but might keep his AirPods in when he’s listening to Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’.

When we make new Spotify playlists, we either make collections of highly precise, comparable songs within a category or compilations of music from a wide variety of artists and genres. It’s the mixed-genre playlists that we’re usually a bit more sensitive about sharing.

So, if you’re concerned as to whether or not your friends, family, colleagues or whoever else are able to see the playlists you’re creating, are your Spotify playlists public, or are they private until you decide to share them?

Are Spotify Playlists Private?

By default, Spotify playlists are public; but, if you want to make them private, it’s incredibly simple to do so, so there’s nothing to be concerned about. Once you’ve made each of your existing playlists private, you can then change your settings to make new ones private by default.

When creating your Spotify playlists, you have the option of making them private if you do not want others to be able to see them. They will not appear on your profile page as a result, and they will be completely hidden from public view.

It is possible to make a playlist private on Spotify’s website, desktop application, or mobile application, regardless of the platform you are using. No matter which platform you usually prefer to use, the instructions for keeping your playlists private may be found in the sections below.

How To Change Your Public Playlist To Private

This solution works whether you’re using the Spotify app or their website’s Spotify Web Player.

Begin by signing into your Spotify account using the online player or desktop programme.
Select the playlist that you want to keep hidden from your profile page from the left-hand sidebar.
After selecting More, choose “Make secret” from the option that displays (three horizontal dots).

Your playlist will now be private, and people will not be able to find it by searching for it or accidentally discovering it via your profile.

How To Make Your Spotify Playlist Private On Mobile

This strategy works whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone since the mobile apps are almost identical.

Once you’ve logged into your Spotify account on your mobile device, tap “Your Library” in the bottom right corner of the screen.
By clicking on the name of the playlist you want to make private, you may access it.
When you touch it, more (three vertical dots) will appear in the upper-right corner of your screen.
Scroll to the bottom of the list of options and choose “Make private,” then confirm your selection.

How To Make Your Spotify Playlists Private By Default

Now that you’ve gone through and made all of your Spotify playlists private, you may want to adjust your settings so that they’re private by default when you create them. Here’s how to do it:

Select Settings from the menu by selecting your profile icon in the upper-right corner of your screen after checking in to the desktop app.
In the Social area, turn off the option to “Make my new playlists public.”

From now on, the new playlists you create on Spotify will be private by default. If you decide you want to share it with particular people, you can do so without reverting back to the previous settings.

Are Collaborative Spotify Playlists Public?

The creation of collaborative playlists is a terrific way to exchange podcast suggestions, trade music discoveries, and build the ideal playlists with your favourite people.

Collaborative playlists will be either public or private, depending on which option you have selected as the default for your account. If you followed the guidelines above and made all of your new playlists private by default, any collaborative playlists you create will also be private as a result.

If you’re working on a playlist that you were invited to but that isn’t yours, the user’s choices will decide whether the playlist is public or private when you save it. If it’s visible to the public and you don’t want it to be, you may either ask them to change their settings or discontinue collaborating with them on those particular playlists.

It may be worth noting that Spotify places the icon of the user that added each song next to it, so everybody that is collaborating on this playlist will know which songs you added and vice versa.

If you’re now interested in doing so, here’s how to make a Spotify collaborative playlist:

Choose “Your Library” from the menu on your computer, phone, or tablet.
Go to Playlists and choose the playlist with which you wish to collaborate (note that you can only collaborate on playlists that you’ve created).
Click the ‘Add user’ button at the top of the playlist to make it collaborative.
Begin soliciting donations from others by posting on social media, sending messages via messaging apps, or simply emailing the URL.

Once you’ve created a collaborative playlist on Spotify, you can now utilise Spotify’s new ‘Group Session’ feature to listen to it in real-time with your friends. This feature works with any kind of playlist whether it’s collaborative or not and you can add songs to the queue as you go.