Do you want the whole world to be able to see your Spotify playlists? The name of the playlist and the songs? Probably not.
Chances are, you’re cringing at the idea of someone peeking at your music. Maybe you have a go-to playlist that helped you get through a breakup or even a playlist named “belting songs” that’s ideal for long solo drives. (No? Just me?)
Unfortunately for former National Football League reporter Dianna Russini, a playlist she likely wanted to keep under the radar was actually public and discovered by David Covucci, the editor-in-chief of college football publication FOIAball.
Covucci found a playlist that Russini seemingly created for Mike Vrabel, who at the time was the Tennessee Titans head coach and is now the head coach of the New England Patriots. Russini and Vrabel, who are both married to other people, are battling rumors about an alleged romance that started years ago.
So, it’s not ideal timing for the playlist titled “Turnin the Page” to be discovered. Covucci says the playlist was sent by Russini to a Spotify user named “Mike” after a series of tough losses for the Tennessee Titans. The playlist includes songs by Beyonce, KISS, Papa Roach, P!NK, Latto and more, and some online are calling the selection a “horrible curation” and “absolute garbage, nobody would put this on shuffle.”
Regardless of why you want to keep your Spotify playlists private — whether trying to keep a relationship secret or just having questionable taste in music — it’s likely a setting you want turned on.
Here’s how to make your Spotify playlists private:
There are a few ways you can protect your playlist privacy on Spotify so your ex doesn’t see that you’re listening to Adele months after your breakup or your cool colleague doesn’t know about your penchant for “Glee” (honestly, no shade).
For individual playlists
Spotify playlists are automatically public, making what you create viewable by your friends and the world.
If you have a specific playlist that you want to make private while keeping your other playlists public, you can do so by clicking on the three dots at the top of a playlist and selecting the “make playlist private” option (you have to scroll down a bit to see this).
This setting is the same on mobile, tablet and desktop and makes the playlist only visible to you.
For all new playlists
You can also make all of your Spotify playlists private moving forward, but note that this setting is only for new playlists, not your old music.
By default, all playlists you create are published to your Spotify account, but you can turn this off on mobile and tablet by clicking your profile picture, going to “settings and privacy” and then “privacy and social.” From there, under playlist visibility, toggle off the “public playlists” setting.
On desktop, click your profile picture, select “settings,” scroll down to social and toggle off “new playlists you create will be visible on your profile by default.”
For private listening sessions
If you want to make your listening history temporarily private, you can turn on private listening sessions, which hides your listening activity for six hours.
This means the songs you’re listening to won’t show up in the “friend activity” feature that, when opted into, shows your friends on Spotify what music you’re consuming.
To use this feature on mobile or tablet, click on your profile picture, go to “settings and privacy” and then click “privacy and social.” Here, you’ll see an option to toggle on a “private session.”
On desktop, it’s even more straightforward. Simply click your profile picture and select “private session.”
You can also make your Spotify playlists completely private
If you don’t want to worry about temporary privacy settings or the chance that someone can look back at playlists you made years ago, you can make all of your Spotify playlists ― new and old ― totally private.
To do this on mobile and tablet, click on your profile picture, select “settings and privacy,” and then “privacy and social.” Scroll down to “profile visibility” and toggle off “playlists.”
On desktop, click on your profile picture, select “settings,” scroll down to social and toggle off “people can see the playlists you’ve added to your profile.”
This makes it so your friends and other Spotify users can’t see your playlists at all, which may be the right choice for anyone who’s embarrassed by their music taste or doesn’t want anyone to see who they’re creating playlists for.
Either way, happy listening!