Spotify managed accounts are coming to protect parents from their kids

All Spotify-using parents know the pain of seeing their recommendations and Spotify Wrapped list destroyed by music played for or by their kids. The company has been piloting a solution to this problem and is now rolling it out to the US, UK, Canada and elsewhere.

The Spotify managed account feature essentially ensures that younger listeners get their own sub-accounts, with parents and guardians remaining in control …

Spotify recommendations are based on your listening habits. That’s all well and good when you are the only person listening, but if you have kids who use your account, then chaos ensues.

Spotify’s solution to this is managed accounts for young listeners.

Managed accounts offer additional value to plan managers by providing a music listening experience designed for younger listeners to create playlists, receive Spotify’s personalized recommendations, and enjoy features that Spotify users know and love, like daylist and Discover Weekly.

Each managed account comes with its own experience, so it’s a much-requested win for parents, who won’t have to worry about their Wrapped results getting hijacked. And for young listeners, it means their favorites stay their own, too. 

Additionally, there are parental controls which can be applied to the sub-accounts:

• An Explicit Content filter
• The ability to control and restrict the playback of specific artists and songs
• A toggle to hide video and Canvas (short looping videos accompanying songs)

Managed accounts also have no access to interactivity features like messages.

It was initially piloted in New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia. It’s now being rolled out in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, and Netherlands.

To access the new feature, tap your profile icon at the top left of the iOS app, then Settings and privacy > Account > Premium family > Plan members > Add a listener aged under 13 (or local market equivalent) > Add account. Note that the feature is only available on Premium Family Plans.

I suspect there are a lot of parents very much hoping that Apple replicates this feature on Apple Music …

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