Spotify opens kid-friendly managed accounts beyond Premium Family
Parents on any Spotify plan can create controlled child accounts in supported regions, with private profiles, filters and music-only defaults.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
Spotify is widening access to its Managed Accounts, giving parents on any Spotify plan a way to set up child-friendly listening profiles without needing a Premium Family subscription.
The company says the feature is available for parents in the U.S., UK, Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands and several other supported regions. Spotify also says more countries, including Canada, New Zealand and much of Europe and Latin America, are already live or are due to be added soon.
The move gives younger listeners their own corner of Spotify while keeping parents in charge of what is switched on, what is blocked and how visible the profile is to other users.
What children get with a managed account
Spotify describes a Managed Account as a version of the service built for listeners under 13. Children get their own profile, rather than using a parent’s account and sending the household’s recommendations into chaos.
The accounts are centered on music. Spotify says children can listen to its music catalog, build playlists and discover artists. Podcasts, audiobooks, video content and Canvas visuals are not included by default.
Personalized music features still come along for the ride. Spotify says Managed Accounts can receive recommendations through Discover Weekly, Daylist and Made for You mixes. Children also get their own Spotify Wrapped, keeping their listening history separate from the rest of the family.
The parent controls
Every new Managed Account starts with explicit-content filtering turned on automatically, according to Spotify. Parents can also block particular songs or artists through the company’s Parental Controls Hub.
The child profiles are private and cannot be found through search by other users, Spotify says. Messaging features are switched off, and children use preset avatars instead of uploading their own profile pictures.
The setup is meant to give children more independence inside the app while leaving the guardrails with parents. Spotify also says children can later move from a Managed Account to a standard Spotify account as they get older.
How to set one up
Parents can create a Managed Account from inside the Spotify app. The process runs through the account menu and includes a parental consent step before the child profile goes live.
- Open Spotify and choose “add account” from the side menu.
- Select “add a child.”
- Choose “create a managed account.”
- Complete the parental consent process.
- Pick the child’s settings and parental controls.
Once the account is created, parents can adjust the controls through Spotify’s parental tools while the child uses a separate profile for music listening.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.