Published on: February 3, 2025 Updated 2 times since publishing
There’s a surprising amount of inappropriate content on Spotify. This ranges from explicit language in song lyrics to pornographic album covers. And while the popular music app does offer filtering options and parental controls, these tools don’t catch every offender. For this reason, parents should only allow kids to use Spotify under careful supervision.
In the article below, I share some advice for keeping your kids safe on Spotify. My top tip is to get a good third-party parental control app like Bark, which can help you catch songs with inappropriate lyrics, manage how much time your child spends on the app, or block the app entirely.
What Are the Risks of Spotify?
- Inappropriate content. Spotify hosts a vast library of music, some of which features explicit language or inappropriate album covers. The platform is also home to many podcasts on which you can find discussions on mature topics such as politics, or even straight-up erotica.
- Negative online interactions. While Spotify doesn’t include many social features, such as chatting, it does allow users to post comments on podcasts and to create, name, and share playlists. This can expose kids to cyberbullying, trolling, inappropriate content, etc.
- Advertisements. Free Spotify accounts include ads that might not always be age-appropriate, as the platform cannot guarantee ad content is suitable for all users. Upgrading to a paid plan removes ads.
- Data collection. Like most sites and services, Spotify collects data about its users, including listening habits and IP address, which it uses to tailor ads and recommendations.
- Excessive usage. With endless access to music and podcasts, including addictive, short-form videos similar to TikTok, kids can develop unhealthy habits, spending too much time on the app and neglecting other responsibilities.
What Age Is Spotify Appropriate For?
The official minimum age requirement to use Spotify is 13 years old. Similarly, the Google Play Store and Apple App Store both rate the Spotify app as suitable for users aged 12+.
However, the Google Play Store also notes that parental supervision is recommended due to user interactions on the platform and the fact that the platform collects and shares user data. There’s also 18+ content on Spotify that kids may stumble across, even with the platform’s rules against sexually explicit content and its explicit content filters turned on.
You should also be aware that there are no mechanisms in place to verify the age of a user when they sign up for an account.
Parents with younger kids may want to consider getting Spotify Kids instead, which is suitable for ages 0 through 12. But older children may find the selection of music on Spotify Kids overly restrictive.
How to Keep Your Kids Safe on Spotify
You can make Spotify a safer place for your kid to consume music by getting a good third-party parental control app, making use of Spotify’s built-in parental control tools, and educating your kid about online safety. Here are my tips to ensure a safe and enjoyable Spotify experience.
1. Install a Good Quality Parental Control App
Spotify has its own parental control tools, but they aren’t comprehensive. For example, you can’t see how much time your child spends on Spotify or schedule appropriate downtimes. That’s why I recommend supplementing Spotify’s child safety features with a good third-party parental control app like Bark, which can help you:
- Monitor song lyrics and titles. Get notified if your kid comes across a song with explicit language.
- Schedule downtimes. Decide when your kid can and can’t use Spotify throughout the day, to ensure that they aren’t listening to music when they need to focus or sleep.
- Set time limits. Prevent overuse and addiction by limiting how much time your kid can spend on Spotify each day.
- Block Spotify. If you don’t want your kid to use the app at all, you can block both the Spotify website and the app.
- Gain insight into your kid’s Spotify usage. Receive activity reports on when your kid is accessing Spotify and how much time they spend on the app each day.
2. Turn On Spotify’s Explicit Content Filter
There’s a setting on Spotify that allows users to block explicit content. There are 2 ways to do this, depending on what Spotify plan you have.
If you aren’t on a Premium Family plan:
- Log into your kid’s Spotify account.
- Tap on their profile picture in the top right.
- Tap Settings and Privacy.
- Tap Content and Display.
- Find the Restrict explicit content setting and toggle it on.
If you are on a Premium Family plan, you can change your kid’s explicit content settings without logging into their account. This also prevents your kid from changing the setting themselves. To do so:
- Log into your Premium Family account.
- Select the kid whose settings you’d like to change.
- Toggle Remove explicit content on.
Note that not all explicit content is properly tagged, and the filter only stops your kid from listening to explicit content — inappropriate titles and album art will be grayed out but still be visible on playlists.
3. Turn Off Auto-Play
Spotify has a function that will automatically play similar content when you finish listening to a playlist, album, song, or podcast, and some users have reported the auto-play function selecting inappropriate content.
So, to be on the safe side, I recommend turning auto-play off by following these simple steps:
- Log into your kid’s Spotify account.
- Tap on their profile picture in the top right.
- Tap Settings and Privacy.
- Tap Playback.
- Find the Autoplay similar content setting and toggle it off.
4. Get Spotify Kids
If your kid is under 13, you can consider getting Spotify Kids instead — it’s a kid-friendly version of the Spotify app.
All of the songs and podcasts on Spotify Kids are human-curated, so there’s minimal risk of inappropriate content. Spotify Kids also gives parents a lot more control. You can, for example, see your child’s listening history and block specific songs.
5. Install a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
Getting a good VPN is the easiest way to protect your kid’s privacy on Spotify. Spotify collects data from users like their IP address and listening habits, which can be used to build a profile of your kid and target them with content.
A VPN stops this by encrypting your kid’s internet traffic (including their Spotify traffic), which makes it unreadable to third parties, and hiding their IP address. The best VPN for Spotify is ExpressVPN because of its fast speeds, strong security, and easy-to-use apps.
6. Stay Engaged With Your Kid’s Digital Life
Simply talking to your kid is a very effective way to help them stay safe on Spotify and ensure that they use the platform responsibly.
I recommend agreeing together on when it’s OK to use Spotify and how much time they should be spending on the app. You can also teach them how to handle negative online interactions and encourage them to come to you if they encounter anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.
Editor's Note: ExpressVPN and this site are in the same ownership group.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I let my kids get Spotify?
It depends. As with most online platforms, letting your kid use Spotify comes with certain risks that you need to weigh carefully. The app offers some parental control tools and bans sexually explicit content, but it’s still possible for kids to stumble across inappropriate content, like offensive language, sexually suggestive album covers, and podcasts covering mature topics.
It also has some social features where kids may experience negative online interactions, and it can be fairly addictive. Using a good parental control app like Bark with Spotify can help with this.
Is Spotify appropriate for a 12-year-old?
According to Spotify’s Terms of Use, users must be at least 13 years old to use the platform. While this is only a general guideline, this requirement reflects the fact that some songs, podcasts, and album covers on Spotify contain explicit language or sexually suggestive material that parents may not want to expose young kids to.
Is there a kid-friendly music app?
Spotify Kids is a good alternative to Spotify for kids between ages 0 and 12. It’s much safer than the main Spotify app because all of the content on it is human-curated, whereas the explicit content filter on Spotify is unreliable because it relies on information provided to Spotify by the rights-holder.
How do I turn off explicit content on Spotify for my kid?
To turn off explicit content on Spotify, follow these simple steps:
- Get a Premium Family plan and add your kid as a family member.
- Log into your account and select the kid whose account you want to manage.
- Toggle Remove explicit content on.