Spotify grants more parental control over accounts

Spotify has announced an initiative that follows a trend in the technology market today, which is greater parental control over what their children are accessing on their cell phones. In this case, the new feature is the arrival of profiles for children under 13 years old with management.

The new feature brings a wide range of parental control options, ensuring that parents can have full control over what their children are listening to on the platform. For now, the new feature is still in the testing phase in a pilot program that is available to family plan users in select markets, such as Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden.

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Managed accounts for children under 13

With managed accounts, parents or guardians will be able to control their children’s experience on Spotify in more detail. This way, they will be able to block certain content, such as Canvas videos, which are short animations that accompany songs, of tracks that are labeled as “explicit”.

Additionally, it is also possible to block content from specific artists, as well as specific songs, ensuring even more control over what the child will have access to in the app or not.

This feature is an alternative to the Spotify Kids app, which already offers a more child-friendly experience but still has strict limitations. The new tool allows parents to offer their children a greater level of freedom while maintaining the necessary security regarding the type of content they access.

Spotify follows the parental control trend

The arrival of the feature is part of a broader movement in the tech industry, where companies like TikTok, Meta, Snap and YouTube are taking steps to give parents more control over how their children use their services. This comes in response to growing pressure from regulators seeking greater oversight of big tech companies.

While Spotify isn’t a full-fledged video streaming service or social app, the platform offers a wealth of content, some of which may not be suitable for younger listeners. The new feature addresses this concern by allowing parents to ensure a safer and more appropriate experience for their children.

Profile separation and personalized recommendation

Another benefit of the managed profile for children under 13 is the ability for each family member to have their own music recommendations. For parents who currently share an account with their children, this could be an incentive to switch to the family plan, as the musical tastes of adults will not be mixed with those of the younger ones.

Additionally, the feature should make Spotify’s popular year-end retrospectives, such as Spotify Wrapped, more accurate and personalized.

As mentioned, the new feature is currently limited to select markets. In this case, parents can access the account page in the Spotify app. There, they will have the option to “Add a listener under 13” (or the equivalent in their market) and follow the instructions to set up the child’s profile and adjust parental controls.

Fonte: techcrunch