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Spotify brought its app to the Apple Watch all the way back in November 2018, but in the two years since, the only way to actually use the app has been to carry around your iPhone with you as well.
Forget Taylor Swift, here's Spotify's new game plan
Spotify's CEO has apologized for the company's new privacy policy, which is pretty much the opposite of private.
The new policy allows Spotify to track your location, collect your photos and thumb through your contacts. It can view your Facebook posts and share some of the information it collects with advertisers.
The giant streaming music service, which has 75 million subscribers, says there's a reasonable explanation for all of this.
In a blog post titled 'Sorry,' Spotify CEO Daniel Ek acknowledged that the new policy 'caused a lot of confusion about what kind of information we access and what we do with it.'
'We apologize for that,' Ek said.
Spotify said the data it can now access helps it to 'tailor improved experiences' to customers and build 'new personalized products for the future.'
Among the new features that Spotify pointed to is Spotify Running, which uses GPS to measure how fast you're running. The Spotify Running app matches the beats per minute of songs it chooses to play to the pace of your run.
'If you don't want to share this kind of information, you don't have to,' Ek said. 'We will ask for your express permission before accessing any of this data -- and we will only use it for specific purposes that will allow you to customize your Spotify experience.'
The new privacy policy is quite broad, but Ek said the company will update the new policy in the coming weeks to address customer concerns. He said those complaints have been heard 'loud and clear.'
'With your permission, we may collect information stored on your mobile device, such as contacts, photos, or media files,' the policy says. 'We may also collect information about your location based on, for example, your phone's GPS location or other forms of locating mobile devices (e.g., Bluetooth). We may also collect sensor data (e.g., data about the speed of your movements, such as whether you are running, walking, or in transit).'
When you connect to Facebook, Spotify says it can collect and store information you post to Facebook(FB), including, 'your username .. and other information that may be available on or through your Facebook account, including your name, profile picture, country, hometown, e-mail address, date of birth, gender, friends' names and profile pictures and networks.'
Spotify says it can use that information to share with third parties, though Ek noted that is 'de-identified,' so you're anonymous to advertisers.
If you don't want to accept the terms of service, there's not a whole lot that can be done. You can disable some sharing of your data by by clicking on 'edit profile,' in the Spotify app's setting tab and unchecking a box that says 'Yes, share my information with third parties.'
But if you don't want Spotify to go through your phone or track your location -- even with your permission -- your only real option is to stop using Spotify and delete your account.
CNNMoney (New York) First published August 21, 2015: 9:25 AM ET
Your privacy and the security of your personal data are, and always will be, our highest priority.
That’s why we’ve created a Privacy Center to highlight some of the important sections of our Privacy Policy and to give you more info about the rights and controls you have in relation to your personal data.
For more info about your data rights, and the privacy settings available to you, see our FAQ below.
Yes, you can!
You can get a ZIP file with a copy of most of your personal data by using the automated Download your data function on the Privacy Settings section of your account page. The download will include information about your playlists, streaming history, searches, a list of items saved in Your Library, the number of followers you have, the number of accounts you follow, the names of the artists you follow, and your payment and subscription data. For more detailed information about what is included in each file of your download, please see the How do I understand my personal data download section below.
If you would also like to receive the technical log information we collect to provide and troubleshoot the Spotify service, extended streaming history, or have a special data request, please contact our Customer Service, or email us at [email protected] to clarify your request.
When you use the automated Download your data function, you will receive several files, each containing a different type of personal data. For a description of this data please see Understanding My Data.
If you have also received a copy of your technical log data, a full description of the data provided can be found in the Readme First file delivered with your data.
Please see our Additional California Privacy Disclosures for more information.
Privacy Settings
In the Privacy Settings section of your account page, you have the ability to restrict or withdraw consent to the following types of personal data being processed about you:
For listeners of the free service - Data we use to play you ads that we feel will be relevant to you (ie tailored ads).
For those who signed up to Spotify via Facebook or who connected their account to Facebook. Your Facebook display name, Facebook profile picture, and Facebook Friends that Facebook shares with us. This does not include the data required for logging in via Facebook.
Notification Settings
When you create a Spotify account you are, by default, opted-in to receiving the following notifications via email and on your mobile device. But you can change this at any time through your Notification Settings:
Product News – Info on how to get started on Spotify, details of new features, and the latest product updates on Spotify.
Spotify News and Offers - Info on news, promotions, and events picked for you.
Recommend Music - Info on music we think you’ll like.
New Music - Info about fresh new tracks from artists that you follow or might like.
Playlist Updates - Updates for playlists you follow.
Concert Notifications - Updates about live shows by artists you like, in places near you.
Artist Updates - Info about the artists you listen to and recommendations for the artists we think you’ll like.
App Settings
In the desktop app, click the arrow in the top-right corner, then Settings, to control the following:
Connect to Facebook
Connect your Spotify account to Facebook - By selecting this option you can log into Spotify with your Facebook account.
Sharing your playlists and activity
Automatically make new playlists public - New playlists you create will automatically be made public. You can turn this off at any time.
Private Session - If you enable Privacy Session, the music you’re listening to will not be visible in your Recently Played, will not be published to Friend Activity, and your Top Artists will not be updated. By default Private Session is not enabled. Note: If turned on, the Private Session ends when you restart Spotify, or after a long period of inactivity.
Publish Activity - Your listening activity will be published to Friend Activity. You can turn this off at any time.
Show my Recently Played Artists - Your Recently Played Artists will automatically be made public. You can turn this off at any time.
Opting out prevents Spotify from processing your Facebook display name, Facebook profile picture, and Facebook Friends.
However, we will still process data necessary to enable you to continue to sign on to Spotify with your Facebook account. If you signed up for Spotify via Facebook or connected your account to Facebook, this will include your Facebook registered email address, Facebook registered date of birth, and Facebook registered gender.
Opting out prevents Spotify from tailoring your ad experience based on third party data. This does not decrease the number of ads you receive on the free service but means you might see and hear ads that are not as relevant to you.
Spotify needs to process some personal data in order to provide you with the Spotify service. To delete that personal data, you need to close your account. Log out of spotify on mac. Spotify download without windows store.
You can control the processing of certain data categories from your account page or directly from the Spotify app (see “How do I control what personal data is processed about me?” above for more info).
Spotify Privacy Reddit
If you want to port your personal Spotify data to another service, you can download a copy of it in a machine readable format from the Privacy Settings section of your account page. This page also contains instructions for accessing your data and a summary of the categories of data you can expect to receive.
Spotify Privacy Risks
You can update your personal details in the Edit profile section of your account page.