Deactivate public session and remove pop-up notifications

[vituutiv]

Every now and then when I open Spotify I receive a notification pop-up within the app suggesting to join someone else's session. I have thoroughly looked for an option to do so in the configuration, but have failed to find anything related to it.

I really want to turn this off because it is extremely annoying, but what is insanely distressing is that I don't know whether other people get the same notification suggesting to join MY sessions. If that happens, it is a ridiculous breech of privacy that makes me feel extremely uncomfortable.

[AlejaR · Accepted solution]

Hey @vituutiv,

Thanks for posting in the Community and welcome.

When you're connected to a speaker, the app has the option to allow other users to use it and control it if they are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. However, you have the option to turn it off.

To do so, on the Now playing view, hit the name of the device currently playing on the bottom left part of the screen. Then, you'll see the option "Multiple people can join and control this speaker" below the speaker's name. Turn it off, and it will prevent other users from joining your session.

On another note, we can confirm it's currently not possible to disable those notifications; we understand where you're coming from and we appreciate the time you took to write this to us. 

We'd like you to know another user had similar request, so they posted an idea about it in our Idea Boards:

1. [Android][Other] Default setting group session on speaker disabled

We think this is a great idea too! That's why we'd suggest adding your vote in the thumbs up icon and subscribing to it in the three-dot menu. That way you can stay up-to-date with any relevant news about these.

We appreciate your feedback. We know you’d like to make this as an opportunity for Spotify to become an incredible app.

We'll be here if anything else comes up. Once again, thanks for the feedback.

[Kofifib]

Everytime I look at my phone Spotify shows me that some rando in my dorm is listening to "Go F* yourself" on their device named "Go F* Yourself" (though they havent censored like I just have). This is not playing on my account or my device, but I'm sure all 400 people on my dorm wifi have been peeved by this as this person HAS BEEN PLAYING THIS NONSTOP FOR THE LAST 3 DAYS!  Even if I dismiss it, Spotify pops this right back up. Seriously I should not be accessing others Spotify nor others accessing mine! It's such a fundamental concept. Spotify access should be far more restricted. How can I block others device from my account and vice versa so access & privacy are restricted?

[Kofifib]

My post was moved to this thread but this is not a solution for my problem - and a lazy way to respond to community feedback. I already have my devices set so that no one can join them. My problem is that, in a dorm of 400 people, I am plagued by others who don't use this setting. See attached a small sample of how many  devices I have access to on Spotify - not one of these are mine. I don't want to constantly know what others are listening to or what device they are playing on. In my original post I'm complaining about being shown profanity nonstop for 3 days because Spotify automatically connects my device to other devices on my dorm wifi. Device access should be on invite only. The default should not be to connect devices, especially on public servers!

[Markm2711]

This is not a solution and shouldn't be marked as such. The primary issue is with the join session notification and as you noted "On another note, we can confirm it's currently not possible to disable those notifications; we understand where you're coming from and we appreciate the time you took to write this to us."

I have seen posts going back over 2 years relating to this issue and it is clear spotify has no intention of  allowing users to switch off this poorly executed idea. Spotify is being disingenuous when it comes to this issue. Privacy is not something spotify has any idea of.