Option to disable video podcasts

[agentz]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

Android Smartphones

Operating System

Android 13

My Question or Issue

We are using Spotify Family for our kids. They are in an age where they are too old for spotify kids (which is too much restricted) and too young for a "fully opened" spotify account.

Every worked fine for a long time until "video podcasts" were introduced and there are now dozens of gaming youtube uploads on spotify with video which are not safe for children.

Therefore, I would be looking forward for an option to disable video content at all (in wifi and in mobile networks), similar to the "block explicit content" option.

[Eni]

Hey there @agentz, 

Thanks for reaching out about this and welcome to the Community. 

We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback with us and will make sure to pass it onto the right team, as we always strive to improve your experience.

You can also consider adding your +VOTE to this idea, if this is something you'd like to see implemented in the future. The Idea Exchange is a great way for us to see what our users are interested in and how many people like a certain idea. 

Check out this FAQ to learn more about it. 

If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.

[ozzi2009]

Same issue here. I'll drop my Spotify premium subscription in a week, when Spotify doesn't fix it.

[ozzi2009]

As I'm using pi-hole for the DNS filtering on my local network, so I could identify the server names which seem serve the video content: 

video-ak.cdn.spotify.com.splitter-eip.akadns.net
video-fa.scdn.co

I have added this RegEx to the blacklisted domains in the pi-hole settings

(video).*((spotify.com)|(.scdn.))

It's a very light workaround which seems to work now. But it may stop working anytime for various reasons AND may have adverse impact on Spotify and other apps.

[Schoemi]

A good solution for at home use. But this will not work in a cellular network. 

It would require to adapt the rules to a firewall app on the device. Or use a custom blocklist in Blockada.

[matan_ma]

My daughter was able to find videos, such as this one: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Hw8FUDOa2kTIgYCr7YDcA?si=qeAguUpJTn2NZhhRs4RVEA .
How do I disable video altogether, all across the board, no videos at all in the spotify app? (she uses an android tablet).
Thanks.

[AndyGadget]

Exactly - I want the same thing. I dont care if I am on data or wifi - turn them off.

No video, animations, lyrics or other rubbish Just Audio - nothing else at all.

[1182821951]

The problem is not only in videos it’s also that unmoderated shock content is being pushes to kids. The only workaround is to switch to other streaming services.

[omgmoti]

My Question or Issue

Hi!

I want to disable all video based contents such as background video canvas and especially "youtube screen time" circumvention channels and video podcasts in family member managed accounts.

I have a premium family subscription with 2 family members I want to disable this kind of content completely at best per account and not only per device.

Any advice or handy solution?

Kind regards,

Moti, a concerned father and family subscription manager 😉

Plan

Premium Family

Country

Germany

Device

iOS devices, all devices

Operating System

iOS 16 & 17, all OS

[tobyralph]

Yes this is the absolute worst feature and they don't care. I had an online chat with a real person and they really just blanked on it. These corporations are the worst. Zero care. I don't believe it will change. 

[MrB821]

It's disgusting feature in spotify. No Cntent filter nothing. The kids programm is a joke. Why can't the main member of the Spotify account not disable things in Spotify? Spotify is not family friendly. 

[Bob330]

Device

Samsung S10E

Operating System

Android 12

My Question or Issue

It would be nice to have a way to disable videos from podcasts all the time. Currently, streaming audio only is a data saving feature, meaning I can't have it enabled when connected to wifi. Personally I would prefer having an option under playback so it is always in effect

[ricefamily]

I wasn't aware that essentially Youtube shorts are playing on Spotify. We don't allow our kids to use Youtube but now Spotify has become a way around this house rule. Can you please share how can I restrict access to this content?

Many thanks!

[Sarah1537]

I’d like to know too. 

[samueljosselin]

I vote + also . I had to block my child to go on Spotify because of this 

[Jeronimo5000]

This has now become an issue in my family as well. I am disgusted that Spotify does not care one bit about how this could affect families with children. 

I will further investigate in workarounds (the domain blacklisting didn't work for me, videos still come through on iOS), but if I can't find a way to disable videos entirely, I'll have to move to Apple Music.

[ArchyInf]

It's not only about safety. I want to give my children unlimited access to music, podcasts and audio books but only a short time of video consumption per day. This could be done easily in Android by giving different limits for Spotify and eg YT Kids. If I now give them access to Spotify to hear something eg when going to sleep I can be sure they will watch shitty videos which does not help with sleeping.

[SpootifyDad84]

This is an issue in my household as well. Unmoderated "podcasts" that are just re-uploads of YouTube content as well as smutty/trashy "podcasts" being pushed to my kids. I've tried the DNS blocking, but the server changed and it came back. I'm tired of fighting a battle against Spotify to keep my kids from seeing trash when I just want them to have access to good music. I'm dropping my Premium Family plan this week and moving to Amazon Music.

[alexa541]

I discovered my child watching stupid videos with disturbing content mixed in with cute animal videos -- video shorts of car crashes or other horrible accidents where people are obviously seriously injured, being shown with a laugh track and laughing emojis-- as an adult it is easy to ignore or at least understand what about it might be thought of as funny or understand that it is twisted and disregard it, but for a child this type of video especially when they are mixed in with fuzzy puppy videos is like a weird psychological trip...   anyway i don't want them watching this type of content and i was not able to find a way to disable it on spotify premium, so my $20/mo now staying in my pocket. 

[francisgagnon]

Videos on Spotify are a Trojan horse into the devices of my teenagers.

I can no longer just leave them to listen to music on their phones while attending to other stuff in their bedrooms. 

I simply want them to have access to music. Like I did at their age, with CDs.

It seems reckless on the part of Spotify to introduce these videos, without any way to control them, unlike all other video apps.