The fastest way to add someone to your Spotify account
You can add people to Spotify in two ways: invite them to share your Family plan, or let them use your account directly on their own device. The method you choose depends on whether you want separate listening histories and recommendations, or a shared account.
If you have a Spotify Family plan, inviting someone takes about two minutes. They receive an email invitation, click a link, and create their own login. Their listening stays separate from yours. If you just want to let someone use your account on their device, you can share your password — but they'll see your listening history and recommendations mixed with theirs.
Key Takeaways
- Spotify Family plans let up to six people have separate accounts and listening histories under one subscription.
- To invite someone to your Family plan, go to Account Settings, select Family, and enter their email address.
- The person you invite receives an email and must accept the invitation and create their own login within seven days.
- If you don't have a Family plan, you can share your password, but both of you will see the same listening history and recommendations.
- You can remove someone from your Family plan anytime through the same Account Settings menu.
How to invite someone to your Spotify Family plan
Open Spotify on your computer or phone and go to your account. On a computer, click your profile name in the top right corner, then select Account. On a phone, tap the gear icon at the bottom right to open Settings, then scroll down and tap Account.
Look for the Family section. Click or tap it, then select Invite a family member or the button to add someone new. Enter the email address of the person you want to add. Spotify will send them an invitation email. They have seven days to accept it. Once they click the link in the email, they'll create their own Spotify login and password — they won't use yours.
The person you invite will appear in your Family list once they've set up their account. From that point on, their listening history, playlists, and recommendations are completely separate from yours, even though you're all on the same subscription.
What happens when someone accepts your invitation
When the person you invited clicks the link in their email, they land on a Spotify page that asks them to create a new account. They'll need to enter a username, password, and confirm their email address. This is their own Spotify login — separate from yours.
Once they've created their account, they can log in on any device: their phone, computer, tablet, or smart speaker. Their account is now linked to your Family plan, so they don't need their own subscription. They can start creating playlists, following artists, and saving songs right away. Their activity won't show up in your account, and yours won't show up in theirs.
Sharing your password if you don't have a Family plan
If you have a Spotify Premium or Free account (not Family), you can share your login with someone by giving them your username and password. They can then log into Spotify on their device using your credentials. This works, but it comes with a trade-off: you'll both see the same listening history, and Spotify's recommendations will mix both of your tastes together.
Spotify's terms of service say accounts are for personal use only, so technically sharing your password violates the agreement. In practice, Spotify rarely enforces this for casual sharing between family members or close friends. However, if you want to avoid this issue entirely, upgrading to a Family plan is the official way to let multiple people use Spotify without mixing their listening data.
Removing someone from your Spotify Family plan
If you need to remove someone from your Family plan, go back to your Account settings and find the Family section. You'll see a list of everyone on your plan. Next to the person you want to remove, look for a delete button or menu option (usually three dots or a trash icon). Click it and confirm that you want to remove them.
Once you remove someone, they lose access to the Family plan immediately. If they want to keep using Spotify, they'll need to get their own subscription. Any playlists they created stay in their account, but they can't listen to music unless they have a paid or free account of their own.
Troubleshooting invitation problems
If someone says they didn't receive your invitation email, ask them to check their spam or junk folder — Spotify emails sometimes end up there. If it's not there, go back to your Family settings and try sending the invitation again. Make sure you're using the correct email address.
If the invitation link has expired (more than seven days have passed), you'll need to send a new one. The person can't create an account using an old link. Also, make sure the person you're inviting doesn't already have a Spotify account under that email address — you can't add someone who's already registered with a different subscription.
If you're trying to add a sixth person but your Family plan is full, you'll need to remove someone else first. Spotify Family plans have a hard limit of six accounts per subscription.
The difference between Family plan and sharing your password
A Spotify Family plan is the official way to let multiple people use one subscription. Each person gets their own account, login, and separate listening history. You can see who's on your plan and remove them anytime. The cost is one monthly fee split among up to six people, which usually works out cheaper than individual subscriptions.
Sharing your password means one person owns the account and others log in using those same credentials. Everyone sees the same listening history and gets recommendations based on all the listening combined. There's no way to separate one person's activity from another's. Spotify doesn't officially support this, though it's common among roommates or family members who don't mind their listening mixed together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add someone to Spotify if they don't have an email address?
They'll need an email address to create a Spotify account, even if it's a new one. If they don't have email set up, help them create a free email account first through Gmail, Outlook, or another provider. Once they have an email address, you can send them a Family plan invitation.
What if someone on my Family plan is using Spotify in a different country?
Spotify Family plans work across countries, so someone can be in a different location and still use your subscription. However, Spotify checks that family members live at the same address. If Spotify suspects members don't live together, it may ask for proof of address or remove people from the plan.
Can I have multiple Family plans?
No. One email address can only own one Family plan at a time. If you want to create a second Family plan, you'd need to use a different email address and start a new subscription.
What happens to someone's playlists if I remove them from the Family plan?
Their playlists stay in their account. They can still see and edit them, but they won't be able to listen to music unless they get their own Spotify subscription. Any songs they saved will still be there, just not playable.
Can someone be on multiple Family plans at once?
No. Once someone accepts an invitation to a Family plan, they can't join another one. They'd have to be removed from the first plan before they could join a different one.