Spotify expands “managed accounts” for young listeners to more families and more plans

Spotify is expanding its managed accounts feature for young listeners, allowing families in multiple countries to create child accounts even if they do not subscribe to Spotify Premium. The rollout, announced July 15, extends managed accounts to allow families on any plan in the United States, the U.K., Australia, France, Germany, and the Netherlands to create an account for their child.

Spotify introduced managed accounts first as part of its Premium Family plan. The company describes the product as a tailored listening environment for users “13 and under” (or the regional equivalent), giving children their own space to explore music while parents and guardians retain control over the listening environment.

Under the new expansion, families using Premium Family plans in the listed countries can continue to create managed accounts that include Premium benefits for the child profile. Families on other plans, including Spotify’s free tier, can now set up managed accounts without upgrading, according to Spotify’s newsroom announcement.

Spotify said the expanded availability is intended to reach “millions of families” and build discovery habits for children in a separate, controlled setting. The company said the young listener account can access Spotify’s catalog through its own account, including features for discovery such as personalized recommendations, “Made for You” mixes, and popular listening elements like daylist.

Controls are central to the managed accounts design, Spotify said. The company lists a default set of guardrails intended for young listeners, including a privacy setting that makes managed accounts non-searchable and not discoverable by others. Spotify also said managed accounts do not include purchasing capabilities and that children cannot access certain features, including Messages.

Parents and guardians can adjust additional settings through the Parental Controls page in Spotify settings. Spotify said an explicit content control is turned on automatically for every new managed account, restricting access to content marked as explicit. The company also said parents and guardians can turn off playback of specific tracks and artists.

Spotify said it is also disabling video and Canvas by default for managed accounts. Canvas refers to short looping visuals that accompany songs within the Spotify app, while the company’s description suggests the intention is to keep the experience focused on listening rather than browsing or visual exploration.

In the free tier managed account experience, Spotify said young listeners will hear Spotify ads and receive their own Wrapped experience, including a “Wrapped” summary designed for the account rather than being tied to the family’s main profile. Spotify also characterized the shift as reducing the chance that older or school-age group listening dominates Wrapped outcomes for children.

Globally, Spotify said managed accounts are available in 16 countries today: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the U.S., and the U.K. The company added that it plans to expand managed accounts to additional countries later.

Still, some operational details are not fully spelled out in the announcement. Spotify did not specify timelines for when the update will complete in each eligible country, nor did it describe exactly which additional features are excluded beyond Messages and purchasing. The release also did not quantify how recommendations differ across plans or outline whether ad load and ad formats for children are consistent with other free-tier users.