Take This Step Now to Avoid Being Locked Out of Your Spotify Family Account

If you are on a Spotify Family plan, you may need to verify your location to keep your account active. Like many streaming services, Spotify is cracking down on family sharing for users who don’t live in the same household by requiring QR code verification for some plan members—and once prompted, you must verify within seven days or risk being locked out of Family and Duo plans for a full year.

Spotify family plan verification rules

Spotify does require users on shared plans to verify their address when they join to confirm that they live with the plan manager and to re-verify if the manager changes addresses. Users may also be prompted via to re-enter their full address if Spotify “can’t confirm” their location. This obviously doesn’t prevent users from sharing plans, as Spotify isn’t actually tracking your location but rather cross-checking addresses.

Some users may start seeing a QR code verification requirement, which has stricter parameters and may be more difficult to get around if plan members aren’t in the same location. In these cases, the plan manager must open a QR code on their phone via Profile > Your Premium > Manage, and plan members must scan it with the camera on their phone.

According to Spotify’s support page, both users must be in the same location to complete the scan, and the QR code changes every few seconds, making it hard to send screenshots to anyone not present in person. However, as 9to5Google notes, some users have been able to work around these restrictions with video calls, using multiple devices to complete the scans.

If you are prompted to complete location verification either by email or QR code, make sure you do it within seven days of the notification—otherwise you’ll be lose access and be downgraded to a free plan. Spotify says that you can rejoin the same Family or Duo plan again, but you’ll be restricted from joining a different shared plan for a full year.