How To Make a Spotify Playlist Public/Private (2024)

Spotify is one of the biggest and most popular streaming services on the web today. It offers both free and paid subscription use, which lets you access more music than you can shake your money maker at. You can create your own libraries and sort your music by artist, genre, year, or whatever. Also, you can make playlists for those long drives, sexy time, or to match whatever mood you’re in.

But most people want to know how to make a Spotify playlist public/private quickly and easily. It turns out that there are a few ways to do this, depending on how you’re accessing the service. But, don’t worry, they’re all easy to work out and change anytime you want to update your settings. So, let’s look intochanging the privacy settings on your Spotify playlistsnow.

Public Vs. Private Playlists

So, a playlist is a group of two or more songs that you’ve clustered together. You can make the best Hair Metal mix the world has ever seen, pre-DJ a dance party, or create an atmosphere for your restaurant by building the perfect playlist.

If you want tokeep your Spotify playlist private, it will remain only accessible to you. That way, no one will know when you’re eating a quart of ice cream and getting down toCyndi Lauper’s greatest hits. Of course, all the songs are out there and publicly available to any Spotify user. But, the special selection of tracks and the order you put them in will be personal and private for you.

So, what’s a public playlist?

A public playlist is one that you can create and then put out into the world to let other people hear. It’s that simple. Once again, all the songs are already available to everyone. But the specific tracks you choose and the way you put them together is unique to you and your taste. It’s like a presentation of music curated by you.

So, it’s important to know how to make a Spotify playlist public/private, depending on your preferences.

Making a Playlist Public or Private on a PC or Mac Computer

When you make playlists on your computer using the Spotify program/app, they’re set to private by default. I guess Spotify automatically assumes you don’t necessarily want to share your personal taste. If you want tochange a Spotify playlist to be public, just follow these simple steps:

1. Open up Spotify on your computer and log into your account.
2. Find the playlist you want to change. Your playlists will be visible in the left-hand side panel under the “+ New Playlist” label. You can scroll down until you find the playlist you are looking for.
3. Right-click on the playlist, and a menu will pop up. You’ll find “Make Public” listed on that menu. Click it, and you’re done.Your playlist is now public, which means it can be searched for and listened to by everyone else on Spotify.

If you want to make the playlist private again, follow the same steps. Only this time, in step 3, you’ll find that the pop-up menu now shows the option “Make Private.” So, when you click on that, you reset your playlist so that only you have access to it.

Making a Playlist Public or Private on the Spotify Mobile App

If you’re using a smartphone or a tablet to listen to Spotify, you’ll have to go into the Spotify app to access your playlists. If you don’t already have the app loaded, you can pick it upfor Android hereorfor iOs here. Here’show to set Spotify playlist privacythrough the app:

1. Open up the Spotify app. You may need to log in if you haven’t kept your account open on your device.
2. Once the app is open, find the option “Your Music” and select it. Then you will see “Playlists” and select that to open up and see your list of playlists.
3. Find the playlist that you want. On the right side of the screen, across from the playlist name, you will see three vertical dots. Tap here to open up a pop-up menu.
4. From that menu, you can select the option to “Make Public.” Once you select that,your playlist will be available for anyone on Spotify to check out.

If you want to tinker a bit with your playlist later, or for any other reason you want to make it private again, you follow the same steps. Except when you get to Step 4. Now, you will see the option “Make Private” for the playlist in question. Select that, and your playlist will be back for you and only you.

Sharing And Collaborating on Playlists

If you’ve already checked out the steps for makinghow to make a Spotify playlist public or private, you’ve probably noticed some other options. In the same pop-up menus that let you “Make Public” or “Make Private,” you will see the options “Share” and “Make Collaborative.”

So, what do these do?

First, let’s look at “Share.” When you share a playlist, you’re not making it public to everyone. Instead, you can choose to let only the other users who you specify listen to your playlist.

So, if you’re into Clown Core but don’t want your mom to know, you can simply share your fav playlist with your similarly interested friends. Or, you can make an ultra-romantic mix dripping with meaning and share it only with your crush.

When youchoose to share a Spotify playlist, you’re given a list of your contacts on Spotify. From there, you can choose one or as many as you like to share. However, they can’t modify or edit the playlist.

What if you love recommending and trading music with like-minded friends?

In that case, you might want tomake your Spotify playlists collaborative. This is like sharing, except that it allows the other person(s) you give access to your list the power to add songs, block songs, and otherwise edit the playlist.

If you start a collaborative playlist, you can change it back to private anytime you like. But, if you’re invited to collaborate on someone else’s playlist, only they can make it public or private.

Troubleshooting Making Spotify Playlists Public/Private

It should be pretty straightforward to make your playlists public or private following the directions above. But, sometimes, you might run into snags. Here are some tips to help you along.

1. Collaborative playlists can’t be made public. If you created a playlist and then made it collaborative, you’ll have to cancel it as collaborative first. Then you can choose “Make Public.”
2. If you’re collaborating on a playlist that someone else invited you to work on,you can never make it public. Essentially, they own the playlist, and you’re just an admin, so you don’t have the authority to make it public. The other person can, and might, if you ask nicely.
3. You can’t make public a playlist that someone else shared with you. It may already be set to public or private, but you don’t have access to changing its status.

Have Some Other Questions About Spotify?

If so, check out our guides onBass Boost for Spotify,Can You See Who Liked Your Playlist on Spotify,Spotify Keeps Pausing? Ways to Fix,How to Turn Off Shuffle on Spotify, andHow to Download Songs on Spotifyfor more information and advice.

The Quick and Easy Method for How to Make a Spotify Playlist Public/Private

Whether on a mobile device or a computer, it’s pretty easy tochange your Spotify playlist privacy settings. You can find your playlist and set it to “Make Public” or “Make Private.” That’s all you need to do tocontrol who can listen to your Spotify playlists. Of course, you can also share your playlists with friends or choose “Make Collaborative” to assemble playlists with the help of others.

Spotify lets you assemble playlists to suit your moods, match your tasks, or create ambiance. It’s a powerful app that gives you a curator’s control over your choice of music. You can keep things to yourself, or go public to show the world your awesome taste in tunes with a few simple clicks. It’s that easy.

Until next time, good luck, and happy listening.