You can also view your child's Listening History.
In October of 2019, music streaming platform Spotify launched Spotify Kids, a standalone mobile application that features curated audio content that’s safe for kids to listen to. While the app was originally only available in Ireland, it has since launched in additional countries, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and others.
As CNET reported, the Spotify Kids app was recently updated with extra parental control options that give parents more “say” over what their kids can listen to.
According to Spotify’s website, the Spotify Kids app only allows kids to listen to content (both music and stories) that has been “hand-picked by [Spotify’s] expert kids editors.” However, it’s still possible parents may come across something they don’t want their littles to listen to, even if it has technically been rated as kid-friendly.
With the app’s new features, parents can now view their child’s listening history to see everything they’ve listened to previously, and block individual songs and/or stories from this list so that they can’t be listened to again.
Spotify provided a step-by-step tutorial related to blocking content from a child’s Listening History:
- Log into the “grown-ups” section of Spotify Kids.
- Tap the account you want to check out.
- Head to “Listening History.”
- From here, tap the “block” icon beside a track to hide it.
- Once hidden, that song won’t be visible anywhere in the child’s app.
- Note: Blocking a song only removes it from that child’s account so you can customize what each kid is able to listen to.
- You can unblock content at any time by revisiting the PIN-protected “Listening History” or “Blocked Content” and tapping the icon again.
To be especially clear, content must first appear in a child’s Listening History before it can be blocked. If you want to block content preemptively (that is, before your child ever listens to it), Spotify said you can “first play it on the child’s Spotify Kids account—a few seconds is all you need—then follow the steps [to block it].”
The Spotify Kids app is available to download for free on iOS and Android devices. You have to have a Spotify Premium Family subscription to use the Spotify Kids app.
Do your kids enjoy listening to content in the Spotify Kids app? What do you think of these new parental control features? Let us know in the comments, or tweet us at @superparenthq.
Brandy Berthelson has been writing about video games and technology since 2006, with her work appearing on sites including AOL Games, Digital Spy, and Adweek. When she’s not gaming, Brandy enjoys crafting, baking, and traveling with her husband.
