Spotify has started asking some Premium Family members to prove they live with the person who pays for the plan. The proof is a QR code shown on the payer’s phone. The member gets a notification and has seven days to scan it. If they don’t, they can’t join any other Family or Duo plan for 12 months.
Spotify hasn’t announced it. The section was missing from the support page at the end of September and was there by mid-October, and it came to light on 19th October. The page that Kenyan users see carries the same wording as the US one. It says Spotify may ask some members, and it doesn’t say how they are picked or how many have been asked.
Family is a plan for up to six accounts that Spotify’s terms say must be held by people living at the same address. Until now Spotify checked that by asking each member to type in their home address when they join, when the manager changes address, or when it can’t confirm one. Typing an address proves little, and the page itself has to warn people not to use someone else’s address. The QR code adds something typing can’t: two people standing in the same place.
Here’s how it works. The plan manager opens the code on their phone by tapping their profile picture, then Your Premium, then Manage. The member scans it with their phone camera. It works only in the mobile app, on the latest version, and Spotify tells people to scan in person because the code changes every few seconds. A code that lives on the manager’s phone and keeps changing appears to be built to stop a member verifying from somewhere else, since anyone can type an address from anywhere. So if you share a Family plan with someone who lives elsewhere, the choice is to meet within the week or move them to their own plan.
Spotify calls it routine. On its earnings call on 22nd October, co-CEO Alex Norström described it as a “routine improvement of our verification methods” and said it has no end date. He added that Family makes up a significant share of Spotify’s subscribers, which is why it keeps tightening the checks.
What it costs in Kenya
Family costs KES 669 a month for up to six accounts, checked on 23rd October 2026. Split six ways, that’s KES 111.50 each. A member who loses their seat and wants to stay on Premium has Individual at KES 419 a month, about 3.8 times as much, or Student at KES 209 if they qualify. Family went up from KES 549 in February, when prices rose across Kenya.
What Spotify doesn’t say
The QR section lists only the 12-month ban and says the member can choose another plan at spotify.com/premium. It doesn’t say whether a member who fails drops to the free tier. The address section of the same page does, and it adds that they can rejoin the same Family or Duo plan.
The page also doesn’t say how the notification reaches a member, whether the manager is told, or whether there is any exception for a household member who is away, such as a student at boarding school or university in another town. It mentions no way to appeal. And the line “we don’t track your location” sits under the address check, not the QR one. Spotify doesn’t say what data the scan records.
The terms have always required one address, and this is the first check that can’t be done from a different town. The penalty is the harsh part: a member who never sees the notification loses a year of cheap sharing, and a week is short for someone who has to travel to be scanned. If you manage a Family plan, update the app now and ask your members to do the same.
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