If you think someone has hacked into your Spotify – here’s how to check

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It’s a depressing fact of modernity that if you have an online account with any service, the chances are someone is trying to hack their way in. It might not be a targeted attack, more likely a password stuffing attack from the reams of data in the huge credential leaks, but it will happen to most of you.

Spotify isn’t immune to this, with criminals often targeting the service. That’s compounded by Spotify suffering a data breach in December of last year, with “an undisclosed number” of users having their registration information leaked to “business partners.”

If you’re worried someone else is using your Spotify account, or you’ve been the victim of a hacker, here’s what you need to know so you can secure your Spotify account again.

Check if your account has been hacked

If you open the Spotify player and notice tracks that you’re sure you never listened to, that’s a clear indicator that someone else has been using your Spotify. Now that might not be a hacker, it could be a friend or partner or family member that you lent your Spotify to and never logged out, but it’s worth digging deeper to find out if that’s the case.

Oh, and those kids’ playlists on my otherwise eclectic listening history? Yeah, my toddler has taken over my Spotify account so the hack is coming from inside the house…

Other things to note are:

• Playlists disappearing or appearing – a sure sign someone else is also using your account
• Music randomly playing – Hey, if you’re not playing it, someone else must be, right?
• Notifications about logins – Spotify is good about letting users know if suspicious logins are happening, so check straight away if you get a notification from them
• Odd subscription changes – Maybe you noticed your subscription charge was a little higher this month, so check in Account > Receipts to see if an unauthorized change has occurred, like going from Solo to a Family plan
• Password or email not working – Maybe this is just a typo, but it could also mean that someone has access to your account and has tried locking you out

What can you do if your Spotify account was hacked?

Okay, the first thing you have to do is sign in to your Spotify account from a browser

Then you want to go to your Account page and scroll down until you see a big button saying SIGN OUT EVERYWHERE

Click on that, and every other place you’ve ever signed into Spotify will be logged out, except the browser that you pressed the button on. This is especially handy if you’ve lost the device you used to sign in to Spotify

Check your Spotify email

Maybe the hacker got into your account because of a password breach at another service. Time to check the email associated with your account

Go to the Account page, then click on Edit Profile

Change the email address to one you own, if the hacker changed it. If not, you can decide if you want to change it to another email, or continue on to change your password

Password time

You’ll want a stronger, unique password for Spotify, especially now that you think someone was using it

Go to Account and scroll down to click on Change Password. It’s also a good time to sign up for a password manager, if you don’t already use one. If you do, let it create a unique, long password for you

Disconnect apps or social media links

Go to Account then click on Apps. If you see anything suspicious, click on the Remove Access button to revoke their ability to get your Spotify information

Recover playlists

If any of your playlists disappeared, try going to Account then click on Recover Playlists. That should let you restore all your missing jams

If all else fails, contact Spotify Support

Select Logging In > Someone’s taken over my account > I still need help, and fill in the information that the Spotify Support Bot asks. You’ll need several proofs of identity, like invoices or bank statements to get your account back

Hopefully, you’ve recovered your Spotify account and removed any unwanted access. Keeping your account safe from now is a combination of strong passwords, keeping track of which devices you’ve signed in on, and not sharing your passwords with anyone.

Have any thoughts on this? Have you ever had issues with hacking on Spotify? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Spotify now has over 345 million active members using its music streaming service
• Siri will soon let iPhone users change their default music app
• Spotify just invented the AI Judge Dredd of songwriter plagiarism tech
• This website will tell you how shit your music tastes are

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.