No, Spotify isn't using your GPS to kick you off your family plan - Spotify says it was just a test.

[steven36]

Spotify Premium is cheaper if you share it with your family, but you may want to think twice if your family lives apart.

According to Spotify's website, the "Premium for Family" plan can be shared with up to six people who live in the same household.

To make sure that family plan members actually shared the same household, Spotify sent out emails asking members to confirm their location via GPS, as reported by Quartz.

@Spotify Why do you need my GPS location to continue offering me a "Premium discount"? I pay for the family plan and it should not matter where my family lives. Will you cancel my account if my family gets too far from each other? #wtf #fail pic.twitter.com/HauQtHXSUA

— suck (@unaligned) September 18, 2018

A number of people had issues with this. Not all families live under the same roof, as Quartz points out. Families can be separated or have members living far away; that doesn't disqualify them from being a family. But Spotify explicitly says that its family plan must be shared by people with the same address.

 

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Now Spotify says that it no longer requires family plan members to confirm their location. A Spotify spokesperson sent the following statement to CNET:

Spotify is currently testing improvements to the user experience of Premium for Family with small user groups in select markets. We are always testing new products and experiences at Spotify, but have no further news to share regarding this particular feature test at this time.

 

 

The location request was just a test conducted by Spotify and is no longer in use. It's not a long-term way of enforcing the same-household policy. Still, even if the location request is no longer active, it shows that Spotify is cracking down on its family plan.

 

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