How to delete your Spotify account permanently
By Otabek Mamadaliev · Sources last reviewed · What this means
How do I delete my Spotify account?
Spotify handles closure through its support site, not in-app settings. Cancel Premium first, then request closure. Spotify emails a reactivation link valid for 7 days — after that the account cannot be recovered and data deletion begins.
After you confirm
Reversible: 7 days, via an emailed reactivation link. Fully gone: Deletion begins after 7 days; the same email is reusable after 14.
Checked against support.spotify.com
Cancel Premium before you close. If you subscribed through Apple or Google, Spotify does not control the billing and closing the account will not stop the charges. Cancel in your phone's subscription settings and confirm it has ended first.
Save your playlists first
Years of playlists are the thing people regret losing. They are not included in any useful export, and once the account closes they cannot be recovered — not even by reopening.
Before closing, copy the playlists that matter. A third-party transfer tool can move them to another service, or simply screenshot the track lists. Do this before you touch anything else.
Close your Spotify account
- Cancel Premium and confirm the subscription has ended.
- Go to Spotify's close-account support page.
- Follow the account-closure flow and confirm your identity.
- Check your email and click the confirmation link — closure does not complete until you do.
The confirmation email is time-limited. If you leave it too long the link expires and you start over.
What you lose
- Playlists, saved albums and followers — permanently.
- Your listening history and every recommendation built on it.
- Collaborative playlists you created — check whether friends rely on them first.
- Audiobooks you paid for, and tickets to live events that have not happened yet. Spotify names both. This is the one loss on the list that is money rather than sentiment.
Closing, deleting, cancelling — which one do you want?
Spotify calls it closing your account, and that is the permanent one. Cancelling is a different action entirely — it ends a Premium subscription and leaves the account alive on the free tier. If you only want to stop paying, Spotify's own suggestion is to switch to the free plan and keep everything; there is no separate deactivate option.
You get 7 days, and only via the email
Spotify emails you a reactivation link when you close the account, valid for 7 days. That email is the only way back — there is no "log in to cancel" like most platforms. After 7 days the account cannot be reactivated and Spotify begins deleting your data.
So do not delete that email until you are certain. It is the entire safety net.
If you close and later want to start over on the same email address, Spotify makes you wait 14 days from closure before it will let you register it again.
Moving your playlists somewhere else
This is the part worth spending real time on, because a playlist is the one thing on Spotify you actually made, and it is not in any export you can meaningfully reuse.
- Transfer services will copy playlists to another streaming platform by matching tracks. Expect an imperfect match rate — regional licensing means some tracks simply do not exist on the destination — and check the report of what failed rather than assuming it all arrived.
- Make the playlists public temporarily before transferring, since some tools cannot see private ones.
- Take a plain-text copy too. Artist and track names in a text file are ugly and they survive every platform, every service shutdown and every failed match.
- Collaborative playlists are shared property. If friends contributed, tell them before it disappears — and consider handing ownership over instead of taking it down.
Grant the transfer tool as little access as it needs, and revoke it afterwards. These services authenticate through Spotify's own permission screen, which is the right way round — but the access token stays live until you remove it. Check the apps list in your account settings and revoke anything you no longer use, whether or not you go through with closing.
Free plan, not closure, is usually the answer
Spotify's own suggestion for people who want to stop paying is switching to the free tier, and it deserves more prominence than it gets. You keep every playlist, every saved album, your followers and your listening history, and you pay nothing.
Closing is the right call only if you specifically want Spotify to stop holding your data. That is a legitimate goal — it is just a different one from wanting to stop paying, and it costs you a decade of playlists that closure does not give back.
Family plan holders should check who else is on the plan before closing. Ending the plan owner's account removes the benefit from everyone on it, and they will find out when the music stops.
Common questions
Does deleting Spotify cancel my Premium subscription?
Not if you subscribed through the App Store or Google Play — those are billed by Apple or Google. Cancel there separately and confirm it has stopped before closing the account.
Can I get my playlists back?
Generally no. Playlists are not restored even if support reopens the account, and they are not in any export. Copy them before closing.