Done With Spotify For Good? Here’s How To Delete Your Spotify Account

So you’ve decided to not just cancel your Spotify Premium subscription, but delete your Spotify account entirely. Maybe you’re frustrated over personal data or privacy issues on the platform. Or perhaps you had a poor customer service experience and want a fresh start with a new streaming provider.

Whatever the exact reason, completely deleting your Spotify profile is possible – though you’ll permanently lose access to years of saved playlists, followers, listening stats, and other irreplaceable account details.

Before taking that step, be absolutely certain a clean slate is worth losing your music library and profile history. There may be alternatives like temporarily deactivating your account while still retaining data.

This guide covers step-by-step instructions to remove Spotify across iPhone, Android, desktop, and web platforms. We’ll also look at what exactly gets erased, options for recovering any data, and what happens if you change your mind later on.

Key Reasons You May Want To Delete Your Spotify Account

While cancellation is reversible, fully deleting your profile and usage history is permanent. Before we dig into the how-to details, consider what factors push users to take this final severing step with Spotify or similar streaming platforms:

Privacy and Data Concerns – With any internet service gathering personal data and activity records, privacy worries can mount over time. Efforts like GDPR enable requesting your tracked profile info. But if negotiations fail, account deletion may feel like the only way to erase data.
Bad Customer Service Experiences – Suffering through ignored complaints, unresolved issues, and overall indifference from customer support can understandably spark an “I’m done with this company forever” feeling. However, consider giving feedback before resorting to account deletion.
Wanting a Clean Slate – Perhaps your Spotify account has outdated details, playlists from past relationships, or an undesirable username sticking around from years ago. Wiping the slate totally clean can feel refreshing alongside adopting a new streaming provider.
Billing/Payment Problems – If you’ve tried canceling Premium but continue getting incorrectly charged month after month, deleting your Spotify account and payment data may be an effective last resort to stop unwanted charges.
Moving To Competitor – With intense streaming music competition, you may have simply decided Spotify no longer meets your needs versus rivals like Apple Music or Amazon Prime. Closing your Spotify account for good can feel right alongside embracing another service.

While the specifics will differ for each of us, understanding exactly why you need to delete Spotify can solidify if it’s the right call before moving forward.

How To Permanently Delete Your Spotify App Account

If you subscribed directly through the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, then your Spotify account profile and payment details live on those connected platforms.

Here are the step-by-step instructions to delete your Spotify account via iPhone or Android apps:

Deleting Spotify Account on iPhone

1. Open your iPhone Settings menu
2. Scroll down and tap Apple ID > Media & Purchases
3. Under “Current Subscriptions”, select your Spotify Premium membership
4. Tap Cancel Subscription, then Confirm Cancellation when prompted
5. Once canceled, go back and choose Delete App to remove Spotify from your device

Removing Spotify Account on Android

1. Launch the Google Play app on your Android device
2. Tap Menu > Subscriptions
3. Under Active list, select Spotify Premium
4. Choose Cancel subscription > YES to confirm
5. Return to Subscriptions and tap Spotify again
6. Select Delete > Delete app to erase your Spotify app account and data

For both iOS and Android, this will sign you out, delete playlists/settings, and make the app unusable on your device. But it does NOT delete your account or data from Spotify’s servers. Keep reading for that…

Deleting Spotify Account Permanently Via Web Form

While the app removal above is impactful, Spotify retains all details of your account status, history, followers, playlists, and more on their backend servers even after mobile deletion.

To permanently delete all data tied to your username and ensure no recovery or access again, you must submit Spotify’s web-based GDPR Data Erasure Request form

Here is how to entirely and irreversibly delete your Spotify account including all streaming history and playlists:

1. Open the web browser on the computer and go to Spotify.com
2. Click Legal at bottom > Contact Us section
3. Complete the GDPR Data Erasure Request form

• Enter your exact Spotify username
• Share why you are requesting full account deletion
• Confirm you understand this is irreversible, wipe all data, and close your account forever.

1. Submit the form and await Spotify to confirm via email that your profile, playlists, and all other account data are fully deleted from their systems.

This web-based data removal request is the only way to entirely clear your information from Spotify’s servers, ensuring you can never log back into that account in the future. So again, be 100% certain before taking this permanent step!

What Happens When Your Spotify Account Is Deleted?

Once you complete the full delete process above, here is exactly what you lose access to and what happens to the associated data:

• All Playlists Removed – Whether carefully curated song libraries or quick one-off playlists, every last playlist tied to your account will be erased.
• Entire Music Library And Likes Reset – All saved albums, tracks and artists you had in playlists or “Liked” status – are gone.
• Listening History And Recommendations Erased – Those super personalized Discover Weekly, Daily Mix, and other tailored playlists rely on your usage data. And without any listening history or profile, Spotify’s AI has nothing from which to recommend additional tunes.
• Followers And Artists Following Reset To Zero – Remove all traces of your social activity on Spotify. Following musician accounts and any followers of your profile – are wiped away.
• Profile Details Removed – Your display name, profile pic (or custom artwork), bio snippet, and connected social media accounts – are all scrubbed.
• Settings And Payment Info Cleared – Any preferences like an explicit filter, streaming quality, offline usage, and of course payment data for Premium subscriptions removed.

Essentially reverting back to a fresh, brand new user state as if you never created your original Spotify account in the first place. With no path to recover or rescue any listening activity or playlists down the road – so be very certain before deleting!

Can You Recover Playlists or Data After Account Deletion?

Because fully deleting your Spotify account completely wiping data from their servers per GDPR removal rights, there is no way whatsoever to retrieve or restore any portion of your account details.

Your only option is to start totally fresh by creating a brand new Spotify account via their sign-up process. But again, you’ll have:

• No previous playlists or library access
• Followers and artist follows reset to zero
• Listening history and preferences back at square one

So if you have years of Spotify activity powering personalized playlists and features you still love, tread extremely carefully before deleting your account forever!

What If You Change Your Mind? Alternative Options

Once you realize just how much data and irreplaceable context is lost by removing your Spotify account entirely, you may want to explore some alternatives that still provide a “fresh slate” without losing everything:

• Consider Switching Streaming Services – If your issues with Spotify come down to wanting to try Apple Music, YouTube Music, or another competitor instead, you can easily sign up for a trial with your existing playlists and preferences intact. Then cancel Spotify Premium instead of deleting the account.
• Temporarily Deactivate Account – You can essentially freeze your profile without actually losing everything through Spotify’s temporary deactivation option. This pauses any subscriptions, hides your profile from other users, and even adjusts listening metrics calculations.
• Delete App But Not Account – As we covered earlier for iPhone and Android, removing the Spotify app clears plenty of locally stored data. But your playlists, followers, and listening history remain untouched on Spotify’s cloud servers so you can easily pick back up again later.

Ready to Delete Your Spotify Account?

Hopefully, now you have full clarity on what exactly gets lost in the deletion process alongside steps to erase your profile and data if truly ready irreversibly.

Just remember – Once submitted that data erasure request fully deletes everything tied to your account with no recovery option down the road. So be 100% certain before you take that step!