Spotify is asking some Premium Family members to scan a QR code on the plan manager’s phone in person.

The code lives in the Spotify mobile app under the plan manager’s Premium settings and refreshes every few seconds, so a screenshot sent over a messaging app will not pass the check.

Because of that refresh cycle, both people must stand in the same place with the latest version of the app installed.

The QR step sits alongside the existing process described on Spotify’s support pages, where members type in their full address when they join, when the manager moves, or when Spotify cannot confirm a match.

Whichever method Spotify requests, members have seven days to complete it after receiving a prompt, and anyone who misses that window drops to the ad-supported Free tier and loses access to other Family or Duo plans for 12 months.

That restriction stops short of a full lockout, as affected members can still rejoin the original Family plan or pay for an individual subscription such as Premium Individual during the 12-month period.

Workarounds and earlier crackdowns

Those penalties are already landing, with Reddit users describing sudden prompts for members who live away from the plan manager, and some say they have passed the check by screen sharing the code to a second device.

The QR check is not Spotify’s first attempt to police Family plans, as the company trialled GPS-based location checks in 2018 and wrote periodic location verification into its terms in 2019.

User pushback over privacy softened those earlier efforts, and Spotify’s support pages now state that the company does not track member locations and only checks addresses when verifying a plan.

Household enforcement has become standard across streaming, with Netflix restricting password sharing in 2023 and other music and video services using periodic Wi-Fi check-ins to confirm Family plan members live together.

Spotify’s own pricing shows what is at stake for UK users splitting a plan, as Premium Family costs £21.99 a month for up to six accounts against £17.99 for Duo and £12.99 for Premium Individual.

Spotify has not said how many members will receive QR prompts or whether the check will reach every market, and its support pages state that the QR request applies to some Premium Family members rather than all of them.