When I was a kid, there was no music streaming for kids—there was no music streaming for anyone! If I wanted to listen to music, I had limited options: turn the radio on, slip one of my mom’s old Def Leppard or Eric Carmen cassettes into my miniature boom box, or run over to the library and check out the latest CDs. (I’m not complaining. I miss those days!)
Once I reached my middle-school years, iPods and iTunes (may they rest in peace) were becoming pretty popular. It wasn’t until my first semester of college that I discovered the newly released Spotify, which is now one of the largest music streaming services in the world with over 400 million monthly listeners.
What a whirlwind of change in so little time! While I personally appreciate how accessible music is today, it can be quite the double-edged sword when you have little ones to consider. How do you find music for kids that’s appropriate, safe, and uplifting?
Spotify Kids is the perfect place to start!
What Is Spotify Kids?
Spotify Kids is music streaming for kids! Hand-picked and vetted by a special team of Spotify editors, your child will have access to a library of over 300,000 tracks. Tunes, singalongs, soundtracks, playlists—whatever your kids are into, they’ll find it on Spotify Kids!
While the standard Spotify app includes the same family-friendly content as Spotify Kids, Spotify also offers just about everything else. From colorful language to suggestive themes, there’s a sea of explicit music available on Spotify. And while that’s a-okay for adults, it’s not the kind of music recorded with kids in mind.
With Spotify Kids, you don’t have to worry about an inappropriate track popping into your kiddo’s queue! Instead, they’ll get to listen to:
- Nursery rhymes and educational tunes.
- Soundtracks from their favorite movies and TV shows.
- Curated playlists to align with their interests.
- Upbeat jams that make ‘em wanna dance!
- Classical music and instrumental sounds to help them focus.
- Engaging and entertaining audiobooks.
- Lullabies and nighttime noises that make bedtime a breeze!
Spotify Kids encourages children of all ages to discover and explore the wonderful world of music! It’s a fun and easy way to add music to their day. Don’t forget the Bluetooth speaker!
Is Spotify Kids Safe?
About as safe as music streaming for kids can get! Unlike other entertainment apps—YouTube, for example—Spotify Kids’ kid-safe content isn’t picked by an algorithm, which leaves room for technological loopholes and other errors. Instead, Spotify Kids has an entire internal team dedicated to hand-selecting safe tunes for your little listeners!
Spotify Kids includes “younger” and “older” music experiences. The “younger” experience is designed for children up to four, featuring tons of toddler-friendly tunes. The “older” experience, however, gives kids five and older a broader selection of songs.
In either listening experience, you’ll have the ability to view your child’s complete listening history and “hide” any songs you don’t want them to play again. It can be difficult to catch every concern as a parent, but Spotify Kids sure makes it easier to review the content your child is consuming—and put a stop to anything you don’t approve.
As far as internet safety goes, Spotify Kids doesn’t collect location data of your child’s phone. And your child’s name and age are securely encrypted. The only data Spotify Kids collects and saves is related to the songs your kiddo plays and likes. Otherwise, your child’s information is not sold or shared with third-party advertisers or anyone else!
Is Spotify Kids Free?
As an extension of Spotify, Spotify Kids is only available with the purchase of a Spotify Premium Family subscription. Though the first month is free to new Spotify Premium listeners, the monthly fee after that is $15.99 (USD).
But hear me out: While I don’t have a Spotify Premium Family subscription (no kids in this house—yet!), I’ve had a Spotify Premium Individual subscription for years. And it’s worth every penny!
You can download content to your device, play any song or audiobook on demand, skip all the tracks you don’t want to hear, and—drumroll, please—no ads! Plus, the Spotify Premium Family subscription is designed for large households. You can add up to six separate accounts at no additional cost. Everyone in the fam can jam!
Is Spotify Kids on Troomi Phones?
Yes! If you’re enrolled in our Discover plan service, you can add the Spotify Kids app to your child’s Troomi phone through our Parent Portal.
Once you’ve enabled the permissions on your end, simply download the Spotify Kids app onto your child’s Troomi phone. Log in with your Spotify account information, create an account for your child, choose and customize the kind of content they can access, then allow them to pick their account’s avatar.
For older listeners—like your teens—the standard Spotify app can also be added onto Troomi phones! (But if you’re not quite ready to let them roam completely free, you can restrict explicit content on the standard Spotify app.)Spotify Kids is a fantastic app for your music-lovin’ youngins. To see all of the safe music streaming apps available on Troomi phones, click here!