The three ways to find friends on Spotify
Spotify offers three main routes to find people you know: searching by username, importing contacts from your phone or email, and seeing who follows you back. The fastest is usually searching if you already know someone's Spotify username. The broadest is importing your phone contacts, which shows you everyone in your phone who has a Spotify account — though this shares your contact list with Spotify's servers. The most passive is checking your followers list to see if anyone you recognize is already following you.
Each method has a different privacy trade-off. Searching by username keeps your contact list private but only works if you know the exact name someone chose. Importing contacts is faster for finding multiple people at once but means Spotify stores a copy of your phone contacts. Following back someone who already follows you requires no action from you, but it only shows you people who found you first.
You can use all three at once — there is no limit to how many friends you add, and you can change your mind about any of them later by unfollowing.
Key Takeaways
- Search by username if you know someone's exact Spotify name, which keeps your contact list private and takes seconds.
- Import contacts from your phone or email to see which of your contacts have Spotify accounts, but Spotify will store a copy of your contact list on its servers.
- Check your followers list to see if anyone you know is already following you, which requires no sharing of your contacts.
- You can follow someone without them following you back, and you can unfollow anyone at any time without notifying them.
- Spotify shows your followers and following list publicly on your profile unless you change your privacy settings.
How to search for someone by their Spotify username
Open Spotify on your phone or computer and tap or click the search icon at the bottom or top of the screen. Type the person's Spotify username — not their real name, but the handle they chose when they set up their account. Spotify will show you results as you type. Tap or click on the person's profile when it appears.
The username is not always the same as the person's display name. If you are not sure what their username is, ask them directly. Once you find their profile, tap or click the follow button (usually a plus sign or the word "Follow") to add them to your following list. They will not be notified that you followed them, but they can see you in their followers list if they look.
How to import contacts to find friends automatically
On the Spotify app, go to your profile (usually a circle icon in the bottom right), then tap Settings. Look for "Local Files" or "Social" settings — the exact name varies by device and Spotify version. Select the option to import contacts from your phone or email account. Spotify will ask permission to access your contacts and will show you a list of people in your contacts who have Spotify accounts.
When you import contacts, Spotify uploads a copy of your contact list to its servers so it can match your contacts against its user database. This happens once when you import, and Spotify keeps that data. You can revoke permission later in your phone's settings (on iPhone, go to Settings > Spotify > Contacts; on Android, go to Settings > Apps > Spotify > Permissions > Contacts), but Spotify will still have the copy it already made. You can then follow any of the people Spotify found by tapping the follow button next to their name.
How to see who is already following you
Open your Spotify profile and look for your followers count. Tap or click on it to see the list of people following you. Scroll through and look for anyone you recognize. You can follow them back by tapping the follow button on their profile, or you can ignore them — following someone back is optional and does not notify them either way.
Your followers list is public by default, meaning anyone can see who follows you. If you want to make your followers list private, go to your profile settings and look for privacy options. The exact location varies by device, but it is usually under "Social" or "Privacy" settings. Even if you make your list private, people can still follow you — they just cannot see your other followers.
What Spotify does with your friend connections
Spotify uses your following list to show you what your friends are listening to. If you have the feature turned on, your friends can see your listening activity in real time, and you can see theirs. This appears in a "Friend Activity" section on the app. You can turn this off in your privacy settings without unfollowing anyone — your following list stays the same, but your friends will no longer see what you are playing.
Spotify also uses your following list to recommend music. If someone you follow listens to an artist or song, Spotify may suggest that artist or song to you. This is one reason Spotify wants you to follow people — it helps their recommendation algorithm work better. You can see what data Spotify collects about you by going to your account settings and looking for "read Your Data" or a similar option, though the exact name and location varies.
How to control who sees your listening activity
By default, anyone who follows you can see what you are listening to right now and what you have listened to recently. You can change this in your privacy settings. On the app, go to your profile, then Settings, then look for "Social" or "Privacy" settings. You will see an option to turn off "Social Features" or "Friend Activity" — turning this off means your followers cannot see your listening history, but they can still follow you.
You can also make your profile private, which means people cannot find you through search or see your public playlists. However, if someone already follows you, they can still see your activity unless you also turn off the social features setting. There is no way to block a specific person from following you, but you can remove followers by going to your followers list and tapping the three dots next to their name, then selecting "Remove Follower."
The difference between following and being followed
Following someone means you can see their activity and their playlists appear in your feed. Being followed means they can see your activity (unless you turn that off). These are separate — you can follow someone who does not follow you back, and someone can follow you without you following them. Neither person is notified when the other follows them.
If you follow someone and then unfollow them, they will not be notified. They can still see you in their followers list until they check it, but you will no longer see their activity in your feed. Unfollowing is completely silent on both sides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I find someone on Spotify if I only know their real name?
Spotify search works best with usernames, not real names. If you search for a real name, you may get results, but they might not be the person you are looking for — many people use their real name as their username, but not all. Ask the person for their Spotify username or profile link, which is faster and more reliable.
What happens if I import my contacts — does Spotify keep that data forever?
Spotify stores a copy of your contact list on its servers when you import. You can revoke the app's permission to access your contacts in your phone settings, but Spotify keeps the data it already collected. You can request that Spotify delete your data by contacting their support team, though response times vary.
Can someone tell if I unfollowed them?
No. Unfollowing is silent — the other person is not notified. They can see you are no longer following them if they check their followers list, but Spotify does not send them a notification about it.
If I turn off social features, will my friends still be able to follow me?
Yes. Turning off social features only hides your listening activity from people who follow you. It does not prevent new people from following you or remove your existing followers. If you want to stop people from following you, you have to remove them one at a time from your followers list.
Is my Spotify profile public or private by default?
Your profile is public by default, which means anyone can search for you and see your public playlists and followers list. Your listening activity is also visible to your followers by default. You can make your profile private in your privacy settings, but this does not affect people who already follow you unless you also turn off social features.