Spotify tightens the family plan: fail to scan the QR code within seven days and you're locked out of family plans for 12 months

Spotify has officially confirmed what the media had been reporting for days: the Family Plan will no longer be so easy to share. On its third-quarter earnings call, the company called the new check a "routine improvement," not a crackdown. The choice of words is no accident.

The mechanism is simple. A QR code appears on the plan manager's phone, and every member has to scan it with their own phone to prove they live with the plan manager. They have seven days from the notification. Anyone who misses the deadline can't join another Family or Duo plan for 12 months and has to pay for an individual subscription themselves.

The aim is clear, whatever they call it: grown-up kids who've moved out and friends sharing one plan are supposed to move to the pricier Premium. A student in Vienna listening on their parents' plan in Skopje will now have to show up at home with their phone within seven days - or start paying for themselves.

Co-CEO Alex Norström answered an investor's question calmly. "The Family Plan has been around for a long time. I think it's close to 12, 13 years in Spotify's history, and it makes up a pretty significant part of our subscriber base," he said. "So it's important that we improve our verification methods over time. Of course, over time people find ways around them. When that happens, we figure out how to improve them."

The key sentence is that the checks have no end date - according to him, it's an ongoing process. Translation: Netflix was the first to crack down on password sharing, Spotify is now following suit and has no intention of stopping. How many more "routine improvements" will it take until the family plan becomes what it always was on paper - a plan for one family under one roof?