Spotify Introduces a New Feature for Family Plans
Until now, if you shared a Spotify family plan and enjoyed audiobooks, you were probably disappointed because only the administrator could enjoy the free listening hours. Everyone else, even if they paid the same amount, had to pay to listen to a book.
But that’s about to change. Spotify has finally listened to its users and decided to take an important step that could significantly improve the experience for those who share an account. Starting now, all members of the family plan can listen to audiobooks for free, with access to their own limited listening time.
After being tested in the Canadian and Irish markets, this new feature is now being rolled out to other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and New Zealand, and is expected to arrive in more markets soon.
Now everyone can listen to audiobooks on Spotify
Since the platform introduced audiobooks to its service in 2022, this feature had been limited to the family or duo plan administrators, allowing them to access the 15 free monthly listening hours. Other members, although also paying, had to purchase the titles separately if they wanted to listen to anything.
The platform has confirmed that very soon all members of the Family and Duo plans will be able to access their own free audiobook hours. From now on, not only will the plan holder have access to those 15 monthly hours to enjoy included audiobooks, but other users associated with the same plan will also have their own quota. A small but important change that democratizes one of Spotify’s most interesting and underutilized features.
This change comes in the form of two new plans that are added as extensions to the current service.
- Audiobooks+: This will allow plan managers to double the amount of time available for listening to audiobooks, increasing from 15 to 30 hours per month.
- Audiobooks+ for Plan Members: Offers plan members (i.e., non-administrators) their own 15 hours of free listening time. And if those hours run out before the end of the month, they can also purchase additional 10-hour bundles to continue listening to books.
Although the exact price of these add-ons has not yet been confirmed, everything suggests they will carry a small additional cost over the regular Premium plan. Still, it’s a much more affordable option than having to buy each audiobook we want to enjoy, especially considering that many of these titles easily exceed $15 or $20. We’ll see if people don’t upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited.
| Benefit | Family/Duo Plan (So far) | New Add-ons (From 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Hours for the administrator | 15 hours/month | Audiobooks+ Option: 30 hours/month |
| Hours for other members | 0 hours (access not included) | Audiobooks+ for Members Option: 15 hours/month for each member |
| Overtime recharge | Available only to the administrator | Available to all members with the plugin activated |
| Availability | Global | In testing (Ireland/Canada), progressive global rollout |
This move by Spotify is no coincidence. In recent months, the company has intensified its efforts to position itself as more than just a music streaming platform. Its focus on audiobooks, podcasts, and exclusive content aims to turn Spotify into a comprehensive destination for digital entertainment and culture. And they are certainly succeeding. While traditional users continue to use the app primarily for music and collaborative playlists, more and more are discovering that there is much more to explore within the same subscription.
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Spotify has recently been trying to make shared accounts truly shared benefits. The new plans are currently being tested in markets like Ireland and Canada, but will soon be rolled out globally. And when that happens, Spotify will likely gain a few points over its direct competition. Considering the rise of audiobooks, which are increasingly appealing to more users who don’t have time to read but still have time to listen while doing other things, it’s clear that this new feature comes at the right time.
What seemed like a residual function is now becoming a compelling argument for more families to see the value of maintaining, or even upgrading, their subscription.
