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Is Spotify Blocked In China

Spotify is a music streaming service offering millions of songs. You can play your favorite songs, find new tracks to build the perfect playlist.

Spotify lets you keep up with every latest hit, and with Spotify, you have access to music from around the world you can listen to.

Wish to find new music? Choose a ready-made playlist for your mood or get Spotify recommendations.

Spotify can work on a wide range of devices like computers, phones, and tablets.

  1. Install the best VPN – We recommend ExpressVPN
  2. Connect to a US Server
  3. Head over to Spotify and it will now be unblocked with loads more content!

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Spotify music has countless thousands of music fans and it offers services all around the world. Spotify offers its music service to 92 countries.

However, you can find there are still countries the Spotify service is not available for most internet users because Spotify is blocked due to geo-restrictions or other reasons.

The question is can you use Spotify in China? In this guide, you can learn all you need about if you can get Spotify to work in China, and how you can get around any restrictions or blocks in China.


Does Spotify work in China 2023?

Spotify isn’t currently available in China. Much of this is because of stiff competition from Chinese rivals such as QQ Music. However, Spotify premium allows you to travel and use Spotify in any country. The only requirement being you need a payment method from your home country for your account.

Some countries like China block certain apps, so it isn’t guaranteed Spotify will work everywhere. We have seen Spotify isn’t released, yet a trip to China is considered traveling, and you have two options to access Spotify from this region.

The other option would be you would need to cancel premium and stop using a Spotify account until Spotify officially launches the service in China.

The first option you have is offline mode. Here, you are required to connect to the internet once every 30 days, and thus confirm you are still paying an active subscription.

If you don’t connect to the internet, or you do connect to the internet and Spotify determines you don’t have a premium subscription. Songs saved for offline listening in the app delete themselves. The songs are still in your library, yet you won’t be able to play them offline.

You can open the Spotify app settings and enable “offline mode” to use the app in offline mode. Make sure you disable this and connect to the internet every 30 days.

The second option to use Spotify in China is by using a Spotify VPN. With this method, you can access music as you would normally. (Learn How To Buy Songs On iTunes Not Available In Your Country)


What apps are blocked in China?

China blocks thousands of websites. The Great Firewall of China enforces Chinese internet censorship on internet use by the Chinese. App use is also affected, which encompasses most social media platforms.

The reason is to protect Chinese citizens from foreign influences or misinformation, which may be detrimental to the Chinese Government.

Here you can see a quick overview of services from another country that are not free to use as they are restricted by the Great Firewall.

Business Services

If you are carrying out any business while in China using online services, you may find yourself struggling.

  • Gmail, Google Services, Google Play Store, and more are blocked
  • Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and others
  • All Major News and Media websites are banned in China.

Internet Search Engines

Bing works in China, yet it is heavily censored. Others search engines like Google, Wikipedia, DuckDuckGo and Yahoo are blocked.

Social Media Platforms

Most social media platforms or messaging services are blocked in China, and many added all the time.

  • Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
  • Quora, Tumblr, Reddit and more.

Streaming Services

Streaming across popular services is a challenge as Vimeo, Daily Motion, Twitch and more won’t work in China without a VPN.


Is YouTube blocked in China?

Yes, YouTube is blocked in China.

Trying to load the YouTube app or website in mainland China returns an error. Likewise, YouTube videos embedded on sites won’t load and neither will paid content and YouTube TV as they are blocked.


Why is Spotify not available in my country?

One reason Spotify isn’t available in all countries is the use of music licensing rights. The company bids for rights from copyright holders and content producers. As others do the same, some countries you find Spotify won’t be able to operate.

When you log in to Spotify, the app tries to determine location via IP address. If it’s in a country not supported, it will use geo-blocking to prevent access. To overcome this, you need to change your IP address via a VPN. It is this that stops Spotify in China rather than Chinese censorship.

Spotify uses different libraries based on location in the same way as Netflix. Users in Latin America are able to access very different content compared to North America.

Once you log in to your Spotify app authentication details are saved for 14 days. It doesn’t matter whether you travel abroad and access from another country, you’ll still be able to access streaming music for this period.

After, you have to login again, where Spotify checks you’re in the same country in your profile. If you are in China, for instance, a VPN can do the trick.

If you don’t spoof your location, Spotify can display the error message: “Your country does not match the one set in your profile.”


Use Spotify in China with a VPN

A VPN service is the only way you can access Spotify while in China. At the same time, it can help you get around using a different connection rather than logging in from your home connection.

Spotify doesn’t fall under China’s censorship as such, yet even with Spotify free to operate there so far, they choose not to. By default, it leaves users without their music.

The right way to go about this is to use a VPN to access everything on the web. A VPN service for China will mask your IP address and let you use the internet or listen to music as if you were at home.

What you have to do is get VPNs before you enter China as you can’t download VPNs inside China’s firewall. (Find the 4 Best VPNs for China)

Once you have your VPN, you can open the app on your device and select a country server from the server list. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau are the best as they will offer the best connection and server download speeds across the web.

When you need to log in to Spotify to keep it active, you will have to change the server to one inside your home region so it can activate the next period.

Once you begin using VPNs, you can visit any websites or use any services you are used to using. You can even listen to music online and keep up with the latest hits of the year while you know that with full encryption, the Chinese Government can’t see what your online activities entail.

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