Spotify Cracks Down on Replica Apps

Spotify is cracking down on users who run modified replicas of the software that remove some of the restrictions of free accounts, as reported by Torrent Freak. The company has been sending out emails over the past few days to those with the hacked accounts, saying it has “detected abnormal activity on the app” and disabled the account in question, the Verge reported. Spotify has not deleted these accounts outright and users can reactivate them once they uninstall the illicit software and download the official Spotify app. Around 88 million accounts are registered for the free version of Spotify, which injects advertising and imposes limitations like shuffle-only play. However, many sites offer downloads of doctored Spotify installation files that make free accounts act—to a degree—like Premium accounts. All one has to do is register for a free account, then download the modified version and enter their credentials. This hack does not change accounts from free to Premium (for example, it does not provide access to higher-quality streaming) but enables some Premium features like unlimited skips.