Spotify has started rolling out a new feature called Listening Activity on iPhone. It shows what your friends are playing right now and lets you share your own listening in real time. Alongside it, Spotify also introduced Request to Jam, which makes it easier to start a shared listening session from a chat.
Together, these updates turn Spotify Messages into a more social space. You can see what people are playing, react to it, and jump into music together without leaving the app.
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Listening Activity
Spotify lets you choose whether others can see what you are playing. Once you turn it on, your activity appears inside Messages.
Here is what you can do:
- Turn on the Listening Activity in Privacy and social settings from the side drawer.
- See your friends’ current tracks in the Messages area.
- Tap a song to play it, save it, open its menu, or react with one of six emojis.
- Share only with people you already message. You can switch it off at any time.
If you are not actively listening, Spotify shows your most recently played track instead. You can still see other people’s activity even if you do not share your own.
Spotify says the feature is part of its effort to make sharing music inside the app easier. After launching Messages last year, the company reports that tens of millions of users have already exchanged hundreds of millions of messages.
Request to Jam makes listening social
Alongside the Listening Activity, Spotify has added Request to Jam. This feature lets you invite a friend into a live listening session directly from a Messages chat.
Here is how it works:
- Tap Jam in the top corner of a chat to send a request.
- Your friend can accept or decline.
- If accepted, they host the session. Both of you can add songs to a shared queue and listen together.
Participants can see each other’s names, get song suggestions based on shared taste, and leave at any time. Invitations expire if no one responds.
Listening Activity is available to all users where Messages is supported. Request to Jam works for Premium users, while Free users can join when invited. Both features are rolling out now and will reach more users by early February.
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