Spotify now lets you share what you’re streaming with friends in real time

Spotify is adding more social features to prevent users from leaving the app to share music. The company announced Wednesday that it is introducing new messaging features. The feature will allow users to see what their friends are streaming in real-time and send a request to start a jam, the app’s collaborative listening feature.

Users must first go to Settings and turn on the “Listening Activity” feature in the “Privacy & Social” section. Once that’s done, your listening activity will appear at the top of your Messages chat. Tap on your friend’s listening activity to play the track, save it, open a menu, or respond with an emoji.

When it comes to starting a Jam, premium users can send a request to their friends by tapping the “Jam” option in the top right corner. If the other user accepts, that user becomes the Jam host and both users can add tracks to the shared queue and listen to music together.

Listening Activity and Request to Jam are rolling out to iOS and Android apps in markets where Messages is available, and are expected to be widely available in those markets by early February. Listening activities are available to all users with access to messages, but free users can join Request to Jam sessions if invited by a premium user.

Spotify says both of these new features are available through Messages and are only available to users 16 and older.

The streaming platform launched Messages in August 2025 with the aim of becoming a more social app. Users have long shared Spotify links to off-platform music and podcasts, but the new messaging feature signals a move to keep interactions even more within the app as the company looks to increase user retention metrics and attract more paying users.

Currently, messages on Spotify can only be sent to individual users, and you can only chat with people you’ve previously shared content with, such as playlist collaborators or Jam or Blend participants. Messages are encrypted at rest and in transit, but are not protected by end-to-end encryption.