Spotify Adds New Social Listening Features on Mobile. Here’s How to Use Them

Spotify is making it easier to keep up with what your family and friends are listening to by adding two new features to Messages. Listening Activity and Request to Jam are launching in the mobile app, the company announced Wednesday. Previously, you could monitor your friend’s listening only on the desktop version of the app. Now, these two social features will let you share what you’re listening to and see the tunes your friends are into in real-time.

Messages, which Spotify launched in August 2025, lets you share links to songs, start Jams or create blended playlists via direct messaging. Bringing these two new features to Messages helps streamline the community listening experience.

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How to use Listening Activity on mobile

Listening Activity is available to all Spotify listeners, regardless of whether they have a free or Premium account. It’s not automatic, though, and subscribers will need to opt in to use the feature. The function shows music you’re listening to within Messages, and if you’re not listening to anything, it displays the last song you played.

This activity is only visible to people you’re already connected with on Messages. Your activity can be viewed by others who have opted in, even if you haven’t activated it on your end. You remain in control and can choose which contacts can view your activity. If you’re not into the feature, you can switch it off at any time.

• Open your profile and navigate to your Privacy and social settings to enable Listening Activity.
• Look for activity from your family or friends at the top of your Messages chats in the chat row.
• Tap on a family member or friend’s activity, and you have the option to play songs, add tracks they’re playing to your own library, pull up a song’s context menu or post an emoji reaction.

How to use Request to Jam on mobile

While the Jam feature has been around for some time, Request to Jam acts as a companion feature to Listening Activity, so you can start live listening sessions within Messages. Instead of just looking at the song someone is streaming, you can turn it into a shared experience or even chat about the song in Messages. You need a Premium account on Spotify to start a jam, but customers with a free subscription can join a jam if invited.

• In any Messages chat, tap the Jam button in the top right corner to send a request. Your recipient can either accept or decline.
• Upon acceptance, they become the host of the Jam session. You and your friend will then be able to add songs to a shared queue and listen to the music together. Requests that receive no response will time out after a few minutes.

Spotify has begun rolling out Listening Activity and Request to Jam to users on iOS and Android devices. The features will become widely available by early February and are for users 16 and up.