In 2025, Spotify launched direct messages on its platform, a rather unorthodox feature for a music streaming service that turned out to be quite popular. Spotify revealed that since launch, 40 million users shared over 340 million messages. Today, Spotify is giving its platform more social features, namely the ability to see what your friends are listening to and send a request to jam.
With the Listening Activity feature, you can share the music you are currently listening to and see what friends are playing. If you are not listening to anything, Spotify will display your last played song. This is an opt-in feature, and it is disabled by default for privacy reasons. If you do not share your listening activity, you will not be able to see other people"s activity as well. Spotify adds that Listening Activity only works for people you have already messaged.
You can see what your friends are listening to by opening the sidebar and checking the Messages section. Then, you can tap a friend and react to the song with one of five reactions, add the song to your own library, or play it on the spot.
The next addition is the ability to send Jam requests. You can open messages with a person and send a request for a shared listening session. After that, each participant can add songs to the playlist and browse a list of suggested songs based on each person"s taste.
Spotify says that Listening Activity and Request to Jam are now rolling out to Premium users in areas where messages are available. Broad availability is expected early next month. As for those on the free plan, they can also participate in Jam sessions, but only after they receive an invitation from a Spotify Premium user. All these features are available for users who are 16 and older.