Spofity Group Session Enables Users to Simultaneously Listen to Music and Podcasts With Friends

Spotify Premium subscribers can now invite friends and family to simultaneously listen to music playlists and podcasts on their own respective devices.

According to MacRumors, this is the latest addition to Spotify’s Group Session, a beta feature which launched in May of this year. Upon launch, Group Session enabled multiple Premium subscribers in close proximity to control a playlist and add to it. Now, Spotify is taking it one step further by allowing Premium users to listen to simultaneously stream music to their own devices no matter where they are.

Spotify released a newsroom article, detailing the new Group Session feature. “In our latest innovation, we’re taking Group Session one step further with brand-new functionality that allows Spotify Premium users around the world to tune into the same playlist or podcast simultaneously. So no matter the distance—whether six feet apart or a thousand miles away—you and the members of your squad can now each listen to the same content at the same time on your own devices (as well as control playback).”

To initiate this feature, a Premium user must click the ‘Connect’ menu in the bottom-left corner of the play screen and scroll down to “Start a group session.” From there, they can share the invite link with the intended guests. Another means would be to have them scan the Spotify code to join the group session.

By sharing a “join” link through messaging apps and social media, a group of two to five users can get together and begin streaming music simultaneously.

Once initiated, both the host and guests can play, pause, and skip the audio. All users are also able to select tracks in the queue and add additional tracks to a playlist. Once a track has been added, it will be immediately reflected on the device of all participants.

Group Sessions is still in beta. Spotify says that the experience will “continue to evolve over time”.