What you need to know
- Spotify is testing a new section on its mobile app where you’ll be able to see what your Facebook friends are currently listening to.
- “Community” is the mobile version of Spotify’s long-time desktop feature called Friend Activity.
- The testing is currently accessible only via the Safari browser on iOS.
Spotify has long had a social feature that allows you to share playlists with Facebook friends and see what they’re currently listening to in return, but it’s only been available on the desktop app. Mobile users may soon be able to give it a shot as well.
Spotify is preparing to roll out a mobile version of its desktop app’s Friend Activity sidebar. According to TechCrunch (opens in new tab), the company is currently testing a feature called “Community” that will allow you to track your friends’ music sessions in real time.
Chris Messina (opens in new tab), a product lead at private investing platform Republic, first discovered the new feature earlier this month. Spotify later confirmed to TechCrunch that Community is in early testing, but provided no further information.
Nonetheless, as you can see in the screenshot below, the feature displays a top carousel of playlists you’re following, which highlights the latest updates to the lists and how recent. Beneath the carousel, you’ll be able to keep track of your friends’ music sessions in real time.
Presumably, Spotify’s social integration on the mobile app pulls information from your Facebook friends list, just like on desktop.
At the moment, Community is not available to everyone, let alone Android users. However, some iOS Safari users are in for an early treat: the feature can be accessed by going to the address bar and typing “spotify:community.”
That said, the interface doesn’t appear to be operational right now, so you may want to wait for its official release.
The latest development exemplifies Spotify’s efforts to give equal attention to its social front, which served as the foundation of its formative years. Spotify launched Blend last year, which offers a personalized experience that allows two friends to combine their music tastes.
It was only in recent years that the service shifted its focus to personalization features in order to compete with some of the best music streaming services, such as YouTube Music.
