Skip to main content

Share Spotify tracks with your friends via the new iMessage app

The Spotify app icon on a smartphone.
Twindesign/123RF
You don’t need to be in the same room to enjoy the same tunes as your friends. Thanks to Spotify’s new iMessage app, you can easily text your favorite beats to your favorite people with just a few taps of the finger. Similar to the Spotify Messenger app, this new iMessage feature allows music lovers to search Spotify’s extensive music catalog for any track, and will begin suggesting song titles as you type. Once you’ve found your desired piece or song, tap a button to add a preview to your iMessage session with your friend — the preview is comprised of an album image, song title, and artist information.

There’s no “play” button associated with your Spotify iMessage, however. Recipients will instead see a Spotify logo in the top left corner — the only clue that the image you have sent is, in fact, a piece of music.

Recommended Videos

We should point out that recipients can only play a 30-second preview of the song within iMessage — to hear the whole thing, they’ll have to go to the Spotify app. And in order to play the preview at all, they’ll have to enable the new Spotify iMessage app (which is to say, have Spotify installed on their phone).

Please enable Javascript to view this content

While Spotify hasn’t made a big announcement about the new feature yet, the iMessage extension was included in the music platform’s newest iOS app update this week. “Spotify’s iMessage app is available now, allowing users to quickly search for and share music with friends directly from iMessage,” a Spotify spokesperson told Engadget. “It’s the latest way in which we’re empowering users to share music with friends in a fast and fun way.”

The straightforward nature of this iMessage app ought to make it quite popular. After all, you don’t need a ton of functionality to just share a song with your friend. So the next time you think that the best response to a message comes in the form of a clever tune, just open up your new Spotify iMessage app, and get to sharing.

We’ve come a long way since the days of sharing mix tapes!

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
iOS 18’s new iMessage features make me wish everyone I know had an iPhone
Screenshots of new iMessage features in iOS 18.

Without fail, one thing always happens during the iOS segment at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC): I have a moment where I want more people I know to own an iPhone and use iMessage because it always looks a whole lot more fun than my usual message apps.

It’s not evidence of iMessage being generally superior, though; it’s about something else. And this was especially true at WWDC 2024.
There's something about iMessage

Read more
Here’s how iOS 18 will make iMessage better than ever
Close-up photo of the Messages app on an iPhone.

We can't wait for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) keynote on Monday, June 10. During that event, Apple will undoubtedly introduce iOS 18 for iPhones, including the iPhone 15 Pro. The rumor mill has long suggested that iOS 18 may be a giant iPhone update.

Now, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has given us a peek at what changes could be coming to iMessage in the upcoming software update.

Read more
New Leica Lux app turns your iPhone into a Leica (sort of)
The Leica LUX app for the iPhone.

If you’ve always coveted a Leica camera, but don’t have the absurd amount of money required to buy one, then perhaps you can make do with camera maker’s new Leica Lux app instead.

Currently only available for the iPhone, the Leica Lux app promises an experience about as close to a Leica as you can get without actually owning one.

Read more