You have long been a regular music listener on Spotify, a popular streaming service available on both computers and mobile devices. By now, you know every lyric and note of your favorite songs by heart, and this is very satisfying for you, but for some time now your head has been buzzing with the desire to find out if there are other artists and works that you do not know?
Well, finding out what your friends are listening to is a whole other quest. Do you want to surprise them, talk about their interests, or discuss your favorite artists?
Well, now in more detail.
The function that allows you to see in real time what your friends are listening to is called the “Friends Feed”. Thanks to the latter, you have the opportunity to quickly and easily control what users you have registered as friends on Facebook are listening to. Just link your account on the popular social network to your Spotify account.
However, when it comes to Instagram, X (Twitter), and other social platforms, unfortunately, there is currently no way to connect them directly to your Spotify account, so it is impossible to follow your friends’ activities.
There are still some limitations to finding out what your friends are listening to on the famous streaming platform – the option is only available in the Spotify desktop app and only if you keep the program window width at least 1190 pixels (otherwise, the Friends Feed with friends’ games is not displayed). Unfortunately, the Friends Feed feature is not available even in the web version of Spotify, which is accessible directly from the browser.
How to Find Out What Your Friends Are Listening to on Spotify: PC
Having clarified what needs to be clarified, let’s find out how to see what your friends are listening to on Spotify from a PC.
Then open the application by searching for it in the Windows Start menu (the one accessible by clicking the button with the flag at the bottom, in the left corner of the screen) or in the macOS Launchpad (the icon of nine colored rectangles that you will find in the Dock below).
Once you have found and opened the Spotify application, click the Find Friends button on the right side of the window; then click the Connect to Facebook button. At this point, enter the email address and password associated with your Facebook account in the appropriate fields and click the Login button. Obviously, this procedure is not necessary if you have already registered and therefore logged into Spotify via Facebook.
Once logged in, you will be shown a list of your Facebook friends who use the Spotify application. To check their activity on the platform, simply click the Follow button next to each person’s name, and that’s it.
From now on, the music your friends are listening to will be displayed on the right side of the application window, under the heading Friend Activity. Under each person’s name, the song being played in real time or the last song played will be shown.
The first name after the song is the author’s name, the third is the album name, and the fourth is the playlist name. Clicking on each of them will occasionally redirect you to the corresponding Spotify pages.
If you spot a title that intrigues you, simply click on the profile picture of the friend who is listening to the song you want to play to start playing it on Spotify. Convenient, right?
If, after connecting your Spotify and Facebook accounts as I indicated above, you cannot view the Friends Feed in the corresponding tab, try closing and reopening the application, again going through the process of connecting profiles as described above.
However, if you want to deactivate the Friends Feed feature, click on the down arrow icon (top right next to your profile name) and select Settings from the context menu. So, scroll down the list on the page that opens and under the “Viewing options” item, click the switch next to the “Friends feed” item to deactivate it.
How to See What Your Friends Are Listening to on Spotify: Phone
The “Friends feed” feature, which allows you to see the songs your friends are listening to in real time, is only available on the PC and Mac versions of Spotify. So, even if your account is connected to a Facebook profile, the options tab will not be displayed on smartphones and tablets.
In this case, the only solution you can use to see what your friends are listening to on Spotify from your phone or tablet is to search for your friends individually and check their recent activity. To do this, open the Spotify app on your device, tap the Search item (the magnifying glass icon at the bottom) and enter the name of the friend you want to check in the appropriate field.
So, scroll through the list of results and, if you do not find the profile you are looking for, tap the See all profiles item at the bottom. Finally, click on the name of the profile you are interested in, and on the tab that opens, you will be able to view the last recently listened to artists and public playlists of the corresponding person. Try it now and see if there is anything that might interest you.
Read also: How Does Spotify Pay Artists? Let’s Break It Down
