Spotify is rolling out a new direct messaging feature that lets users share music, podcasts, and audiobooks with friends directly inside the app. This feature, called Messages, is available for both Free and Premium users aged 16 and older in select markets.
To share something, simply tap the share icon while listening to a track, podcast, or audiobook. From there, you can select a friend to send it to. This allows you to have 1-on-1 conversations with other Spotify users you’ve previously interacted with through features like Jams or collaborative playlists.
The goal of this new tool is to keep your content recommendations all in one place. Instead of sharing a song via text or social media, you can now do it within Spotify, and all of your shared audio and conversations will be saved in a Messages inbox for easy access later. The feature also supports text and emoji reactions.
Spotify has built in several features to ensure a safe experience:
- Encryption: Your messages are protected with industry-standard encryption.
- Control: You have the ability to accept or decline message requests, block other users, and even report harmful content or accounts.
- Proactive Screening: Spotify will also proactively scan for unlawful or harmful content in messages to prevent abuse.
While this new feature is an interesting move to enhance social interaction on the platform, Spotify says it’s meant to complement existing sharing options on other apps like Instagram and WhatsApp, not replace them. The company hopes this will pave the way for more direct user-to-user features in the future.