Spotify’s iMessage App Lets Users Share Music With Friends

Spotify quietly rolled out a new update for its iOS app at the start of this week. The new version of the music streaming app initially looked like a minor update, but it is clear now that it is more than just that. Apparently, it was found out this Thursday that the updated Spotify app introduces an integrated app for Apple’s iMessage.

French website iGeneration was the first one to uncover Spotify’s integration with the iMessage app. The inclusion of Spotify into Apple’s instant messaging service supported apps makes it easy for users to share music with their friends without exiting iMessage. All they need to do is to search for a specific song directly in the music streaming service, then send it to their friend.

Spotify in iMessage does not send the full song to the recipient. It simply provides the latter with a 30-second clip. If the recipient likes the snippet, he or she could jump right into listening to the full track by just tapping a button that launches the full Spotify app.

Spotify’s integration with iMessage is somehow very different from Apple Music’s. Users can use the search function to find a song from Spotify’s full catalog without having to leave iMessage. Apple Music’s integration does not come with a search function. Hence, users are only given the option of choosing a song from their recently listened track list. Should the user want to share something that’s not part of the list, he or she needs to launch the Apple Music app, search for it there and play it, so it would appear in iMessage, as per MacRumors.

Interestingly, Apple Music’s integration offers something that Spotify doesn’t. With Spotify, recipients will only be receiving a large display of the song’s album artwork. They will then have to click on this artwork if they want to listen to the 30-second teaser of the song. Meanwhile, Apple Music presents recipients with a thin tab showing a small display of the album artwork, the title of the song and the name of the singer. This tab also comes with a play button that receivers can tap if they want to play the song directly in iMessage.

It’s also worth pointing out that recipients can only listen to the full track if they are a subscriber of Spotify. Those who are non-paying subscribers of Spotify do not even have the option to stream the 30-second clip. What they will be receiving on their end is just a notification to visit the Spotify app to stream, according to TechCrunch.

To activate the Spotify app in iMessage, one should head to the iMessage App Store and switch it on from there. The iMessage App Store button is found at the end of the horizontal row of iMessage apps. Upon tapping this button, a window showing all of the apps that can be activated for use in Apple’s messaging app loads. One should find Spotify in this window if he or she has the updated iOS Spotify app.

“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.”