How to Start a Group Session on Spotify

By Adam Gorden Updated on June 21, 2023

In May 2020, Spotify launched its Group Session feature, allowing users who are having a party or having fun together to share what they play on Spotify. This feature supports everyone in the session controls what is playing. People invited to this Group Session can listen to song together and control the playback such as play, stop, skip the song, and change the volume of song.

In the beginning, all users have to be in relatively close proximity to each other. Starting from July 28th, 2020, Spotify expanded Group Session. It now allows you to listen with friends across long distances. No matter you're 6 feet away or several thousand miles away, you can enjoy the same song and podcast with your friends in real-time.

Next up in this passage, we will show you how to start a Spotify Group Session. Then you will know how to invite your friend to listen together. Let's check out now!

spotify group session

Part 1. How to Start a Spotify Group Session on Mobile/Tablet

Group Session is a feature available exclusively to Spotify Premium subscribers. Before getting started, make sure you have an active Premium account. By following the guide, you can start a Group Session on Spotify, invite your friends to join, listen to the same music together, and later leave the session when desired.

Starting a Spotify Group Session on mobile/tablet:

    spotify mobile start a group session

  1. On your mobile or tablet, open the Spotify app.
  2. Select a song, playlist, or album that you want to play during the group session, and play it.
  3. Tap the song at the lower bottom of the screen, this will open the Now Playing screen.
  4. Look for the Connect icon located on the left corner of the Now Playing screen, and tap on it. This will open the devices menu.
  5. Scroll down to Start a remote group session, and tap on the "+" button next to it. This will start the group session.
  6. You can now invite up to 7 friends to your session. Tap on the "Invite friends" button, you can share the link to your friends through the invitation link or code with your friends through messages, or any other preferred method. Your friends can use the link or code to join the group session on their own devices.
  7. Once your friends have joined your session, you can all listen to the same music simultaneously and interact with the playlist.

Leaving a Spotify Group Session on mobile/tablet:

  1. If you are currently in the group session, navigate to the Now Playing screen, where you can see the controls and information about the currently playing music.
  2. Tap on the Connect icon located on the left corner of the screen.
  3. From the devices menu, you should see an option to end the group session.
  4. Tap on it to leave the session and stop the synchronized playback.

Part 2. Can You Start a Spotify Group Session on Desktop?

Spotify's Group Session feature is only available on mobile or tablet, meaning you cannot have it if you are using a computer. But fortunately, some popular platforms has integrated with Spotify, where you can play your favorite Spotify music there with your friends.

2.1 Discord

Discord allows users to integrated their Spotify accounts and stream music to their friends or server members through the built-in Spotify integration. By connecting your Spotify account to Discord, you can display your currently playing track, share individual songs or playlists, and even listen together in voice channels.

discord
How to Play Spotify on Discord

If you are a big fan of Spotify and Discord, you are quite to know how to listen to Spotify music on Discord and invite your friends to listen along with you.

Listening to Spotify together on Discord:

  1. Make sure you have connected your Spotify Premium account to Discord. First, click the cog wheel next to your username, and choose Connections, and find the Spotify tile and add your Spotify account to your profile.
  2. discord add spotify account to your profile

  3. Once connected, you can invite your friends to listen along with Spotify. First, play what you want to listen along with your friends on Spotify. Then, click the "+" button in your text box to invite your friend(s).
  4. discord invite to listen to spotify

  5. You can send this invitation either through a Direct Message, Group Direct Message, or even through a specific channel. After you sent the invitation, your friends will be able to join and listen to Spotify along with you.
  6. discord preview listen along invite

Note

    If you Listen Along with a friend who has the free version of Spotify, you hear silence when they hear adverts.

2.2 JQBX

JQBX is a social music streaming platform that integrates with Spotify. It allows users to create and join virtual rooms where they can listen to music together in real-time. Each room has a designed DJ who controls the playlist, and participants can vote on the tracks they like or chat with each other.

Listening to Spotify together on JQBX:

play spotify on jqbx

  1. Visit the JQBX website and connect your Spotify account to JQBX. Click on the "Connect with Spotify" button or navigate to the Settings section to connect your Spotify account to JQBX.
  2. After connecting your Spotify account, you can either create a new room or join an existing one. To create a new room, click on the "Create a Room" button and set it up.
  3. Open you're in a room, invite your friends to join.
  4. You can send the invitation either through a room code, invitation link, or any other preferred communication method.
  5. With Spotify connected to JQBX, you can click on the Play button to start playing music along with Spotify.
  6. JQBX will synchronize the playback across all connected participants in the room. Everyone in the room will be able to listen to the same music simultaneously and interact with the music selection.

Part 3. How to Share Spotify Songs with Friends without Premium

Spotify's Group Session feature was primarily designed for simultaneous listening within the Spotify app itself, and it was not widely supported on external platforms. If you found the select platform is not supported officially, you may need to get your favorite music off the Spotify platform, and share the songs directly with your friends.

By downloading Spotify music into playable music files, you're allowed to share and play your favorite songs, playlists, albums, artists, and more with your friends and even play it simultaneously. In this case, you would need a third-party downloader app called ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, which allows both Premium and free users to convert and download music off the Spotify platform. This is the best way for you and your friends, family members to listen to Spotify songs anytime, anywhere.

ViWizard Spotify Music Converter is designed to download songs from Spotify without a Premium subscription and save Spotify audios into 6 different formats such as MP3, AAC, M4A, M4B, WAV and FLAC. Almost 100% of the original song quality will be kept after converting process. With 5× faster speed and batch download, this tool can download Spotify songs within a few minutes. Below is to use ViWizard Spotify Music Converter for downloading Spotify music.

spotify music converter

Key Features of ViWizard Spotify Music Converter

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* Security verified. 5, 481,347 people have downloaded it.

  • Download Spotify songs, albums, playlists, podcasts, audiobooks
  • Convert Spotify music to lossless MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, M4A, M4B
  • Support playing offline Spotify music on any device at any time
  • Compatible with Windows and macOS, as well as, the latest Spotify

Step 1Import Spotify Songs to the Conversion List

To download Spotify songs, you need to add songs you want to download into the conversion list. Simply open ViWizard Spotify Music Converter on your computer and then it will load the Spotify app. Then find the songs in Spotify and drag your chosen songs to the interface of ViWizard software. Or you can copy and paste the link of Spotify music into the search bar on the software.

add spotify music

Step 2Configure the Output Audio Parameters

The default output format in ViWizard is MP3. If you want to make some adjustments according to your personal demand. Click on the menu bar, select the Preferences option, then you'll find the settings window. Here you can change the output format and other parameters like bit rate, sample rate, and channel. Also, you can choose the output folder.

select output format

Step 3Start the Conversion of Spotify to MP3

Once all the settings is finished, click on the Converter button, and ViWizard Spotify Music Converter will immediately download and convert Spotify songs to your required formats. And you can find those converted songs in the history list by clicking the Converted icon. Furthermore, you can navigate to the folder where Spotify music files are store by clicking the Search icon.

convert spotify songs

Step 4Listen to Spotify Together without Premium

After downloading these Spotify songs, you can import them to your phone or anywhere available to stream these songs. You can also share them with friend and hold a Spotify listening party without Premium. And you can use Spotify music in any DJ software like Traktor DJ, Serato DJ, and others for mixing after conversion.

Part 4. FAQs about Spotify Group Session

Q1.Do you need Spotify Premium to join a Group Session?

A1.Yes, you need to upgrade to Premium account, then you will have the ability to join a Spotify Group Session. Or you are not able to use this feature in Spotify.

Q2.How to use Spotify Group Session on FaceTime?

A2.Spotify supports playing music while you're on a FaceTime call. Then you and your friend listen to Spotify together in FaceTime calls with SharePlay. Swipe up from the bottom edge of the FaceTime call and play a song in Spotify then tap SharePlay and return to the FaceTime call.

Q3.Why can't start a Group Session on Spotify?

A3.If you are not a Premium subscriber, you are not able to start a Group Session. Besides, you cannot join a Group Session on Spotify without a Premium account.

Conclusion

Spotify Group Session provides a way to improve the social relationship with the help of music for Spotify Premium subscribers. Although this feature is only for Premium users, those Free users can use ViWizard Spotify Music Converter to get similar Spotify Premium services for free.

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