How to Start a Group Session on Spotify


Spotify has become one of the most popular ways to enjoy your favorite songs, podcasts, and more. In July 2020, Spotify launched the Group Session feature which allows users to simultaneously listen to the same playlist or podcast from wherever they are via a unique link. This new feature is available for Premium and Family account users via the tablet or mobile app.

Groups of two to five people can join a remote Group Session by clicking on a join link sent out via messaging apps or social media from the Group Session’s host. In a group session, hosts and guests can pick tracks and add them to the main queue running via the device that initiated the session. Listeners can pause, play, skip and select tracks on the queue. As one person makes a change to the Group session, it is immediately reflected on all participant’s devices.

With the Group Session feature, listeners can take their Spotify experience to another level. However, once a Group Session is live, anyone can play, pause, skip or add tracks in the queue at any time. There’s currently no way for a host to lock these controls, but since Group Session is still technically in beta, this is a feature that Spotify will likely implement at a later date.

In the following part, I will show you how to start a group session on Spotify Premium. If you are a free user, do not worry, I will also guide you to get this feature from Spotify free step by step.


How to Start a Spotify Group Session on mobile and tablet

Step 1. Open Spotify app and play something on your phone or tablet.

Step 2. Tap the Connect icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Step 3. A window with your Bluetooth, Chromecast, and AirPlay devices will pop up.

Step 4. Scroll down past your streamable devices and tap START SESSION button under Start a Group Session. If you’d like to join a session instead, select Scan to Join. This allows you to scan a QR code on a friend’s device to instantly join their Group Session.

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Step 5. Tap INVITE FRIENDS button. Here you will see two ways of inviting your friends.

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Share a link: You can send a link directly by selecting Copy Link, text, or a messaging app like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.

Spotify Code: Anyone you want to add to your group needs to scan the code via the Group Session window.

You won't get a notification when someone joins your group session, but you can see if anyone is in your group session at anytime by tapping the computer and speaker Connect icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.

Invited listeners can choose to:

Listen on their own device
Listen on your device (and control it from their device)

6. To end the Group Session, click the Left-Facing Arrow to return to the Connect screen. Click End Session.

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What can listeners do in a Spotify Group Session?

Spotify group sessions live up to its purpose of providing a shared experience for music lovers. Everyone in the group can control what you listen to. Similar to Netflix Party, all linked devices, not just the host, can pause and skip a track. Each person can also add any track to the queue, making the experience more collaborative. So if you think some song choice is too lame, you can skip it for everyone.

Can you chat in a Spotify Group Session?

You can’t Listen Along when voice chatting. Try text chatting instead.

How to leave a group session?

To leave a group session, tap on "Leave Session" located under the "In a group session" tab. If you happen to be the host and the music is playing from your device, you can simply click on "End Session" to conclude the group session.

How to start a remote Spotify group session?

1. Open Spotify and play what you want.

2. Tap on the bottom of the screen.

3. Select Start a remote group session .

4. Select Invite friends .

5. Then, tap Copy link and send it to your friends.

How to start a Spotify group session on PC?

However, it's essential to be aware that the Spotify group session feature is exclusively available to Premium users on mobile, tablet devices, and speakers. Regrettably, Spotify group listening or group sessions are not available on PCs , even after three years. So, are there any alternatives? Yes, while you cannot currently start the Group Session from the Spotify desktop app, you can switch the playback to the desktop app after starting or joining the session in the mobile app. After joining a session on your phone, open Spotify on PC and the Group Session is playing. Then just change it to play on the PC speakers. However you have no ability to add to the queue or control playback.

Another solution is to use Discord. By linking your Spotify account, other people can join you and listen along as you play music on Discord.


How to Use Group Session from Spotify Free

The Group Session feature is not available on Spotify Free, but that doesn't mean there's no way to share Spotify songs with your friends and listen together without Premium. You can try to download those songs you prefer to your device, then you can share them with your friends. To download songs from Spotify free, a Spotify music tool is a must.

It is highly recommended that you can use Pazu Spotify Converter . It’s able to help you download Spotify songs as MP3/M4A/AAC/FLAC/WAV/AIFF files to your local computer so that you can share and transfer them with your friends for better enjoying. Pazu Spotify Converter keeps the original output audio quality. The highest output quality you could get is 320kbps. Pazu Spotify Converter stands out for its speed, complete ID3 tags as well as stability. Simply follow the steps below to download your favorite songs and share Spotify songs with your friends.

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Step 1 Run Pazu Spotify Converter

Download, install and run Pazu Spotify Converter on your Mac or Windows. Log in your Spotify account with the built-in Spotify web player. The steps are the same whether you have the Mac or Windows version of Pazu Spotify Converter.

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Step 2 Select Spotify music.

Use the integrated Spotify web player to search the songs, album, playlist or podcast you want to download. Click the Add to list button to load all songs in the album or playlist, uncheck the songs you don’t want to download if there are any.

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Step 3 Choose output format

Click the gear icon on the top right corner to open Settings. Here you can select output format (MP3/M4A/AAC/FLAC/WAV/AIFF), choose output audio quality, cover quality, change the output path, organize the output files in various ways, rename output files and more.

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Step 4 Download and Convert Spotify Songs to Local

Click Convert button to start downloading the Spotify songs to your local computer.

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Once the conversion is done, you can find your Spotify songs downloaded as local files by clicking below folder button or directly going to the output folder you customized in the previous step. You can transfer them to your file manager or manage them anywhere you want.

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Note: The free trial version of Pazu Spotify Converter enables you to convert the first three minutes of each song. You can remove the trial limitation by purchasing the full version.

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