Spotify Technology is rolling out a messaging feature for both free and premium users, underscoring the streaming giant’s push to transform itself into a more interactive platform while holding off on intensifying competition from Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube.
The feature, launching this week in select Latin and South American markets for users aged 16 and older, will allow people to chat and share music directly with contacts they have already interacted with on Spotify. Expansion to the United States, Canada, Brazil, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand will follow in the coming weeks.
This marks the return of a capability Spotify once had but dropped in 2017 due to low engagement. With a much larger user base today—696 million monthly active users in Q2, and a long-term goal of 1 billion—the company is betting that messaging will gain traction this time.
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At launch, the feature supports one-on-one conversations, and users can only start chats with people they have existing connections to on Spotify. These may include a shared playlist, a Blend, a Jam session, or membership in a Family or Duo plan. Once a request is sent, the recipient must approve it before the conversation begins.
Spotify is also integrating cross-platform functionality. If someone sends a Spotify link on apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, or TikTok, tapping the link lets the recipient approve a chat request inside Spotify. Users can also send invite links to contacts directly.
The messaging tool aims to keep more engagement within the app. While users have long shared Spotify links externally, the company now wants people to have conversations and revisit shared content without leaving the platform. A history of tracks and podcasts shared in each chat will remain accessible, removing the need to search for links again. Users can also react to specific messages with emojis.
On security, Spotify said messages are encrypted at rest and in transit, but unlike apps such as WhatsApp or Signal, they are not end-to-end encrypted. The company will proactively scan messages for rule violations. Users can report abusive content, which Spotify will investigate against its platform rules and terms of service.
The new rollout is part of a broader strategy to make Spotify more interactive and sticky. Chief Product and Technology Officer Gustav Söderström hinted during last month’s earnings call that the consumer mobile experience would become “much more interactive,” and messaging appears to be one of the key features driving that direction.
Over the past year, Spotify has also added comments on podcasts, introduced a video-focused home feed, and expanded its partner program that allows podcast creators to monetize video content.
Still, some users may not embrace the change. Complaints about clutter and feature overload have been growing, with some longtime users saying Spotify feels less like a clean music player and more like a crowded social app. TechCrunch journalist Amanda Silberling, who recently switched to Apple Music, wrote that “there’s an overwhelming display of visual clutter from the time it takes to navigate from Spotify’s home page to the music you’re looking for.”
To address concerns, Spotify has made messaging optional, allowing users to disable it under Settings > Privacy and social.
The move comes as rivals Apple Music and YouTube Music continue adding their own social layers to deepen user engagement. Apple Music has introduced features such as shared playlists—where multiple users can collaborate in real time—and time-synced lyrics that can be shared directly to social media. Apple has also leaned on integration with iOS to make music sharing frictionless across iMessage and FaceTime.
Meanwhile, YouTube Music is capitalizing on its community-driven platform by offering comments on videos and songs, playlist collaboration, and integration with Shorts. YouTube’s music arm benefits from the broader YouTube ecosystem, where engagement thrives on likes, shares, and creator interaction—something Spotify is increasingly trying to replicate with podcasts and videos.
Spotify is thus signaling it wants to compete on the same social front by reintroducing messaging. Unlike its rivals, though, Spotify is attempting to build a social environment around music discovery itself, keeping users in-app rather than relying on external platforms. With 696 million users worldwide, the potential is massive—but so is the risk of alienating listeners who prefer Spotify’s original simplicity.
Ultimately, some analysts believe that Spotify is walking a fine line. However, they note that it needs to add features that differentiate it from rivals and boost engagement to hit its 1 billion user goal, while avoiding turning its interface into something that feels bloated.