Listen to music together: How to Listen to Music With Friends?

Listening to music with friends can be fun, and fortunately, many music sync apps allow you to do just that regardless of distance. You can be located down the street from a few friends or halfway across the world; these apps allow you to listen to music together.

Do you often long for times when there was all the time and opportunity in the world to hang out and just listen to your favorite tracks. You probably tried doing it remotely when a friend who probably moved across the state by hitting the ‘play’ button for the same song at the exact same time. Unfortunately, getting the timing right takes a bit of practice and sometimes you both might not have the same playlists.

Fortunately, thanks to broadband internet, the latest software, and apps, listening to music with multiple friends online is possible. The only problem is figuring out which is the best program or app for you to do it.

In this article, we’ll go through some of the best music sync apps available to connect with friends. While there are pros and cons to each, knowing how each one work can help you choose the best one. Also, please feel free to let us know if you think we might have missed one of your favorite music sync apps.

Spotify Group Session

All music lovers have the Spotify app, and they are already familiar with how it works. However, Spotify expanded its Group Session feature, allowing you to include anyone. In other words, it now allows you and your friends to listen to the same music in real-time, with each member of the group being able to add to the collaborative playlist. It essentially turns the platform into a community of like-minded listeners.

The feature is free to use, but all members or friends who participate need to have a Spotify Premium subscription to access the feature. However, if you are one of the 155 million Premium members that the company boasts of, then it isn’t going to be a problem. Also, chances are you are already aware of the feature.

To start a Group Session on your device, i.e., tablet, PC, or smartphone:

• Start by playing a song or click start on a song on your playlist (you can also search for a song and play that too).

• Click on the “device” icon located at the bottom of your screen.

• Click on the “Start Session” button.

• Click or tap on “invite friends” and then send the links, social media message, or code to everyone you want to include.

While the Group Session feature has been out for now close to a year, it is still in beta. That means it can only support five connections. However, if you’re anything like us and have many friends, then perhaps one of the other apps below will be more helpful.

Our hope is that the company (Spotify) can improve the feature and make it possible for people like us to add an unlimited number of listeners to the group. That being said, we suspect that once the feature is ready for prime time, so to speak, we’d need to pay for it, mainly because it is so popular amongst music lovers.

Rave

Rave is an app a lot like YouTube, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. that allows users to watch and listen to various types of video and audio content live. However, unlike these apps (mentioned above), the Canadian-based Rave allows users to keep in touch with everyone else watching the same content via voice chats and messages. Instead of only connecting with friends, users can join public “raves” or join group raves.

The app is free for Android and iOS devices. But most if not all the content and the service are monetized by advertising. There is also the option to enjoy an ad-free experience, which means buying a paid subscription. Fortunately, at $13.20, for the entire year, a paid subscription is going to break the bank.

It is essential to point out that some users have security concerns because all new raves created are public by default. Users need to manually switch their rave to private, which limits it to people you want to “rave” with.

Vertigo

If you don’t want to be limited to relying on Spotify for your music sharing needs, then you might want to consider Vertigo. It is the best alternative to JQBX, we could find, that does not rely on having a Spotify Premium account. Also, the app is free to use and can be synced with your Apple Music account.

The app allows you to join public lounges and hear all the music others are currently listening to or become your own DJ if that’s what you enjoy doing. Each time you stream on Vertigo, the artists will get royalties per listener.

The downside is that Vertigo is that it is currently buggy. Many users, including ourselves, have experienced bugs when using the app on Android. Though we are hopeful that most bugs will be crushed within a few months, especially since they release new updates almost every week. So, make sure that you always check for the latest version and install updates.

JQBX

JQBX gives users the opportunity to become their own DJ. Using the app, you can start a private or a public room, where everyone listens to music. In other words, you can choose to invite friends or have the room open to everyone who shares your taste in music. The service integrates with your Spotify account, is available for iOS and Android devices. Most of all, it is free to use.

Users can vote on the music they are listening to, stay up to date with the latest trending music across just about every genre out there. It is an excellent way for music fans to expand upon their taste and knowledge of music.

Perhaps the only drawback, if you can call it, is that is you need a Spotify Premium account to access all of JQBX’s features. You can’t use it to share music on any other platform, which means you only get to enjoy music available on Spotify, which is plenty for most people.

AmpMe

AmpMe was originally developed as a way for people to sync multiple music devices to play their music louder. However. Unsurprisingly, the AmpMe app has evolved beyond that to include a few more features. Back in 2020, the company updated its iOS app, which allows up to 8 users to share their music while video chatting. It eliminates the need to play music during a Zoom party, which we must confess isn’t exactly easy. But this app makes sharing and talking about the music in question a lot easier.

AmpMe is free to download and use on Android and iOS devices. However, the video chat feature requires a subscription, but for whoever is the host or the DJ of the party. The subscription isn’t expensive at $5 a week or $10 a month. However, as a guest, you can always join the party for free.

The downside is that only the person who hosts the party is in control of the songs played. The DJ can share the music from personal downloads, YouTube, SoundCloud, and a Spotify Premium account.

Synaptop

Synaptop may appear to be a music streaming platform, but this web-based desktop app offers much more, including its ability to collaborate with friends. You can share video and audio content, in addition to other files like documents, and even sharing video calls with anyone.

Since you’re using this on a desktop or laptop computer as opposed to other mobile music sharing apps, there are almost endless possibilities. You can use it to work together, listen to music, play games and watch movies, etc.

Most of all, we love that regardless of whether you listen to music or share video calls, it is free to use. However, you will need to signup for an account, after which your access to apps available on the platform is limited. Also, some people may probably not prefer an entirely web-based app, but the upside is that you don’t need to download anything to the computer. Most users will enjoy having access to the library of movies available on the platform.

Jukebox

Jukebox is a web-based platform that’s simple and free to use. It enables users to sync their YouTube videos in real-time. Users can join public rooms, listen in on the music being played, and collaborate with other users by adding songs to the playlist or starting their own thing.

You can also start a private room for friends, family, and co-workers. You can also pause, play, and skip songs universally across anybody’s devices.

The downside in our experience and those of a few others is that there are a couple of known bugs associated with the app, but the developers have assured us that they are hard at work fixing them. We encountered a few issues with some mobile browsers being unable to play music, and some songs will skip randomly.

However, the upside to the application is that it is free and easy for everyone. Also, YouTube videos don’t necessarily have to be songs; they can be shows, and you can even use it to discuss maybe videos on your channel.

Which Apps To Choose If You Want To Listen To Music Together with Friends?

As you can imagine, there are quite a few apps out there that allow us to stay connected with friends and share our favorite music with them. So, being halfway around the world possibly shouldn’t discourage you. Some apps may have specific features, but what may be the right choice for you is probably not the best one for everyone else. So, we’ve put together this mini list of profiles for best apps for each type of user below:

You are a Spotify Premium member – If you want to share and listen to music with friends or learn about new music, then JQBX is an excellent option. The good thing about this app is that you’re not limited to sharing music with just five friends, unlike Spotify’s own similar feature. Also, you have the option to create your own public or private room.

People who don’t want to be limited to using a Spotify account – AmpMe is a great alternative since it allows you to share music from popular sources like YouTube and Soundcloud. There is also a video chat feature, which allows you to just see everyone having fun; it’s the next best thing to meeting in person.

You want to control the vibe of the room – Rave is worth checking out for anyone who wants to be the DJ. The subscription isn’t expensive, but you can listen to music and watch Netflix and YouTube videos with it. It also gels pretty well with other streaming services.

Final Word

Just because you’re far away, it does not mean you can’t have fun. In fact, if anything, these apps prove that you can have fun just as you did in person with any one of these apps. You might have friends in another city, state or country, that you want to party with, making these apps invaluable for anyone who wants to keep in touch and listen to music together. Nothing beats listening to music with friends.

Think we missed a music syncing app? Feel free to let us know in the comments below!

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