Are you interested to see what your friends are currently listening to on Spotify? Do you want to know how to view friend activity on Spotify?
We have just the guide for you!
In this guide, we’ll give you a new and updated way for you to be able to view the activity of your friends on Spotify.
You can view your friend’s Spotify activity by using the desktop app. On the app, go to Profile > Settings > Friend’s Activity. If you don’t see it there, make sure that it’s toggled and enabled correctly.
Before we dive deeper, do you know what Spotify’s Friend Activity is?
What is Spotify Friend Activity?
From its term alone, Friend Activity is the Spotify feature that’s designed to help you see whatever your friends are listening to or playing.
Whether they’re online or not, you’ll be able to see what media they’re listening to or the last one they’ve played.
On your end, if it is enabled, they’ll be able to see what you’re listening to or playing, too.
It’s a functionality designed to allow people to connect with one another by showing what’s being played and sharing what type of music you listen to with your friends.
Can You See Your Friends’ Activities on Spotify Mobile?
If you’re wondering how to view Friend Activity on Spotify mobile, unfortunately, this feature isn’t available yet.
Suggestions were brought about back in 2015 for the Friend Activity feature to be available on mobile, but it was not pushed through.
It received more than 4,000 votes in total, but Spotify says that they’re still planning on it.
So, what do you do to view your friends’ activity on Spotify?
How to View Friend Activity on Spotify? 4 Steps to Follow
If you’re interested to learn how to view your friends’ activities on Spotify, here is the process of how it’s done:
Step #1: Launch Your Spotify App
The first step is, of course, to launch the Spotify app. If you aren’t logged in yet, log into your account.
You need to select the specific way you log into your mobile device.
If you’re using Facebook to log in, use Facebook on the desktop app, if you’re using email, use email, and so forth.
Step #2: Enable Social or Listening Capabilities
When you’re in your account, the next step is to enable Spotify’s social capabilities.
To do this, click Profile on the top-right part of the app and select Settings.
From there, scroll down until you see the Display category. From there, toggle the See What Your Friends Are Playing radio button and turn it on.
Add and/or Follow Friends on Spotify
If you’re just starting with this, you would, of course, need to have friends listed on the system so you would see what they are playing.
But if you want to know how to view more friends on Spotify Friend Activity, click Add Friends and select the people you want to add or follow.
Alternatively, you can also link this list to the friends you have on Facebook.
When you select Add Friends, choose Connect With Facebook, then log into your Facebook account via the Spotify prompt.
Step #3: Restart Your System
What you need to do next when these are all done is to restart the entire system. Doing this can help refresh your hardware to lock all the changes in.
You can do a restart, or you can turn it off for about 2 to 3 minutes and turn it back on again.
Step #4: Check Friend Activity
When it boots back up, it’s now time to check and see the Friend Activity of your Spotify account.
Launch Spotify and on the right side, check if you see the history of what your added friends have played.
You should see their names, the last song they played, and when their last online time was.
When you’re done with the process, you should now be able to see the activities your friends are doing on Spotify!
Then, by default, every time you open Spotify, you’ll be able to see Friend Activity on the right-hand side of the app. No need to redo the process all over again.
I’m Not Seeing Spotify Friend Activity, What Should I Do?
A lot of people report that even after they’ve successfully done the process, they’re still unable to see the Friend Activity tab on their Spotify desktop apps.
If you find yourself in this situation, here’s what you need to do:
Restart Your Laptop/Computer
The app could just not have been updated properly. So, to refresh the system, power cycle your laptop/computer.
Turn it off for 2 to 3 minutes and turn it back on again.
Some people might not have rebooted their systems after doing the initial steps; they could’ve just restarted the app. So, be sure to reboot or power cycle your laptop or computer.
Check For Spotify Updates
Then, the next thing you want to do is to check if there are updates available for the Spotify app.
To do this, simply click the three (3) dots on the Spotify app and select Help > About Spotify.
If updates are available, you’ll see an Update button. If not, then it’s already up-to-date.
Here’s an image to help you find it easier and better:
This should be how your screen looks if your Spotify app is up-to-date.
Enlarge the Spotify Window
There have been reports where the Friend Activity tab is not appearing if the Spotify window is too small or if it’s minimized.
So, try enlarging your screen so that it shows the entire user interface, or if possible, set it to full-screen mode.
Uninstall and Reinstall the App
Last, but most definitely not least is to perform an uninstallation and reinstallation of the Spotify app on your device.
Uninstall it by going to Apps & Features/Control Panel > Spotify > Uninstall. Wait for it to be removed from your system, then perform a restart. When it boots back up again, reinstall the app to your device.
In case none of these help you solve the problem, contact Spotify’s customer support team immediately.
Inform them what troubleshooting steps are done in an attempt to solve it, so they know what further steps and actions they can advise you with.
To be able to view the Friend Activity tab on your Spotify app, make sure that it’s enabled first. If it doesn’t work, uninstall and reinstall the Spotify app on your system.
Read Next: How to Fix Spotify Friend Activity Not Updating?
Final Verdict
Learning how to view friend activity on Spotify can be quite confusing at first, but when you start getting the hang of it, you’ll be able to say that it’s easy, simple, and convenient.
The next time you think you’ll need help in viewing the friend activity on Spotify, you can go back to this tutorial to find the guide you’ve been looking for!
Finn Wheatley holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from UCL, London. He helped small data science consultancy firms, helping large corporations to grow their data capabilities, deploy advanced machine learning-based analytics and troubleshoot tech-related issues. Check out more about him here.