I used to love sharing my favorite new music with friends and family via curated physical media. Sadly, for those of us over a certain age, the shift to digital and streaming music has made mixtapes (or mix CDs) redundant. However, while streaming music apps may have killed the mixtape, they brought collaborative playlisting: the ability to easily compile a music list with other people, even if those people aren’t in your physical location.
The feature has been present in Spotify for years, but has now been introduced to Apple Music via iOS 17.3 and macOS 14.3. (So before you start, make sure the software on your device is up to date).
Collaborative playlists on iOS
To start a new collaborative playlist in Apple Music for iOS:
- Open library tab and click Playlists > New playlist.
- Name your playlist.
- If needed, tap the camera icon to provide a picture for your playlist – you can capture a new image using your iPhone camera, or select an image from your photo library.
- tap create confirm.
An empty playlist will open, and if this is your first time using Apple Music with the collaborative playlist feature, you’ll see a popup advertising the feature. Existing playlists can also be turned into collaborative playlists – just open the playlist and follow the same instructions below:
- Click the icon that looks like a person in the upper right corner.
- The next dialog box allows you to select the names and photos used in the playlist.
- You can also use Approve collaborators options open. If you don’t want anyone and everyone to participate, activating this feature means your collaborators can’t spread the link without your consent.
- tap Start cooperationthen you can start inviting people to join.
There are several options for inviting people to your playlist: For example, you can send a link via AirDrop, or send a link via iMessage. Clicking the link will direct others to your playlist, and any collaborator can pass the link elsewhere. Please note that this link is only valid for six days. After that, you need to generate another link.
At this point, anyone you invite (or approve if you have Approve collaborators enabled) can start adding songs to the playlist. Next to each track, you can see who added it through their Apple ID avatar.If a song you don’t like is added, click the three dots next to it and select Remove from playlist. (This can only be done by the playlist creator.)
To change how your playlist is shared, you can click the collaboration icon or the three dots (both in the upper right corner) and select Manage collaboration.
- tap Share invitation link or QR code Share your playlist with more people.
- choose stop Turn off collaboration for this playlist.
- If you’re currently using someone else’s playlist, there’s also a leave options.
- this Approve collaborators The toggle switch appears here again, too.
One cool extra feature you get with collaborative playlists is emoji reactions: you’ll see an emoji button for a track under the album cover on the full-screen currently playing view. Click the button and select the emoji you want to react to, and others will be able to see it.
Collaborative playlists on Apple Music for macOS
Aside from the desktop interface, creating collaborative playlists on Mac isn’t much different.Opening an individual playlist will display a new collaboration icon – the same little portrait silhouette you get on iOS – which you can click to invite people to work on the playlist, and access Approve collaborators options.
Through the same button, you can access the collaboration management page. Here you can approve or block collaborators, turn off collaboration on playlists, and generate new invitation links to send.
Emoji reactions are also available in collaborative playlists: you’ll see an emoji icon in the playback controls at the top of the interface where you can use them, or you can click in the Reactions column in the list (if visible) repertoire.
It’s worth noting that I initially had some issues with the collaboration feature showing up in Apple Music for macOS – the collaboration buttons didn’t appear. Finally, I solved the problem by following these steps:
- Make sure you have created an Apple Music profile in iOS (click your account avatar in the upper right corner) listen now screen check)
- Sign out of the Apple Music app on macOS and relaunch the program
- Finally, log in again.
