Snap Map ‘Now Playing’ Sets Sail with Spotify Integration for Listening Activity

Photo Credit: Spotify x Snap

Snap announces Now Playing on Snap Map, starting with Spotify integration, to enable Snapchatters to link their accounts and share listening activity.

Today, Snap announced the launch of Now Playing on Snap Map, a way for Snapchat users to share what they’re listening to with their friends. Starting with Spotify, Snapchatters can link their accounts, choose who can see their listening activity, discover music, and save tracks to Spotify via Snap Map.

“Music is one of the most personal ways people express themselves, and it becomes even more meaningful when it brings friends closer,” said Snapchat Head of Music, Manny Adler. “Now Playing adds a new layer of expression and discovery to Snap Map, helping Snapchatters share the soundtrack to their day and find new music through the people they already know.”

To get started, users can link their Spotify account through entry points on the Map, Sounds, friend profiles, or in Settings. Once linked, users choose who can see their Now Playing status: Friends (all your friends across Snapchat), Friends on the Map (friends you already share your location with), Select Friends, or no one.

The feature only shows what you’re listening to now, not your last played song or listening history. Sharing will remain active as long as you’ve opened Snapchat within the past 24 hours. If a user is inactive for more than 24 hours, sharing will be automatically paused and will resume when the app is opened again. You can also manually select to pause sharing for three hours, 24 hours, or indefinitely.

The integration comes as music discovery and sharing has become more popular across social media, and it’s clear that Spotify is just the first step for Snap. The new feature is rolling out now to users where Snap and Spotify are both available, with Canada arriving soon.

Snap Map was launched in 2017 as a way for users to see their friends’ locations and browse public Snaps, but it has since expanded to include local activities and hotspots. The app now boasts 450 million monthly users.