How can I share my Apple Music library with someone?

This article will explain the different ways you can share your Apple Music library with others. Sharing your Apple Music library allows you to give family, friends, or partners access to your music collection and playlists. Some key benefits of sharing your Apple Music library include:

  • Allows you to share unlimited downloads and streaming with up to 5 other people.
  • Lets you collaborate on shared playlists.
  • Makes it easy to access your library from any device.
  • Saves money by only needing one subscription.

Whether you want to share your music with family, collaborate with friends, or allow a partner access, this guide will cover the different options available for sharing your Apple Music library.

Family Sharing

Family Sharing allows up to 6 people in a household to share access to services like Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud storage https://www.apple.com/family-sharing/. To set up Family Sharing, you’ll need to create a family group and invite other members to join. The organizer of the family group is responsible for paying for any subscriptions shared with the group.

Once Family Sharing is enabled, all members of the family group can access each other’s Apple Music libraries and listen to songs, albums, and playlists. Any Apple Music subscription purchased by the family organizer is shared with the entire family group. Family members can all contribute to shared playlists as well.

Purchases made through the App Store, Apple Books, and iTunes Store can also be shared with family members over the age of 13. Additionally, family members can share an iCloud storage plan, enabling everyone to backup photos, documents, and other files.

In summary, Family Sharing makes it easy for households to share access to Apple services and content like Apple Music across up to 6 family members with just one subscription.

Creating a Family Group

Setting up Family Sharing allows you to share Apple Music and other services with family members. To create a Family Group on your iPhone or iPad:

  1. Open the Settings app and tap on your name at the top
  2. Select “Family Sharing” and then tap “Add Family Member”
  3. Enter the Apple ID and password for the family member you want to add
  4. Once added, the family member will get access to shared Apple Music, iCloud storage, subscriptions and more
  5. Repeat to add additional family members. Up to 6 people can be added to a Family Group.

For step-by-step instructions with images, see Apple’s guide on setting up Family Sharing on iPhone.

With Family Sharing set up, all members of the Family Group can access each other’s Apple Music libraries and subscribe to Apple Music collectively.

Sharing with Friends

One of the easiest ways to share your Apple Music library with friends is by using the “Share Audio” feature in iOS and iPadOS. This lets you play music on your device and share the audio with another person’s AirPods or Beats headphones.1

To use Share Audio, make sure you and your friend’s headphones are connected to your iPhone or iPad. Open the Control Center and tap on the AirPlay icon. You’ll see the “Share Audio” option below your connected headphones. Tap this and it will share the currently playing audio with your friend’s headphones.2

This works great for sharing a song you’re listening to or even an entire album or playlist. Just queue it up on your device and tap Share Audio so you and your friend can listen together. It’s a quick and easy way to let someone listen to tracks from your Apple Music collection without having to send them copies or require them to have their own subscription.

Collaborative Playlists

One way to share your Apple Music library with someone is by creating collaborative playlists that you both can edit. Collaborative playlists allow multiple people to add, remove, and rearrange songs in a shared playlist.

To start a collaborative playlist in the Apple Music app, tap the + button to create a new playlist or open an existing playlist. Then tap the “Collaborate” button or select “Manage Collaboration” from the menu. This will generate a shareable link that you can send to friends to allow them to edit the playlist.

When your friend opens the link in Apple Music, they can start adding songs. Both of you will see updates in real time when edits are made. You can manage collaborator permissions and remove collaborators at any time. According to this article, collaborative playlists work between iPhones and Android devices.

If you ever want to end collaboration, open the playlist menu and select “Manage Collaboration” to remove collaborators. This provides an easy way to share and enjoy music together with friends.

Home Sharing

Home Sharing allows Apple users to share their Apple Music libraries between devices logged into the same Apple ID in the same household. To enable Home Sharing, you need to turn it on in iTunes on a Mac or PC and sign in with your Apple ID. This will make your library available to other devices on the same network logged into that Apple ID through Home Sharing. Any device using the same Apple ID can then access the shared library and download content locally for playback (https://support.apple.com/guide/itunes/import-computers-home-sharing-itns56cd6f5/windows).

Once Home Sharing is enabled, the shared library will appear as a source in the Music app on iOS devices, iTunes on Windows, or the Music app on Mac. You can browse and search the shared library and download songs, albums, playlists etc. to your device. Anything downloaded will be accessible offline, while streamed content requires an internet connection to the device hosting the library. Home Sharing allows convenient access for households, letting everyone enjoy the same music library.

Sharing Profile and Playlist Links

You can easily share links to your Apple Music profile and playlists with friends and family to give them access. Here’s how:

To share your profile link:

  1. Open the Apple Music app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
  2. Tap on your profile picture in the top right corner.
  3. Tap on your name to open your public profile page.
  4. Tap on the 3 dots in the top right corner and choose “Copy Profile Link”.
  5. Paste this link anywhere you want to share it.

To share a playlist link:

  1. Open the playlist you want to share.
  2. Tap on the 3 dots in the top right corner and choose “Share Playlist”.
  3. Tap “Copy Link”.
  4. Paste this link anywhere you want to share it.

When your friends and family open these links, they’ll be able to view your profile and listen to your shared playlists. Just make sure in your Apple Music account settings you have sharing enabled.

Source: https://support.apple.com/guide/music/share-music-with-friends-mus140a2e93/mac

Using AirPlay

AirPlay is an Apple technology that allows you to stream media like music, videos, and photos wirelessly from Apple devices to compatible speakers, TVs, and receivers (Apple Support). With AirPlay and Apple Music, you can easily play your music on speakers and TVs throughout your home.

To use AirPlay with Apple Music, start playing a song on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Then open Control Center and tap the AirPlay icon. Select the AirPlay-enabled speaker or TV you want to stream to. The music will start playing on that device. You can continue to control playback from your iPhone.

If you have an Apple TV, you can also select it as your AirPlay destination. This will stream the audio to your TV and through your home theater speakers or sound system. The album art and playback controls will appear on your TV screen.

With iOS 12.4 and up or macOS Catalina and up, AirPlay 2 allows multi-room streaming. You can select multiple AirPlay 2-compatible devices and stream Apple Music to all of them in sync. This makes it easy to play music throughout your entire home.

One thing to note is that lossless and high-resolution lossless audio will not stream fully intact over AirPlay. The music will be converted to AAC audio before streaming. To retain lossless quality, use the native Music app on your Apple TV 4K or HomePod speakers (Apple Discussions).

Troubleshooting Tips

Sharing Apple Music libraries and playlists doesn’t always go smoothly. Here are some solutions for common issues:

If your family members can’t see shared content in Family Sharing, make sure everyone is using the same Apple ID for both Family Sharing and Media & Purchases. Double check that purchase sharing is enabled for all members in Family Sharing settings (Settings > [Your Name] > Family Sharing > Purchase Sharing).

If you receive an error message that Apple Music “cannot connect”, try signing out and back into your Apple ID on all devices. Also ensure all devices are updated to the latest iOS version. As suggested on Apple’s support forums, toggling cellular data/WiFi and restarting devices can sometimes resolve connection problems.

In Family Sharing, make sure the proper permissions are enabled for all members to share purchases and locations. If certain content like Apple Music still isn’t appearing, ask family members to check their iCloud settings (Settings > [Their Name] > iCloud) to confirm they have Media & Purchases enabled.

If Family Sharing is not working properly between countries, review Apple’s instructions to ensure everyone is using the correct Apple ID based on their country. Content may be restricted depending on region.

Troubleshoot issues collaborating on shared playlists by having both contributors double check their profiles are public and collaborative playlists enabled under Account > View Apple ID. Restrictions can prevent sharing.

Conclusion

There are a few different ways to share your Apple Music library with others. Family Sharing allows you to share your entire library with up to 5 other people in your family group. You can also create collaborative playlists to share songs with friends or use Home Sharing to share your library between devices in your home.

Sharing profile and playlist links gives you a way to share slices of your library rather than the entire thing. You can also use AirPlay to wirelessly stream audio to speakers and devices. Each method has its benefits depending on who you want to share with and how much access you want them to have.

Overall, Apple Music makes it easy to share your favorite music with family, friends, or within your own ecosystem of devices. With features like Family Sharing, collaborative playlists, Home Sharing, and AirPlay, you have flexibility in how you let others experience and enjoy your personal music library.