Apple Music is one of the best streaming options for listening to music, with an incredible selection of artists and tracks. With Apple Music, you gain access to millions of artists and unlock features like lossless music and spatial audio.
We love curating our favorite songs into a playlist. A playlist embodies mood and meaning.
It is an unrivaled digital tool to organize and exchange music. Sometimes you want to share that playlist with friends, family, or loved ones.
Can Apple Music Playlists be shared?
You can share an Apple Music Account if you set up a Family Sharing subscription. Go to Settings > Name > Family Sharing. You can follow the onscreen instructions to get a Family plan and invite family members. There is no other way to share your Apple Music account.
Thankfully, every music streaming platform encourages designing and sharing your playlists.
It’s a straightforward process to share playlists with friends, family, and contacts on Apple Music. Go to your Android or iOS device and select the playlist. Click on the three dots and select ‘Share.’
It’s a sweet feeling to share your favorite songs and artists with others. In fact, sharing a playlist with other Apple Music users is the modern equivalent of gifting them a mixtape (yes I’m as old as that!) But it can quickly become a gripe if you run into bugs or settings that won’t allow you to do it.
It can be all the more frustrating when you can’t figure out why the app or streaming platform won’t let you do it.
We hear you and have you covered.
In this article, we discuss the common problems Apple Music users face when trying to share a playlist and ways to troubleshoot them.
You can share Apple Music content with other users or directly to social media using the links in the sharing options.
Content includes songs, radio stations, albums, and playlists. You can also use the HTML code or link for the content and paste it to a web page or share it with friends. The link opens the song or playlist on the web player – music.apple.com.
Given how popular Twitter and Facebook are, Apple has included a link that directly opens in the Twitter and Facebook window if you are signed into those accounts. You can also post the HTML link through the ‘Share’ options in the Apple Music web player or app.
Can you share an Apple Music Account?
All other plans are individual subscriptions, intended for single use. The plan costs $14.99 a month and allows six people to share an Apple Music Account. It is significantly cheaper than signing up individually. You can also use the plan to play songs on different devices.
Why can’t I share my Apple Music playlist?
You should be able to share an Apple Music playlist if you have a) created an Apple Music profile, b) created a playlist and made it public, and c) are trying to share it with someone who has a public Apple Music profile.
You may not be able to share a playlist due to corrupted files, outdated software, or due to bugs with new iOS updates.
Try the following steps to troubleshoot problems with sharing playlists:
Step one: Create an Apple Music Profile
For better or worse, you cannot share a playlist on Apple Music if you haven’t created a profile. Sharing options only appear after you create a profile. Here is how you can do it:
- Open Apple Music on your device
- Tap your profile picture (top-right) in the Listen Now tab
- Tap ‘Set up Profile’ and follow the prompts to complete the process
- Now you can create playlists that show up on your profile
Make the playlist public
Apple Music users can decide whether to make a playlist public or to keep it private. But you can only share a playlist if it is public.
To make it public, go to the playlist you want to share with friends or family. Tap or click the ‘three dots’ on the top right of the screen on the playlist page.
Go to ‘Edit’ and toggle ‘Show on My Profile and Search’. Select and save your settings by tapping ‘Done.’ Tap the three dots again and a ‘Share’ option will show up. Now you should be able to share that playlist with anyone using the various methods offered by Apple Music.
Add the Playlist to your Profile
Still not working? You may not see the ‘Show on My Profile…’ option when you click the three dots. This error can occur if you haven’t downloaded and updated the newest version of iOS on your Apple device. Try updating your iPod, iPad, or iPhone and try again.
Check your public settings:
Lastly, check your public settings. Did you select ‘Allow People to Find You’ in your settings? If not, go to Apple Music > Profile Picture >Account and enable it by tapping ‘Allow People to find you.’ Go back to the playlist and check if this resolved the issue.
If none of these methods work, get in touch with Apple Support to resolve the issue.
Check out this YouTube video for further information on sharing playlists.
How do I make a playlist shareable on apple music?
You can make an Apple Music playlist shareable after you toggle or turn on ‘Show on My Profile and in Search.’ To do that, tap or click on the three dots on the playlist page and choose ‘Edit.’ You will see a ‘Show on My Profile…’ toggle on your screen. Select it and click done.
You’ve made the playlist available to the public. You don’t get an option for sharing if a song or playlist is set to private. Now that your playlist is public, you should be able to see the ‘Share’ option when you click the three dots on the top right side of the playlist.
These simple steps can help you hare your playlist on Apple Music:
- Sign in to the Apple Music app on your device
- Go to the ‘Library’ Tab and tap ‘Playlists’
- Tap on the playlist you want to share and open it
- Tape on the three-dots icon at the top of the playlist page
- Tap ‘Share Playlist’ from the pop-up menu.
- Share the playlist (or link) with contacts, on social media, or via AirDrop.
What to do if you can’t share a playlist on Apple Music?
Some Apple Music users find it difficult to share a playlist even after following the steps mentioned above. They don’t see an option to share in the menu that appears after tapping the three dots on the playlist page. It happens when a user has not created an Apple Music Profile.
You need an Apple Music profile to share playlists.
Secondly, you have to share a playlist on your profile (read: make it public) to share it with others. You cannot keep a playlist private but you can control who can see these playlists shared on your profile.
To do that – Go to Profile > Homepage > Edit. Select who can see your playlists by editing “Who Can Follow Your Activity” and “People You Approve.”
Does Apple Music have collaborative playlists?
You cannot create a collaborative playlist on Apple Music.
You have to manually collect recommendations from other people and compile them in a playlist yourself. You can share your playlists with others but friends or family will not be able to add or remove songs from them.
Why can’t I share some songs on an Apple Music playlist?
You can’t share some songs in an Apple Music playlist if they have been removed from the catalog, have explicit content, or it is unavailable in their region. It can cause some songs to appear in gray text within a playlist, commonly called ‘grayed out’ tracks.
Songs can be grayed out if the artist deletes their content or if they are in an unsupported or DRM-protected format. Secondly, you may not be able to share a specific song in your Apple Music playlist with someone if that song is not available in their country or region.
A song may also appear in gray text if it has explicit content and the user has restrictions turned on for their device. It can also occur if they have a Family sharing plan with parental controls. In these situations, the song will appear after they turn off restrictions on their device.
In Conclusion:
Apple Music had over 78 million subscribers as of June 2021. Hopefully, Apple will keep innovating to simply their platform and make a social feature that people dig. That being said, Apple Music doesn’t have collaborative playlists like Spotify.
Furthermore, you can’t make social playlists that get updated on everyone’s device. It’s something Apple Music users are eagerly awaiting, especially since their playlist-making process hasn’t come a long way from what it was on iTunes two decades ago.
