- YouTube Music now syncs your playback progress across all signed-in devices, similar to Spotify Connect
- Users can continue playing music after switching between mobile and web versions, but this new update expands on that.
- Now that YouTube Music has implemented this tool, it leaves Apple Music as the only service that doesn’t offer playback sync, and users have been voicing their opinions.
Google is finally fixing an annoying YouTube Music issue that users have been asking for, and now the music streaming platform syncs its play queue across other Android and iOS devices, a tool Apple Music hasn’t implemented yet.
What does this mean for YouTube Music subscribers? Well, similar to tools like Spotify Connect, your YouTube Music play queue will now sync with other devices you’re signed in on, so you can pick up where you left off seamlessly and continue enjoying your favorite songs. It’s a blessing if you switch devices to stream music.
Previously, the Now Playing queue on Android and iOS was standalone, which meant that if you wanted to continue your listening session from a new device, you had to manually create your queue again from scratch – a huge inconvenience if you ask me. That said, YouTube Music started improving its queue sync features in 2024, allowing the web version to load your play queue from your mobile.
When you switch devices to resume playback, you’ll find the last song you streamed on the mini player, so if you were listening to YouTube Music on a Google Pixel phone and switch to an iPad, for example, your queue will resume there. Once you make the change, you’ll find temporary “From your iPhone” and “From your browser” placeholders for artist names that will disappear when you press play.
It marks a huge improvement in the quality of life for YouTube Music users, and it’s about time too, as its music streaming competitors have already jumped on similar bandwagons, with the exception of Apple Music.
‘I’m seriously thinking about returning to Spotify’
Apple Music has many benefits over Spotify and YouTube Music. It’s one of the best music streaming services for audio quality, supports Dolby Atmos on a variety of albums, and its collection of radio stations and editorial playlists are designed with music fans in mind.
It wins in many areas, however, it still hasn’t hit the nail on the head when it comes to queue syncing between devices, and since YouTube Music’s last update it has ruffled a few feathers with Apple Music subscribers.
Apple Music really needs this. from r/AppleMusic
As it stands, there’s no way to sync your play queue or song progress between devices where you’re signed in to Apple Music, requiring you to find the last song you streamed and rebuild the queue entirely.
While there are many reasons why music fans are sticking with Apple Music, recent comments reveal that if there’s one setback that’s enough to tempt users back to Spotify, it’s this one, especially now that there are so many ways to stream music.
However, it’s not new that music streaming is dominating the way a large number of us consume music today and the technology we deliver it to: I frequently switch between my phone, my smart speaker and my smart TV to enjoy listening to music, and I don’t know where I would be without Spotify Connect.
Since I’ve been covering everything related to music streaming, this is the first time I’ve seen users actively considering switching from Apple Music to other platforms, when it’s usually the other way around. But whether they go ahead with it or not is another question.
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