Google is finally fixing an annoying YouTube Music issue that users have been asking about, and now the music streaming platform is syncing its play queue across other Android and iOS devices, a tool that Apple Music hasn’t introduced yet.
What does this mean for YouTube Music subscribers? Well, just like tools like Spotify Connect, your YouTube Music play queue will now sync with other devices you’re connected to, so you can easily pick up where you left off and continue enjoying your favorite songs. It’s a blessing when you switch devices to stream music.
Previously, the Now Playing queue was standalone on Android and iOS, which meant that if you wanted to continue your listening session from a new device, you had to manually recreate your queue from scratch – a huge inconvenience if you ask me. However, in 2024, YouTube Music began improving its queue sync features, allowing the web version to load your playback queue from your phone.
When you switch devices to resume playback, you’ll find the last streamed song on the mini player. So if you were listening to YouTube Music on a Google Pixel phone and you switch to an iPad, for example, your queue will continue there. Once you’ve made the change, you’ll find temporary “From your iPhone” and “From your browser” placeholders for artist names, which will disappear when you press play.
This is a huge quality-of-life improvement for YouTube Music users, and it’s about time music streaming competitors, with the exception of Apple Music, have already done the same.
“I’m seriously thinking about returning to Spotify”
Apple Music has many advantages over Spotify and YouTube Music. It is one of the best music streaming services in terms of audio quality, supports Dolby Atmos on several albums, and its collection of radio stations and editorial playlists are designed for music fans.
It’s winning in many areas, but it hasn’t yet reached the cross-device sync queues and, since the last YouTube Music update, has caused a stir among Apple Music subscribers.
Apple Music desperately needs this. From r/AppleMusic
There’s currently no way to sync your play queue or song progress across devices you’re signed into Apple Music on, forcing you to find the most recently streamed song and rebuild the queue from scratch.
While there are many reasons why music fans are sticking with Apple Music, recent comments show that if there’s enough of a setback to keep users from returning to Spotify, it’s this one, especially now that there are so many ways to stream music.
comment From r/AppleMusic
It’s no news that music streaming is dominating the way many of us consume music today and the technology we use to stream it. I often switch between my phone, my smart speaker, and my smart TV to listen to music, and I don’t know where I would be without Spotify Connect.
Since we cover everything related to music streaming, this is the first time that users are actively thinking about switching from Apple Music to other platforms, while it is usually the other way around. But whether they do or not is another question.
