A new Friends playlist in Apple Music on iOS 27 introduces social, person-to-person discovery by reflecting what friends you follow are listening to, supplementing algorithms with a social layer that can reveal unfamiliar artists.

The Friends playlist is designed to surface discoveries through your network and changes as your friends listen, increasing the chance you encounter artists you wouldn’t find otherwise.

Independent artists are advised to cultivate a engaged audience, make releases easy to find, encourage genuine word-of-mouth recommendations, maintain a steady release schedule, and use multiple channels to reach listeners.

An FAQ reiterates how the Friends playlist works, its update schedule, how to add friends, and how to hide listening activity if desired.

Social discovery is presented as a complement to algorithmic recommendations, underscoring that communities and personal connections remain a key driver of music discovery.

To use social features, users need an Apple Music profile and must follow friends by visiting profiles, finding people to follow, and tapping Follow; privacy settings let users control what listening activity is shared.

Users can manage sharing and listening activity in Apple Music profiles, including hiding certain albums or playlists and adjusting visibility for followers.

The piece notes benefits for independent artists, including the personal resonance of friend-based recommendations and discoveries beyond traditional ads, while noting playlist placement is not guaranteed.

The Friends playlist is distinct from existing Social features like Friends Mix, with updated weekly selections and per-track attribution of who listened to each track.

Accessing the Friends playlist is straightforward via the Home tab → Made for You → Friends; related social features include Friends Mix and Friends Are Listening To for exploring recommendations.

The Friends playlist is part of Made for You, refreshes weekly on Thursdays, and shows which friend listened to particular songs.