An emoji is all you need to find a playlist with new Apple Music Messenger bot

By Hillary K. Grigonis October 6, 2017

Apple Music on a smartphone.

Need some music inspiration? A new Facebook Messenger bot might be able to help. Apple recently rolled out an Apple Music Messenger Bot that allows users to find new tunes via a simple chat or even an emoji — and even stream full songs and playlists.

The new chatbot recommends music based on the conversation. Once a chat is started with Apple Music, the bot asks for an artist, song, or genre. With that information, the bot recommends a song or playlist. Tapping on the result brings up options inside an Apple Music pop-up, where subscribers can listen to the full song or playlist while everyone can get a 30-second preview.

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The pop-up window also has a share option for sending the tune inside Messenger — so sending that love song to your other half or sharing your new favorite tune with a friend just takes a few clicks.

The bot is also emoji-friendly, which means you can pick the emoji that suits your mood, send it, and find a new playlist or song to match the emoji.

Along with serving as a conversational partner all on its own, Apple Music is also now an extension inside Facebook Messenger to adding to existing conversations with friends. Tapping on the plus icon, Apple Music is now listed under the extensions. Once open, the extension allows you to send songs to friends either through searching or picking one of the recommended top hits.

Apple Music isn’t the first streaming platform to bring music into the conversation. M, Facebook Messenger’s AI assistant that suggests tasks like “make a plan” based on your chats with friends, has a Spotify integration. When the bot picks up a song in any conversation, a Spotify icon pops up that serves as a shortcut to send the song. M can suggest movies, too.

While suggesting and sharing songs already exists inside Messenger, Apple Music is the first platform that will actually stream songs inside the Messenger app. Any user can listen to a sample, but a full Apple Music subscription is required to stream full songs and playlists. The ad-free streaming service costs $10 a month with three free months for new subscribers.

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