SoundShare 3 brings an updated design & collaborative Party Mode

Following up on its last major release, SoundShare is back with another significant update. SoundShare 3.0 brings an all-new look to the app while introducing a creative new collaborative feature called Party Mode.

SoundShare’s claim to fame is its ability to bridge the gap between multiple music services. In doing so, users can easily share music with friends on other streaming platforms without having to jump through hoops. If a friend of yours has Spotify, and you rely on Apple Music, SoundShare will help find that song on your platform and play it for you. No more manually hunting through any of the platform’s catalogs.

Today’s update takes that experience a step further. SoundShare 3.0 has been redesigned in nearly every aspect while bringing two prominent new features: iOS 11’s MusicKit and Party Mode. With iOS 11, Apple opened up the MusicKit APIs to allow third-party apps to further integrate into Apple Music. MusicKit is what enables SoundShare to surface all your personalized playlists, like the Favorites, Chill, and New Music Mixes.

In my tests with the app, I was also seeing the day’s recommended playlists, recommended albums, artist spotlight playlists, and new releases. While all of this already exists within the official Apple Music app, SoundShare’s ability to bring it into a more manageable view is welcome.

The feature I was most excited to test was SoundShare’s Party Mode. As developer Matt Abras puts it:

…when you start a Party inside SoundShare, you can invite your friends to play songs through your device. By doing this, you give them full control of what’s currently playing. They can add, remove and change the songs inside a Party. Your device will play it all, and update automatically to accommodate the changes they make. Even if locked and inside your pocket.

No more passing the AUX cord to change the music. No more shuffling off phones between everyone in the room. No more giving out your password just so someone could pick the next song. Party Mode is as seamless as playlist creations go and create an optimal experience.

To really put the icing on the cake, SoundShare can even stream music videos while in Party Mode. If you AirPlay SoundShare to an Apple TV, it will automatically stream the appropriate music video from YouTube onto your TV. It creates a pseudo-Total Request Live experience in your living room and can quite be a lot of fun.

If you have friends that are spread across different music streaming services, give SoundShare a try. It might just be the solution to connect your music sharing divides.

SoundShare 3.0 is available as a free download from the iOS App Store now.