Spotify has offered Spotify Premium users the ability to listen to music offline for over a decade. Usually, Spotify would require a stable Wi-Fi or mobile data internet connection to function. Spotify integrated an offline mode so that Spotify Premium subscribers could continue listening to their tunes on the go, even when a stable internet connection wasn’t necessarily reachable. For example, an internet connection isn’t always available when going on a long flight or venturing into the wilderness.
READ MORE: How to download music from Spotify
THE SHORT ANSWER
To listen to music offline on Spotify, you must turn on offline mode. After downloading your music to your mobile device on Spotify, head over to Settings in Spotify. Under Playback, press Offline mode to turn on offline mode.
To listen to music offline on the Spotify desktop app, open the menu in the upper-left corner by clicking the ᐧᐧᐧ button above Home, Search, and Your Library. Move your cursor over File and click Offline Mode to turn on offline mode.
KEY SECTIONS
How to listen to Spotify offline
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After your desired content has been downloaded, you can subsequently turn on “offline mode.” Offline mode makes it so that you can only listen to content you have downloaded to your device; however, you can listen even if you cannot connect to the internet.
When a user ends their Spotify Premium subscription, they lose all of the Spotify cache files downloaded to their device.
Spotify doesn’t let users stay in offline mode all the time. Many ask what happens if a Spotify Premium subscription ends when the app is in offline mode. The Spotify app must connect to the internet at least once every 30 days. If Spotify isn’t reconnected within that time frame, the user will lose access to all downloaded music and podcasts.
How to turn on offline mode on Spotify
How to use offline mode on Android and iOS
Curtis Joe / Android Authority
To turn on offline mode on the Spotify Android and iOS app:
- Open the Spotify mobile app and go to Settings by pressing the gear-shaped button in the upper-right corner of the Home screen.
- Scroll down to the section marked Playback.
- Press Offline mode to turn on offline mode.
How to use offline mode on desktop
Curtis Joe / Android Authority
To turn on offline mode on the Spotify desktop app:
- Open the Spotify desktop app and open the menu in the upper-left corner by clicking the ᐧᐧᐧ button above Home, Search, and Your Library.
- Move your cursor over File.
- Click Offline Mode to turn on offline mode.
How to set Spotify to only use Wi-Fi
Spotify currently does not have a function built into the app that completely disables streaming over mobile data. If you leave Wi-Fi range and are on a mobile data plan, Spotify will automatically switch over.
You can turn on Data Saver in Settings to decrease the data used when streaming over mobile data.
Disable mobile data streaming for Spotify in your device settings
Your best option is to exit the Spotify app and go into your phone’s settings. Find Apps and notifications if you are an Android user.
Curtis Joe / Android Authority
Within Apps and notifications, navigate to and select Spotify. Select Mobile data and Wi-Fi.
Curtis Joe / Android Authority
Here, you can turn off Background data, Unrestricted data usage, Wi-Fi, or Data Usage in general.
Curtis Joe / Android Authority
For iOS users, they must go to Settings > Mobile Data and, from there, select the app for which they want to disable data access.
READ MORE: How much is Spotify Premium?
FAQs
Yes. However, you must be a Spotify Premium subscriber and have all of the songs you want to listen to offline downloaded to your device. After checking both of these boxes, you can turn on offline mode in the Spotify mobile or desktop app.
Spotify Free users can download podcasts. However, offline mode is a feature solely available to Spotify Premium users, so Spotify Free users cannot listen to their downloaded content in offline mode.
Yes, if you are a Spotify Premium subscriber. You must open the Spotify app on your Apple Watch and then navigate to whatever you want to download. Select that piece of content by pressing the ᐧᐧᐧ button and then press Download to Apple Watch. Once downloaded, there will be a small green arrow next to the name of that particular piece of content.
Open the Spotify mobile app. From the Home screen, tap Settings > scroll down until you see Other. In Other, select Storage. This will show you where your music data is being stored.
