topic Re: Spotify using data when data is turned off in iOS (iPhone, iPad)

Spotify using data when data is turned off

jkathleen5 — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 18:49:05 GMT

Plan

Premium

Device

iPhone7

Operating System

iOS14

My Question or Issue

Recently my Spotify app has been using cellular data to stream when I'm not connected to WiFi even though I have cellular data turned off for the app in my iOS settings. When I am not connected to WiFi the app does not go into offline mode and instead switches to data. I saw a former post on this topic that said the solution is to switch to offline mode manually when I am not using WiFi, but that is tedious and doesn't cover for when I lose WiFi connection and am not aware of it. In those situations the app is using data when it should not be. It seems like the Spotify app is somehow overriding my iOS settings to use data. It's taking up a lot of data usage so I'd like to know if there's another fix. I have turned data on and off again for the app and also deleted and re-installed the app and I am still having the same issue.

Re: Spotify using data when data is turned off

Eni — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 23:22:27 GMT

Hey @jkathleen5,

Welcome to the Community and thanks for reaching out about this.

Keep in mind that even if you've downloaded your songs the app can use data to update the cover cache, check for newer versions of a song and other general functions that normally require internet connectivity.

You can avoid this by setting your app to Offline Mode. You can learn how to do this here.

Take into account that this must be done manually within the app's settings, because the app doesn't do it automatically.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let us know.

Re: Spotify using data when data is turned off

jkathleen5 — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 01:38:42 GMT

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. I know about the offline mode and using data for cache and other basic features, but what I’m referring to is when I am not on WiFi, I’m still able to use features that should only be available with a WiFi connection or data like searching and streaming songs that aren’t downloaded, canvas backgrounds, and accessing playlists that aren’t downloaded. It used to be that when I didn’t have WiFi the app automatically went into offline mode because I have data turned off for Spotify in my iOS settings. Needing to manually toggle between online/offline mode is not something I’ve needed to do before and isn’t a perfect solution because I sometimes lose WiFi and don’t realize, and then the app is still “online” using data because I didn’t notice it needed to be switched to offline mode.

I hope that clarifies more what I’m having trouble with. Thank you!

Re: Spotify using data when data is turned off

Jeremy — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 06:24:41 GMT

Hi @jkathleen5,

Thank you for getting back in touch with us.

Can you perform a clean reinstall of the app? This will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

Keep us posted 🙂

Take care!