More 'local files' shenanigans

TheUbiquitousChip — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:09:31 GMT

Hello,

I had an issue I reported here in the forums late last year. Unfortunately the thread was hijacked by another user reporting a similar (but not identical) issue so I was unable to resolve the problem back then. However, I've recently almost completely resolved the issue, but something's still bugging me...

The issue was to do with the 'Local files' Spotify playlist on my iPhone being populated with around 80 songs which weren't visible when I connected my iPhone to iTunes, i.e., I had never added these songs as local files to my iPhone.

Quite by accident I discovered a method to remove ~95% of these songs:

1. Locate the song in Apple Music on another device (or on the iPhone itself)
2. Delete the song from my Apple Music Library - within a few seconds it will disappear from Spotify's 'Local files' playlist
3. If required, re-add the song to my Apple Music Library - it does not get re-added to Spotify's 'Local files' playlist

I don't know why those particular songs were added to my Spotify's 'Local files' playlist - they were never downloaded in Apple Music. Anyhow, the above steps removed ~95% of the rogue songs from my 'Local files' playlist.

However, a few songs remain in the 'Local files' playlist. The only thing these songs have in common is that they do not display their cover art - they just display as a white musical note on a dark square background. Deleting these songs from my Apple Music Library has no effect - they remain in Spotify's 'Local files' playlist no matter what.

I'm reasonably convinced that the songs that remain in Spotify's 'Local files' playlist are definitely not local files and do not exist on the iPhone in any way, shape or form.

Is it possible therefore to reset Spotify's view of local files? It seems the list of songs in the playlist is being cached. Is there any way to tell Spotify to re-scan local files and validate that the songs it is listing as local files are actually local files?

Many thanks,

/Neil

Re: More 'local files' shenanigans

kaworu_bloodpaw — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:28:04 GMT

I believe for Spotify to rescan, you need to disable the Local Files option, log out of Spotify, turn the option back on, then log out then back into Spotify.

Re: More 'local files' shenanigans

TheUbiquitousChip — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:40:45 GMT

Thanks for the prompt reply. I have just tried the recommended steps and unfortunately the rogue songs still appear in the 'Local files' playlist.

/Neil

Re: More 'local files' shenanigans

kaworu_bloodpaw — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:45:18 GMT

Are the local files in question actual songs you may have gotten through Apple Music/iTunes or just random audio files?

Re: More 'local files' shenanigans

TheUbiquitousChip — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:47:45 GMT

They are songs that are in my Apple Music Library but have never been downloaded locally to the iPhone.

/Neil

topic Re: More 'local files' shenanigans in iOS (iPhone, iPad)

More 'local files' shenanigans

Re: More 'local files' shenanigans

Re: More 'local files' shenanigans

Re: More 'local files' shenanigans

Re: More 'local files' shenanigans