topic Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music? in iOS (iPhone, iPad)

Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

insanedubstep — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 17:48:42 GMT

I have bought an iphone 8 and wanted to download all my songs. But it only downloads when the app is open and im not idle.

This takes a lot of time because im about to download like 2k songs.

I never had that problem with other devices. Any ideas?

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

MattSuda — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:21:10 GMT

Hey @insanedubstep

To download, the Spotify app needs to stay open, otherwise after 5-10 minutes it will stop downloading in the background. This is due to Apple's background activity restrictions.

The best way is to go into the iPhone settings:

Settings --> Display --> Auto Lock --> Set it to "NEVER"

Now leave the Spotify app open on your iPhone and let it sit on a table plugged in to power to download. I also usually turn down my screen brightness very low while this is happening to not wear out my screen.

When you are done, make sure to turn "Auto Lock" back to your preferred setting and you can turn your screen brightness back up.

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

insanedubstep — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:33:11 GMT

Thanks for your answer. This is retarded, iPhone really sucks. And there are people who still think iPhone is better than android. Lol

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

MattSuda — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:40:28 GMT

You're welcome!

Well normally apps don't need to run in the background and download thousands of things like with the Spotify app. Apple does this to protect your battery life so things are not constantly using lots of processing power in the background.

So having to do this to download songs in the Spotify app isn't too bad. Especially since you rarely have to do it. Once you download them they are downloaded. I have been using the iPhone since 2009 and overall I really like it and prefer it over Android.

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

Bogdan666 — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 18:23:52 GMT

I found that leaving spotify to play something in the meanwhile will download songs in the background. If you don't feel like listening to anything, turn your volume all the way down. Hope this helps.

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

MirrorLake — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 20:52:49 GMT

Re: Bogdan666
This works even better than the posted solution!

And it has the massive benefit of not burning my screen in or having to change any phone settings. Excellent workaround.

Now I'm finally able to download songs with the screen off.

Thank you!

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

picknassaro — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 18:50:24 GMT

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/url_loading_system/downloading_files_in_the_background
iOS ABSOLUTELY has an API for downloading files in the background. Spotify is just too lazy to implement it. I see no reason to continue using Spotify because of this issue. To blame Apple is really terrible. iOS should be more open, but lying about iOS's capabilities to make people outraged at iOS's walled-garden design brings the movement down. Be better, Spotify.

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

gva_114-6lyxc — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 12:45:41 GMT

Thank you!! This saved me

Re: Música descargada previamente vuelve a descargarse

CarlosColunga — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 21:53:06 GMT

I have the same issue, I use to have an Android device with SD card, after I move to some Iphones (Without SD cards) and the same issue, I check and the App has all the permissions and I don have any cleaner app.

Also I have the issue that the app only download the files, if the screen is on, and in showing the app. very very anoy

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

AIDEN78 — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 20:46:15 GMT

CAP

Re: Spotify needs to be opened to download music?

DawnZieme — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 05:52:07 GMT

i am also facing same issue.