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Android Local Files

ScribbleSong45

Plan

Premium

Country

U.S.A.

Device

Samsung Galaxy S9

Operating System

Android

My Question or Issue

Hello,

I'm trying to get Local Files to appear on my mobile app, but the file doesn't appear even when I have the setting toggled on (see photos). I recently did a clean reinstall to try and organize my local files/downloads (they've been having issues whenever I try to play them). The files work fine on my PC, but mobile is spotty for me. Thanks for the help!

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Accepted answers

All comments

Ivelina

Hey @ScribbleSong45,

Welcome to the Community and thanks for the provided info!

Just to be on the safe side, could you just confirm if you're still unable to see the local files even if you scroll all the way down in Your Library?

If it's still the same then you can try going into Spotify's permissions in Android settings and then making sure that the "Photos and videos" permission is allowed.

Keep us posted 🙂

ScribbleSong45

These are the permissions I have set up for the app. I still can't see
local files. I tried turning all of them off then on again, but nothing
changed.

ScribbleSong45

Here's the photo of the permissions just in case. I tried turning them all off before turning these on, but nothing changed.

Screenshot_20240128-083514_Permission controller.jpg

IMG_9728.png

Ivelina

Thanks for the screenshots, @ScribbleSong45!

Are you by any chance using an SD-card on your mobile phone? Keep in mind that corrupted cache on it can cause different issues with Spotify's performance.

If that's the case I recommend removing it, then giving the app a clean reinstall once again with the steps here and then trying to get your local files to appear.

Let us know if that changes anything.

ScribbleSong45

I don't believe I'm using an SD card. From what I'd seen online, Galaxy S9s have 64 GB of natural memory, which is what appears on my phone in the attached screenshot. I did some looking and couldn't find anything that indicated I had an SD Card.

Screenshot_20240129-095848_Device care.jpg

ScribbleSong45

I just confirmed; I don't have a MicroSD card, only a SIM card

AlejaR

Hey @ScribbleSong45,

Thanks for the info shared.

Just to confirm, are you trying to sync the local files from your computer or are they stored on your mobile device? Keep in mind, the Local Files experience has changed. You can use the app to play any of the audio files stored on your device. Take into account, in order for the files and the folder to show up, the files must be stored on your mobile device. You can read more about this here.

On another note, since you mentioned you've installed an SD card on your device, we'd suggest you remove it and reinstall the app in the internal memory of your device. Make sure to use the app without inserting the SD card again to see if you notice any difference.

Lastly, keep in mind Spotify supports .mp3, .mp4, and .m4p files. It doesn’t support .mp4 files that contain video, or the iTunes lossless format (M4A). We'd suggest you double-check the files' format to see if they meet these requirements.

Keep us in the loop!

ScribbleSong45

I don't have an SD card in my phone. Yhe files I'm looking to put in are marked as .mp3 on my phone as seen in the photo, made with YouTube videos I converted into mp3 files. This process worked fine for my computer, but not my phone.

Screenshot_20240130-122323_My Files.jpg

When I tried playing these files, I got this.

Susan_GP

Hi @ScribbleSong45,

Thanks for your reply.

Let's try deleting the cache from the Spotify app. Open Spotify > go to Settings > Storage > Clear cache. Then log out, restart Spotify, and try disabling and enabling Show audio files from this device. Check if that makes a difference. Additionally, have you checked all the audio files on your phone can be played? If you haven't go to the audio files and reproduce them with your device's media player.

If the Local Files don't show up, send over the Spotify version you are currently running.

We'll keep an eye out for your reply!

ScribbleSong45

I did the above steps, and nothing has changed. I even tried disabling local files, closing the app then restarting and enabling local files, but it still won't appear. I've attached a screenshot showing my version. I also haven't been able to find anything about setting up a path for said files on my phone. When I try playing the files from My Files, I get the same local file navigation as in my previous post.

Screenshot_20240131-134308_Spotify.jpg

Screenshot_20230507_181545_Spotify.jpg

Susan_GP

Hi @ScribbleSong45,

Thanks for following our recommendations.

Were you able to verify if the audio files can be played? Not through Spotify, but through your device's default music app. On another note, go to your device's settings > Apps > Spotify > Permissions, and make sure that Spotify is allowed to access 'Music and audio' and 'Photos and videos'. This last one might sound odd, but it helps sometimes. If not, then allow it and check Spotify again.

Lastly, how much storage do you have left on the device?

We'll be here.

ScribbleSong45

I have 13 GB of storage left, and I've made sure Spotify and the songs are both on local storage (I got an SD card yesterday). I also enabled all permissions for Spotify, but nothing has changed. My phone doesn't have a default music app, per my screenshot.

Screenshot_20240201-144104_Permission controller.jpg

Screenshot_2024-01-30-18-36-21-076_com.spotify.music.jpg

Screenshot_20240201-143654_Permission controller.jpg

Yordan

Thanks for the info @ScribbleSong45.

I recommend rebooting your phone - this will refresh all apps on your device, including Spotify. Something else you can try is moving the files to another folder in your phone's storage.

Could you also try uploading new files on your phone to see if they'd show up in the app? It's also worth checking if Spotify can play the files - just open your Files app and try opening one of the songs with Spotify.

Let us know how it goes.

ScribbleSong45

Nothing changed upon rebooting my phone. I tried redownloading a song and playing it on My Files, but it just brought me to Spotify, where the Local Files was empty, then unavailable when I backed out of it. I tried copying the songs to my SD Card, and the Local Files appeared on my phone, but the songs would gray out from my playlist after a few brief test plays. This is what happened the first time this issue came up. Would things work if I moved Spotify to my SD card?

Screenshot_20240203-232110_Spotify.jpg

Screenshot_20240203-233146_Spotify.jpg

Screenshot_20230614-141628~2.png

ScribbleSong45

Additional screenshots of my work

Screenshot_20240203-233152_Spotify.jpg

Screenshot_20240203-233159_Spotify.jpg

Screenshot_20240203-233208_Spotify.jpg

IMG_0937.jpg

IMG_0172.PNG

WIN-OPE8K6VPKD9 spotify.png

ScribbleSong45

I tried moving the apps storage itself to the SD Card in the app itself, and it seems to be holding for now, though this could change.

ScribbleSong45

I put my progress below, with the solution seeming to be to transfer everything of Spotify to my SD card. However, now some songs appear to be vanishing on my PC version of Spotify; though I don't use the PC version a lot in the first place. Whatever the case, the Local Files system, whatever it is, needs to be heavily examined and modified for a better user experience. This was extremely frustrating and time-consuming to work on. Thank you all for the help, though!

ScribbleSong45

Sadly one of my songs isn't completely in my playlist still (is grayed out like some above songs, won't automatically cycle in my queue, but can still play if I manually select it), but I'm too tired to work on it now. The Local Files system needs to be optimized, it's far from living up to the promise of being quick and easy like the official instruction video claims.

Susan_GP

Hey @ScribbleSong45,

Thanks for keeping us updated on this. We understand it's been time-consuming, but we thank you for your time and collaboration.

Now, It is not recommended to have Spotify on your SD card because it can affect the performance of the app. Just to check, did you recently buy the SD card? Or have you had it this whole time we've been trying to work on this?

If you've had this whole time, we'd recommend making sure both Spotify and the audio files are in the internal memory of the phone, then remove the SD card and reinstall Spotify one last time. Once done, check if that changes something with the Local files. Do not insert the SD card back in while trying this.

Let us know how that goes.

ScribbleSong45

I only got the SD card about a week ago, and moved the app and files to it a few days ago. Aside from the one song, the Local Files and app have been running fine since I moved them.

ScribbleSong45

(Hopefully) one last update. Local File songs have started fading again (3 within the last 10 minutes), so more will follow. This is getting too frustrating, so unless there's anything else major I can do, I'm giving up on this. The Local Files system needs to be overhauled and updated for better ease of access and consistency, the current system doesn't live up to the YouTube Instructional video at all.

Screenshot_20240206-090806_Spotify.jpg

image.png

AlejaR

Hey @ScribbleSong45,

Thanks for all your replies and for all the info you've kindly shared with us.

We really appreciate all your help. In this case, we'd like to double-check: those local files that you see faded on your playlist, are they also grayed in the local files folder? It'd be awesome if you could verify it.

On another note, it's also worth mentioning that the files on the desktop can't be played from the phone and vice versa, since the local files should be stored on the source (phone/desktop) and are not synced within the app's cache. So, if the local files that are grayed out were added to the desktop app, this could be expected.

Lastly, it's important to remember that files or downloads from illegal sources are not permitted. If your files have not been obtained from an official source, this is most likely why they are not playing.

We'll be on the lookout!

ScribbleSong45

All the files are the same between devices, and were made by converting YouTube videos to MP3s. Per my screenshots, they appear fine on the Local Files list but are grayed out in the actual playlist.

Screenshot_20240209-161345_Spotify.jpg

Screenshot_20240209-161324_Spotify.jpg

7B380D56-832D-4279-82AB-D212B63EB9B3.png

Error.jpg

Eni

Hey @ScribbleSong45,

Thanks for your reply.

Keep in mind that if you're using the Local file discovery, it doesn't matter if you copied the same file from desktop and added it to the phone, they're being played from 2 different sources so that's why in the playlist, the local files that were added from desktop can't be played in mobile and vice versa.

Additionally, local files are meant to be used with legal files so we can't guarantee proper functionality with downloads from unofficial sources.

Hope this clears things up. If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.

user-6755710

I toggled the local files option in my app now I can't get them to appear back. I have reinstalled the app, cleared my cache and restarted my phone. Spotify is up to date and it is showing that local files are on. Help.

ThatAlex

Plan

Premium

Device

Samsum galaxy A54

Operating System

Android

My Question or Issue

I like to listen to video-essays on the go so i downloaded some just to have them available as local files on spotify. Some of them seem to sync but others dont. However of the ones that do they seem to redownload every time i sync up my files.

My phone and Desktop do sync properly while the PC is on, but only if i open, then close and open spotify again. And after some time it once again lists the files as unavailable. Is there a way i can just permanently sync them without redownloading a new identical file each time? And how do i know which files will sync and which ones wont.

Screenshot_20240602_141321_Spotify.jpg

Screenshot_20240602_141338_Spotify.jpg

Capture.JPG

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Ferach

I turned on local files on android, allowed access to everything and I still cant see local files on android.
Phone:
Nothing phone 2
Android version 14

Loregianno7

Plan

Premium

Country

Italy

Device

Samsung Galaxy A55

Operating System

Android Oreo

My Question or Issue

I have downloaded quite a few local files, and some of them will randomly stop playing on Spotify. The file is still there and still works, but I can't play them in my playlists. Anyone know why?

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