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!

[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.

[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.

 

[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. 

 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.

[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.

[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?

[ScribbleSong45]

Additional screenshots of my work

[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.