Can't Listen To Local Files

[ChefBeardardee]

Plan

Premium 

Country

USA

Device

Samsung Galaxy S9+

My Question or Issue

So on my Spotify Playlist I have about 20-30 local file songs. I can listen to them with no problem on my Windows 10 PC, but they are not playable through my phone. I've copied the local files from my computer onto my phone. I just had added 2 local file songs to my playlist and both of them didn't work on my phone but worked fine on my pc, also to mention that all other local file songs would work fine on my pc and on my phone. Just about last week, I checked on the Play Store and Spotify had an update, so I updated it and ran the app. After I'd updated the app, all local file songs had stopped working on my phone. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling, I've tried restarting my phone on multiple occasions and nothing ever worked. So if I could please get a fix to this problem much would be appreciated.

[Jeremy]

These files must exist on the device, either outside of the app or by setting them to Offline inside the app

To sync local files from one device to another, you must be actively logged in to both devices with Spotify open and on the same network

Hey there @ChefBeardardee,

Thank you for your post here in the Community. 

Local files can be turned on/off in the Settings menu.

Can you double-check that you've followed all of the support site steps correctly.

It's also useful to double-check that you have connected both devices to the same Wi-Fi.

If that doesn't do the trick - can you try the following:

• Add some songs from our catalogue to the playlist as well as the local file/s and make sure they have ‘Show unavailable songs in playlists’ turned on in Settings

• Play some music on the device that has the local files to see if it shows via Connect on the other device

• Make sure the router supports the Bonjour protocol. If the router is made after 2005, it will likely have this protocol. The best way to handle this is to check the router make/model and Google it

Another useful step in is to change the source folder of the local files on the pc. The steps are: Uninstall Spotify on both devices > create a new folder somewhere else on the pc and move the local files there > install Spotify again > remove any potential source folders and add the new one > download the playlist again.

Keep us posted. We're always one reply away.

Cheers!

[Maddie20]

On my phone the music is grey and I can't click or play it, how can I fix this? 

[CarlosE]

Hey @Maddie20,

Thanks for your reply on this thread 🙂

Keep in mind you'll need to sync local files from the device you have them, must be actively logged in to both devices with Spotify open and on the same network. The files must exist on the device, either outside of the app or by setting them to Offline inside the app. 

Make sure the files aren’t DRM-protected. You can find more info about it here.

Note: Take into account files or downloads from illegal sources are not permitted. If your files are from an illegal source, this may be why it isn’t working.

If you have the files on your computer, and you're trying to play them on your phone, make sure you follow these steps correctly. If the inconvenience persists, can you give us a little more details about your devices? Can you let us know the exact make/model and OS of your devices along with the Spotify version you use?

 We'll keep an eye on your response!

[tumpsh]

This has been an issue for years on spotify and no matter what has not been fixed, is there really no one on this major bug?

[Dian]

Hey @tumpsh,

Thanks for posting.

Recently there have been some major changes on how the Local Files function works.

Now users need to have the files physically present on the device they want to play them on and there are no syncing possibilities over the app. But the app can discover the local files on your device and add them to your library.

More on that here. 

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

[New user]

I had downloaded a song onto my local files on my iPhone and could find my local files super easy but when I got onto my laptop (not an Apple laptop by the way) I couldn't find my local files or the button to enable them. I put the song in a couple of playlists and it wouldn't play on my laptop. What do I do?