Do downloaded songs still use bandwith?

[SeaNet]

If I want to listen to a song that I've downloaded, if I have internet access will it stream it or play the file off my phone? I dont want to use bandwith if I just want to listen to an album I've downloaded, nor do I want to put my phone on airplane mode and miss calls.. 

Thanks for you help.

~Joseph

[Dreadlord]

Hey @SeaNet,

Offline songs do not use bandwith.

If you want to be sure you can "Listen offline" and here is brief guide how to do so.

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[SeaNet]

Yeah, if I'm offline they can't use bandwidth.. But can I have a saved/downloaded album and have it just read the song of my phone instead of streaming it? This would save battery and data usage.

[Dreadlord]

Hey @SeaNet,

Yes you can, this is how offline mode works. Once downloaded you can access them from your storag. : - )

[SeaNet]

If I put it in offline mode then I only have access to those songs that I have downloaded, I won't be able to mix and match, correct?

[Daniel · Accepted solution]

Correct. Setting a track as 'offline' downloads the track to your device and is then available if you have no signal, are in airplane mode, have set Spotify to 'Offline' etc.

It will play directly from the cache and will not use any data connection or bandwidth.

If you put the Spotify app into offline mode via the settings you ask only have access to the tracks/Playlists that you have downloaded and you would not be able to search, play any track not stored in the cache or have access to radio channels etc.

Easiest thing to help you understand would be to set the Spotify app to 'offline' so you can see for yourself.

[SeaNet]

I understand now. I was hoping it could be mixed. Maybe that's something I'll put inn the ideas section. If it playing off the phone then it saves everyone data. Me from my carrier and Spotify from having to send it out again. There isn't hardly any time where I don't have some kind of connection, be it Wi-Fi or mobile data, but why use the limited mobile data if you don't need to..
Thanks.
Joseph

[Daniel]

Just to clarify - If you put the Spotify app into offline mode it will only show you and play tracks that you have previously downloaded to the device.

If you leave the app in 'Online' mode, but have previously marked tracks to be available then if for example a playlist has a mix of offline & streaming tracks it will use the downloaded version of a track if available otherwise it will stream the tracks not already downloaded to your device.