Offline Playlist Sync

[Decept1k0n]

I'm not sure if I'm missing something really obvious, but I have a handful of personal music files that are in MP3 format in a few playlists that won't sync to my iPhone.  According to the instructions given by the app it tells me to go to the app on the Mac & mark the playlist containing the song for Offline Sync.

I've looked everywhere, under every setting & right-clicked the playlist in question and there is no option for "Offline Sync".  I even tried creating a playlist containing one of the songs and tried that and still don't see the offline sync option.

Am I missing something??

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

Macbook Pro 2019)

Operating System

macOS Big Sur 11.2

[Alex]

Hi there @Decept1k0n

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

Try the following steps:

1. On desktop, import your local files (with the "Desktop" steps).
2. Add the files to a new playlist.
3. Log in on your mobile or tablet using the same WiFi as your desktop.
4. Go to Settings  (On your phone) > Local Files and switch on Local audio files.
   Note: You need to allow Spotify to find devices in the prompt that shows.
5. Download the playlist with your local files.

The option is in the Settings menu on your phone, not under the tracks/playlists themselves.

Let us know how you get on with this.

[Decept1k0n]

I tried exactly these steps & verified I have verified Local Files are enabled, and created a new playlist with a local file added to it and tried to download it but that didn't work.

On the new playlist, the only song I added is something that would be from my computer's local files but nothing shows up.

[Novy]

Hi again @Decept1k0n, 

Thanks for getting back to us.

Just to confirm, are these files playing with no issues on your computer?

We'd recommend making sure that both devices are connected to the same WiFi network and that they have enough storage space available. 

Let us know how it goes. 

[Decept1k0n]

Correct, there are no issues with playing back the music files via the Spotify desktop app on my Mac.  I have also confirmed that both are connected to the same wi-fi network & there is ~408GB of free space on my iPhone where I am attempting to download the files.

[Ivan]

Hey @Decept1k0n, 

Thanks for keeping us in the loop. 

Could you confirm if you still experience this after performing a clean reinstall of Spotify on both your iPhone and MacBook? This will remove corrupted data from previous installations that could be causing what you experience. 

If you see no difference after the clean reinstall, try if you observe the same when using another iPhone. In case the issue seems to be related specifically to the particular device you might need to make sure it's up-to-speed with any software updates available.

We'll look out for your reply.

[Decept1k0n]

How do I perform a clean install of Spotify on the Mac? I’m using macOS 11.2.

[Ivan]

Hey @Decept1k0n, 

Thanks for getting back. 

We recommend following the steps provided in this help article. Simply scroll down to the Mac paragraph and you're on it. 

Let us know if you have any questions. 

[Decept1k0n]

I just tried clean installing both the Mac & iPhone app and this hasn't made a difference.  I don't see any of my local files from the desktop app available on the iPhone app at all.

Do I need to do something other than adding the local file into a playlist and then selecting the download option on the iPhone app?  To be clear, I can playback the local file in the corresponding playlist on my Mac without any issues.

I also noticed that on the iPhone app it says to mark the playlist containing the song I want to sync for "Offline Sync".  I don't see a way to do this from any of the menus or available options on either the desktop or iPhone app.  Can you please show me a corresponding screenshot from either the desktop or iPhone app?

[Mihail · Accepted solution]

Hey @Decept1k0n,

Thanks for getting back to us.

"Marking a playlist for offline synch" means to tap the Download slider so that it turns green. You can find a video and detailed instructions on how to do this here.

Also, can you please confirm that the option Local Audio files in the Setting menu of the Spotify app on your phone is switched on?

If it still doesn't work, send us screenshots of how the playlist and the Local Audio files option appear on your mobile device and we'll be happy to take a closer look.

Keep us posted!

[Decept1k0n]

I went ahead and enabled the download slider in the playlist containing my local files on the desktop app.  I also ensured that the local files slider is enabled in the iPhone app and confirmed that I am now able to see the files in my playlist.  Thanks again for all of your help and assistance!

[Mihail]

Hey @Decept1k0n,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

We're happy to hear everything worked out with your local files! If anything else comes up - you know where to find us.

Happy listening 🙂 

[lllusion]

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@Mihail wrote:

"Marking a playlist for offline synch" means to tap the Download slider so that it turns green. You can find a video and detailed instructions on how to do this here.

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Holy moly! I can't understand why Spotify tries to hide this! Nowhere in the user interface is there a "Mark for offline sync". The instructions should just state, enable "Download" of the playlist.

[Decept1k0n]

LOL, yup.  It isn’t obvious at all which is what makes this really frustrating.  The fact that they say to mark a playlist for offline listening but there isn’t something like that is kinda meaningless IMO.

[selbywall]

I have been having the exact same problem and have followed every single fix and nothing has worked. Local files are on, songs are playable on my laptop but not on my phone. Both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi. I have clean installed both programs on my laptop and phone. Files are .mp3. The playlist is downloaded on both my laptop and phone. Nothing works and the songs are still unplayable on my phone. I have Spotify premium. Nothing works and I am incredibly frustrated by this.