Local files is broken, unable to be sent to iPhone (need Spotify staff help)

[Seri12]

Plan

Premium

Country

Canada

Device

iPhone 11 Pro, Windows laptop

Operating System

idk the new Windows, like whatever it is, 10 or something, maybe 11, who cares

My Question or Issue

I have spent the last 2 hours attempting to fix my local files issue on Spotify. I have scoured the internet, looked at forum posts, reddit posts, everything, nothing works. The system is broken.

Several months ago I was able to add a few mixtapes to new playlists, as the Spotify features was originally intended I'm sure. A few nights ago I realized oh no, only the songs I added to other playlists still appear. No worries, I'll fix it all up soon.

So here is how the system is supposed to go:

1) Add source into local files thing on spotify desktop

2) Create playlist

3) Add local files to playlist

4) Click download on playlist on phone and songs will sync over

Step 4 just doesn't work anymore. I am on the same network, I tried the hotspot thing, I reinstalled spotify on both my iphone and my computer, I literally tried deleting and re-adding the music several times, NOTHING. The feature is glitched, totally broken. No files appear on my iphone, just on my PC, and no matter what I do nothing shows up. And yes my PC is listed as a device in the devices menu. This needs to be fixed asap.

Anyway, I am in desperate need of help because the feature is broken so I've basically been banging my head against a brick wall for 2 hours. And now since I deleted spotify off my phone I need to redownload every single playlist I have, which is thousands of songs. Rant over, help needed, cheers.

[Seri12]

Never got it fixed 😞

[Jeremy]

Hi @Seri12,

Thank you for your reply in this thread.

Can you head over to this article and follow the steps that's provided in there to see if the issue persists?

There is also this article which points out the importance of the right meta-data being associated with a track when trying to upload it as local file/song to Spotify, so it would be great if you can double-check the tracks you're trying to add are fit "meta-data" wise.

Keep us posted 🙂

Take care!

[AndrewThurlow]

Hey man, I think I got the answer to ur problem. Go about normally how you would add local files onto your Spotify on your computer (into downloaded playlist marked for offline sync) and it should show up playable on your computer, but greyed out on the phone. Turn the wifi off of your iPhone so it is only using data, and plug in your iPhone to your computer (through a usb charger of some sort, needs a wired connection) . Click the song you want to not be greyed out anymore on Spotify on your computer (try with and without wifi on, it worked for me w wifi on my computer but try without just in case) and it should show up on your iPhone. Add it to your liked songs by clicking three dots, and restart the app on your phone. When you click back in, it should be downloading and ready to play in a sec. Something with the wired connection seemed to fix it, at least for me.

Short summary: (have downloads for liked songs on) have song in liked with grey out and red download sign. (probably the step ur at rn, truly enraging)
Turn off wifi on phone and plug into computer with usb (wired connection + phone on data)
Click on song on computer while app is open on phone
Song will show up on phone, click like again (the heart thing)
restart app, and click back in, viola.

my inspiration (or in case that was confusing):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNrZ0cIK0Xg

[Jeremy]

Hi there @AndrewThurlow,

Thank you for jumping into this thread.

It's really  nice of you to share what worked for you with the rest of the Community.

Wish you a great day 🙂

Take care!

[Enigma777]

---

@KyleRR wrote:
hi Seri12,
recently I had the same problem but I eventually figured it out!
so what you're going to want to do is first is download some of your favorite songs onto your computer then allow local files in the settings you should then be able to see your songs under the local files tab on your computer. Then add them to a playlist and download the playlist. after you have done all of that go on Spotify on your phone and in settings enable local files the tab is right under notifications in settings. then after that go to playback and you will see a setting saying "hide unplayable songs" turn that off. then after all of that, you will be able to see and play the songs you've added to the playlist you downloaded.
I hope this solution fixed your problem 🙂

---

This is the solution. It is not actually as intuitive as it sounds because the way the "Local Files" option is worded on the iOS app. 

To recap to sync between Windows 10/11 PC Spotify Desktop and iPhone / iOS Spotify App you must:

1) Connect both the PC and the iPhone/iOS device to the same network (or set up a Hotspot on the mobile device and connect the PC to it)

On the Windows PC in the Spotify Desktop App

2) Save the files in an acceptable format locally on your PC

3) In the Windows PC App then go to Settings and scroll down to "Local Files" and enable "Show Local Files"

4) Below "Local Files" in PC App Settings, go to "Show Songs From" and add the folder location where you saved the local files

5) Go to "Your Library" and then to "Local Files", you should see your local songs now in this folder in the library.

6) Add the songs to whichever playlist you want on the PC Spotify App. I added them to a single Playlist called "Local Sync" just for visibility.

On the iPhone/IOS Device in the Spotify mobile App

7) Login and Click your profile picture to get to the "Settings" screen

😎Scroll down to "Local Files" and enable it. It will ask you to discover devices on your network, make sure you click Accept/Yes. (this is a bit counter-intuitive and Spotify should fix the description because the description for Local Files is misleading and says "Add tracks from this device into Your Library" so you would assume it means like purchased music through iTunes / Apple Music, or locally stored mp3s on the iPhone, not files synced from your desktop over the network)

9) In Settings go to "Playback" and disable "Hide Unplayable Songs"

10) Next go to whichever playlist in your mobile Spotify app that you added the local songs to previously on your desktop (in my example "Local Sync")

11) Click the Download icon to download all the songs in the playlist and sync the songs from your desktop locally

12) Enjoy they're now playable in your mobile Spotify app on your iPhone.