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[iOS] Apple Watch: Spotify Streaming and Offline Listening

Submitted by on ‎2018-09-28 06:50 PM
Status: Implemented

Apple Watch: Offline Listening

 

watchOS 5 should allow Spotify to develop an app that allows offline listening and streaming via cellular data.

 

Vote here to show your support for this development!

Updated on 2021-07-20

Hey everyone,

Thanks for coming to the Spotify Idea Exchange and voting to make this happen.

Тhis has been one of our most upvoted ideas and we've known it's something that our users would really like to see come true. We're happy to announce that this feature will now become available for the Apple Watch Series 3 or later.


It will be gradually rolled out, so it might take a bit until everybody has access to it.  That being said, we'd like to let you know that the roll-out rate has increased a lot in the last weeks, so if you haven't received the feature in the past, try reinstalling the app on your watch again and there's a big chance you'll get Offline listening now.

Once again, thanks for helping us make Spotify better and voting to make this happen, here on the Community.

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Comments
bytecoder
Newbie
2020-01-15 10:57 PM

I signed up with Spotify because it's vendor neutral - I could use PC/Mac/iPhone/Android/iPad/Alexa/whatever. I went through the effort of signing up on their website instead of iTunes just to save them the cost of what they pay Apple. But Spotify is NOT vendor neutral anymore. They do not like for one bit the ridiculous cut that Apple demands - totally understandable and I sympathise with that. But they're going out of their way to punish Apple products now. There's no Apple Watch support or Apple TV support. When even Pandora, which has much less resources than Spotify, has both. Why is Spotify punishing their customers for their issue with Apple. Discontinue new signups through iTunes (like Netflix did) - I don't care. But help me listen to music that I love using the devices I love. That's what I'm paying you for.

Symp
Casual Listener
2020-01-15 11:04 PM

@Bytecoder - there is an Apple TV app.

d-roam
Regular
2020-01-16 04:06 PM

Why is everyone assuming that Spotify isn't supporting Apple products as a slight to Apple, rather than the other way around? Is there any evidence of this? Everything that I've seen indicates that Apple has made things unfairly difficult for Spotify since day one, and if not for this their turnaround on these features would be much faster. For example, as SOON as Apple finally lifted the restriction on Spotify's ability to use Siri, Spotify implemented that straight away and now it works great. I use it all the time.

 

Do people have any evidence or sources for the claims that Spotify is intentionally snubbing Apple users, or are these just baseless rants?

0 Likes
bambich56
Newbie
2020-01-16 04:19 PM

You may be right. But if so, it would be easy for Spotify to avoid any future criticism (and avoid losing customers) by just explaining themselves here, or not? But they remain silent and therefore one has to assume, that they have to hide something. Fair-minded communication is everything. 

0 Likes
bytecoder
Newbie
2020-01-16 07:54 PM

Well, Pandora has supported Apple Watch with offline support for a while now. Apple also opened up the streaming API 6 months ago. Pandora has been on top of things supporting these as soon as they are launced. Also, something changed since my comment was that I realized that Spotify released the Apple TV app two months ago. I did not know that - they hadn't supported Apple TV for years even though Pandora app has existed for 4 years now.

0 Likes
d-roam
Regular
2020-01-16 09:00 PM

Indeed, more communication would be nice. For some reason, Spotify doesn't seem to do much communication about its intents or reasons on these forums. But it is a bit more open on other channels, such as its blog and YouTube channel.

 

As for Pandora, I think an important consideration is that Pandora is not really a competitor to Apple Music. It's a very different type of music service.

 

The fact is, unless Spotify is outright lying, Apple has blatantly discriminated against Spotify specifically for several years. Take a look at this timeline, chronicling how Apple has blocked Spotify specifically from certain developments since as early as 2011: https://timetoplayfair.com/timeline/.

 

There are several places that mention the Apple Watch: April 2015, September 2016, September 2017, and September 2018. That makes this a 4.5 year battle, and only in the past year or so has Spotify been allowed to start developing offline functionality for the Apple Watch. And based on that 4.5 year history, it doesn't take a big stretch of the imagination to imagine why it might be taking so long to deliver it.

 

But I agree, a little more communication an transparency into "what's taking so long" would be nice.

0 Likes
stu517
Newbie
2020-01-16 09:05 PM
total bs. there is an app (apollo) which someone wrote on their own time
which provides all of the functionality needed for offline playlists etc
etc. spotify had it removed from the app store citing
copyright infringement. this is all about spotify in a pissing match with
apple and not giving two cents about its own customers.
georgo
Casual Listener
2020-01-17 03:59 PM

Spotify choose to frustrate and alienate its paying premium users.

A strategy rarely pays off..

nickcmt
Visitor
2020-01-18 07:25 PM

We are happy to share our ideas btw this one dates back to the start of the Apple Watch. So should I continue to share my money when one of the primary ways I want to use my music (jogging without my phone) isn’t possible? This is the third highest rated feature...

schmeer
Newbie
2020-01-19 01:54 AM

I'm not following Spotify's recommendation of how to vote for an idea. I just discovered my long standing premium subscription is useless for my new Apple Watch and Spotify doesn't feel compelled to even communicate any plans to do so (or not) with its customers. I will vote with my wallet. No more $10/month to Spotify.