Local Files sporadically disappear on mobile

[sorryforapologizing]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

Samsing Galaxy S22+

Operating System

Android

My Question or Issue

Hello, I've been having issues with my local files for months now and I cannot find a good fix for it. I'll sync my local files and they will show up perfectly fine and playable. But then, over the next several weeks, they'll become unplayable one by one. They gray out on my playlists, and I can't even play them by directly clicking on them in the local files folder. Sometimes they gray out if I play them, and sometimes they're already grayed out when I open the app. Re-syncing local files doesn't work, restarting doesn't work. The only way to fix it is to do a clean re-install. And that does fix the problem - once I reinstall the app and re-sync my files they all show up. But then they just start disappearing again. Doing a clean reinstall basically every few times I open the app in order to revert the broken files is a huge hassle, since it also reverses the rest of my app's settings. Has anyone else experienced this? Do you know of a way to fix this? The exact same files play fine on desktop. (I have a combination of FLAC and mp3 files, and both file types disappear like this.) Thanks.

[MihailY]

Hey @sorryforapologizing,

Thanks for reaching out.

Your Spotify app's cached data is most likely being deleted by some memory- or battery-optimizing services on your device. Please go through your phone's settings and make sure that the app is set as an exception in those services and let us know if that helps.

Keep us posted.

[1Roosters1]

I am also having the issue where I download local files to my iPhone, they work great for a day, then over the next few days files grey out and are unplayable until I re download from my laptop.

what settings on an iPhone need to be changed to avoid this from happening? 

[agrumwald]

I am having the same problem. Some local files stay on the phone but others seem to disappear at random. What settings should I be looking to change on the phone?

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Thanks for posting in the Community.

Please note that the feature that allowed syncing of local files between devices is in the process of being deprecated so it's expected to see some inconsistencies in its behavior.

Currently, in order to play your local files on your phone, you need to upload them on the device. You can find a detailed guide on how to do this here.

We hope this helps. Let us know if you have any further questions.

[agrumwald]

That does not address the issue. We know how to upload local files and we have been doing it. The issue is that they randomly grey out. That is a new problem. And what do you mean by “ the feature that allowed syncing of local files between devices is in the process of being deprecated?” Deprecated? Meaning it will soon be gone? I don’t understand the meaning in that context 

[sorryforapologizing]

^I believe what they're talking about is being able to upload your computer's local files to your phone - that was the only way to listen to local files on mobile up until a few years ago. But yeah, that doesn't solve the problem. All the local files I have are directly synced from my phone and that has been the case as long as I've been having this problem.

But being honest here, I've more or less just given up on using Spotify for my playlists. For other users with this problem, just use a different mp3 player app (I use Musicolet and I like it a lot more). I've looked into this enough that I'm comfortable assuming that it's either a bug, in which case it's too niche for Spotify to care; or it's a problem being caused by phones' shitty UI nowadays that tries to be "user-friendly" and "convenient" by automating useless, annoying settings and hiding away the ability to change them from users.

[chrimbo50]

I've had the same issue for the last month or so. Nearly any Local files I add to my phone or iPad from my Mac last maybe a couple of days at most before being removed and I have to re-add them a couple of times a week. I've removed the cached data on all devices and did a clean install on my phone twice and still have the issue. 

Not all of my local files disappear all the time though sometimes it's the most recently added ones and other times it will be all of them. Ive also made sure that I have plenty of space on both devices as I read that this could also be causing the issue. It is easy enough to get the songs back as I need Spotify open on my Mac and I then have to restart the app on my devices and it re-downloads the songs but it sometimes takes a few attempts before all files are re-added.

[sinfulauthor]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

iPhone 8 & Victus Laptop

Operating System

iOS 16.7.7 & Windows 11

My Question or Issue

I initially added 5 songs to my Local Files. They downloaded fine onto my iPhone. I added 3 more songs and removed the initial 5 songs then added them back. Now, the first 5 songs show up greyed out on mobile and are unplayable most of the time. I've tried uninstalling the app on mobile and desktop, logging out and back in again, and redownloading the songs, but nothing works. I just want my songs back on my iPhone to play on repeat 😭😭😭

[majaz]

i had the same problem on my android phone, local songs disappearing from my playlist. i solved it by going to Apps and Spotify permissions and granting "music and audio" and all the songs magically reappeared 🙂 

[ThematicPDX]

In the current app (Dec 2024) this setting is now in "Apps and devices" at the bottom. There is no longer a "Local files" tab in "Settings and privacy".