Local files from phone don't open

[Musicisok21]

• None of the below information is required. However, the more you provide the easier it will be for us to try and help.

Plan

Premium

Country

Canada

Device

Samsung Galaxy S9

Operating System

Couldn't say

My Question or Issue

Local songs simply do not show up in my Spotify. Infact the only things that shows up in my Spotify's local section is some random recording I made a few months ago and the stock "Over the Horizon".

Everything I read says you need a desktop app to use local songs but in all my years I've never used the Desktop app (nor do I want to, just over complicates things and I'd rather keep all my spotify in one place) and have been adding local songs to my Playlists simply by opening the audio files on my phone using Spotify as the default to launch them. I recently upgraded from an ancient J3 to the phone listed in my specs above, and my former way of adding downloaded audio from my device just opens the Spotify app to the local songs page, and does literally nothing. It just opens the app to that page.

Is this a new feature that mandates the Desktop app? I'd honestly rather not but if I can't have my local songs from my phone I'll have to go back to using my old phone just as an mp3 player specifically for Spotify.

[AlejaR]

Hey @Musicisok21,

Thanks for posting in the Community and welcome 🙂

To answer your question, no, it's not mandatory to have the desktop app to use Spotify on your mobile to play your local files. Keep in mind local files are files that aren't hosted by Spotify, but can be imported to Spotify from your own device.

So, take into account you can toggle on/off the Local files in your mobile From Settings> tap Local Files> Switch Show audio files. Just to clarify, currently, the Local Files feature lets you use the Spotify app to play any audio files stored on your device (e.g .mp3, .mp4, .m4a). So, with this function you'll see all the audio files you have in your phone (even recordings stored on your mobile). When toggling it off, you won't see any of them in the app.

In this case, from what you kindly mentioned above, we'd suggest checking the following:

• Some of your tracks may be protected in restricted formats. You can install QuickTime on your desktop to allow most of these tracks to be played on Spotify.
• Ensure the files aren’t DRM-protected. We’d recommend reading this interesting article to find out how.

We suggest you give a look at this article to have in mind all the things you might need to consider first.

If you checked the above, your local files were purchased and downloaded from an official source and even then you can't see them on the Spotify mobile app, we'll recommend to perform a clean reinstall of the app on your new device, to check if you notice any difference. You can find out the steps for a clean reinstall in this article.

Keep us in the loop!

[Musicisok21]

I reinstalled the app, still no luck. It seems to pick and choose what mp3 files it shows, as there are other completely unrestricted voice recordings I've personally made that don't show up either like you'd assume they would alongside the one that does show up (oddly). I may just wait for an update and hope for a patch for whatever I'm experiencing. Thanks for the time though I appreciate it.

[Lyubka]

Hey @Musicisok21,

Thanks for getting back to us!

Could you please try saving these files on a third party software? Sometimes, the files itself might be causing issues, not the Spotify app. 

Make sure also to check out supported Local files formats in the article that @AlejaR mentioned earlier.

Let us know how it goes.

[Musicisok21]

The files open fine on other applications that open mp3's like VLC (they are saved as mp3's by the way). I'm gonna try doing a clean install again, new device so I'm still trying to figure out where everything is, I'll keep you updated and let you know if I can get it to work.

[Skiddmurks]

I am the same, android 13 Samsung galaxy s22 ultra. No local files shkw

[Lyubka]

Hey there folks,

Thank you for your replies!

@Musicisok21 That's a great idea! We'll be keeping an eye out for your update.

@Skiddmurks In this case, we'd like to gather as much info as possible. Would you mind letting us know exactly what troubleshooting you've tried so far? This'll help us avoid repeating steps.
 

Don't hesitate to give us a shout if there's anything else we can help with in the meantime.

Cheers! 

[Skiddmurks]

I have done everything above, and still nothing. I'm kn a galaxy s22 ultra android 13.

[Musicisok21]

Hi again, I have completed a 2nd clean reinstall which still did not fix the issue. I've also totally re-encoded the song into an AAC (.m4a) which should have fixed any formating or DRM problems. Unfortunately still no luck 😞

[Musicisok21]

Scratch that I have found the solution (Or atleast for me)! If the song is not in the "Music" folder in your internal storage it will not show up in Spotify, moving my music to this folder seemed to make it appear in the app.

[MihailY]

Hey @Skiddmurks,

Thanks for getting back to us.

Would it be possible to try and re-save some of the files that don't work in a 3rd party audio editing app/software? Just open the file there and save it as a new one.

Let us know if that changes anything.

[Skiddmurks]

My .m4a files are in the music folder, located internal storage > music still don't show up. Done a further reinstall and still nothing

[Skiddmurks]

I have used a 3rd party app and saved it and drill nothing. I'm lost people 

[AlejaR]

Hey @Skiddmurks,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Would you mind sending us the exact Spotify version you have currently running on your device? Make sure both your device and the app are up to date.

On another note, keep in mind Spotify supports .mp3, .mp4, and .m4p files. It doesn’t support .mp4 files that contain video, or the iTunes lossless format (M4A). So, we'd suggest you re-save some of the files in a different format using a 3rd party audio editing app/software. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

Lastly, we suggest you log out and log in twice onto your Spotify account; this way the system will force a resync of your account.

Keep us in the loop!

[Skiddmurks]

am using version 8.7.82.94. The app is upto date. I have converted multiple songs to mp3 and they still don't show up. 

I have even tried opening the mp3 with Spotify. It states 'Spotify cannot play this right now, this song isn't available on your device'. The mp3 is within internal storage, music folder.

I have logged out multiple times and reinstalled. Still not working.

[Skiddmurks]

I have fixed it. I had to manually set the permissions for the app to allow photos and video. By default this doesn't happen!! Even after reinstalls! Also I am ae to play .m4a files.

[iklemp]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

iPhone 11

Operating System

(iOS 116.1)

My Question or Issue

After discovering that spotify does not sync offline songs from my library between desktop and iOS anymore (FU very much btw), I moved them manually to the phone, put them in a folder, turned on offline files in the iOS App and... nothing. The songs do not turn up. What now, spotify? Another feature that you cut without announcement!?

[MihailY]

Hey @Skiddmurks,

Thanks for letting us know!

We're glad to hear you were able to find the cause of the issue. Making sure that the app has all needed permissions enabled and is not limited by any battery or memory optimization services is always something that's worth checking.

Let us know if there's anything else.

[Skiddmurks]

That's fine making sure. But on installation or turning certain features on like local files should prompt this to be turned on. The app itself does not do that. I see this as an issue that needs addressing in future versions on Spotify.

[iklemp]

Why did my thread got moved in here? There is no solution here for iOS. Local files, neither from the PC nor from the iOS file system show up in the App.

And I ask again: Did you or did you not once again remove a feature without announcement?