Mark playlist for offline sync?

[jkelly37]

Plan

Premium

Operating System

iOS 14

My Question or Issue

I have some local files that I have on my laptop and I managed to get them in the playlist I want. However, I cannot play these songs on my iPhone despite having the playlist downloaded on both devices. My Spotify app says to "Mark the playlist containing this song for Offline Sync" but I cannot find this option anywhere. I have googled this issue a lot but nothing is working and there are no updated solutions that I can find.

[MoXD]

That worked for me too !
Ty man

[Jeremy]

Hi there folks,

Thank you for your posts in this thread.

@MoXD - we're really glad to hear that everything works as expected for you again 🙂

@skayayeuh - can you let us know if you've checked what @Eni provided in the answer above?

f that doesn't do the trick - can you try the following:

• Add some songs from our catalogue to the playlist as well as the local file/s and make sure they have ‘Show unavailable songs in playlists’ turned on in Settings

• Play some music on the device that has the local files to see if it shows via Connect on the other device

• Make sure the router supports the Bonjour protocol. If the router is made after 2005, it will likely have this protocol. The best way to handle this is to check the router make/model and Google it

Keep us posted 🙂

Take care!

[ChaosZX88]

So for me, I just got an Iphone 11. And after a while, I found that if you go Spotify > then the settings gear at the HOME page > scroll all the way down and find [Local Files] > allow local audio files (sync) > and then make sure you have the playlist containing the song(s) and download that. Hope that helps!

[Jeremy]

Hi there @ChaosZX88,

Thank you for your reply.

It's really nice of you to share what worked for you to other users.

Let us know if there's anything we can help you out with.

Cheers!

[juliocsxav]

I have the same problem but none of these procedures listed here helped me. 

I downloaded the playlist on my PC and my iPhone and changed the network. Also, the app is allowed to access local network on the iPhone settings. Still, no luck.

I've found a different message, though. I opened the app on my iPhone and on my PC at the same time, then I played the track on my PC and changed the device to my iPhone and a message appeared on the screen which said I had to mark the playlist containing this song for Offline Sync, but I couldn't find this option.

Is there anything else I can try? It's a real shame I can't play songs I've got on my computer...

Thanks in advance.

[carlkierman]

hi

no matter what i do i cant seem to get my local files to sync over onto my iphone. Sometimes it comes up saying that there are no devices available for syncing and other times it comes up that there is one device available for syncing. When playing a local file on my desktop, a pop up comes up on my phone saying 'Sont Not Downloaded' but when i follow the steps on there, i cant find an option to mark the playlist for offline.

ive got a screenshot that shows the last song in the playlist visible on my phone is Kiss My (Uh Oh) but the same playlist as seen on my desktop shows that theres more songs there which are local files which wont synch to my phone (Ive blurred out the songs)

[Xenia]

Hey folks,

Thanks for reaching out about this here on the Community!

There's another thread on a similar issue with some suggestions worth trying here - make sure you also have the settings enabled mentioned by @kokot1.

Hope this helps! Let us know how you get on.

[Trazyn]

Right, so, I followed all the steps and got the song on my iPhone- which is up to date on both OS and Spotify. Moment of truth...and it stays up for a split second and then stops, never once playing. If the offline sync not even working made me a bit mad, this is just infuriating. 

Please help!

[MafeG]

Hi @Trazyn,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community. 

Could you create an internet hotspot with your phone, then connect your computer to it and download the playlist again? 

If it doesn't do the trick, please check this thread with a solution proposed by another user and that has worked for some.

Let us know how this goes.

[woodwindz]

After trying every single trick, nothing works. Local network enabled, deleted and reinstalled the app, tried on multiple networks, did your stupid playlist trick that doesn't work, nothing. This is pathetic for a multi billion dollar company. This has been an issue since at least 2015. Over 7 years with the same bug, still no fix. And no, I shouldn't have to delete the app and redownload 29 gigabites of music. That's obscene. If you can't make a functional app, then why the f*** are we paying you money? Insanity. 

[oturk]

There is no 'Local network' setting in Settings > Apps > Spotify.

I wonder why Spotify can't do a better job of organizing menus in the app, in the desktop version, and in the web player. It's almost always so difficult to figure out what needs to be done even after reading these help threads.

[sonjakzk]

I'm having issues as well. My phone says 1 device is available to sync but there is no other prompt. As I play the song on my laptop, it shows it playing on my phone. If I try to switch the audio output to the iphone, it says I need to mark the playlist for offline sync and it will "magically" appear on my iphone. How do I mark for ofline sync? I downloaded it already and nothing has changed. The song shows up on my laptop but not my phone playlist.

[Novy]

Hey @sonjakzk,

Thanks for your reply in this thread 🙂
 

Could you share with us the troubleshooting you’ve already done? Keep in mind to sync local files from one device to another, the user must be actively logged in to both devices with Spotify open and on the same network. Also, Local files can be turned on/off in the Settings menu. That being said, please make sure to turn on local files on settings and to be logged on the same network. 

Note: Take into account files or downloads from illegal sources are not permitted. If your files aren't from an official or supported source, this may be why it isn’t working. Ensure the files aren’t DRM-protected. We’d recommend reading this interesting article to find out how.

Lastly, can you let us know the exact make/model and OS of your device along with the Spotify version you use?

We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

Cheers!

[getawaycar]

If anyone else still couldn't sync your files from your computer to your phone, despite following the steps above, I suggest you open your Spotify app and go to Settings > Local files > switch on. 

Basically, you need to turn on Local files on your computer and phone.

Hope this helps! 🙂

[Zachan22]

Don’t work for me as well

[Eni]

Hey @Zachan22,

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community. 

Could you let us know which troubleshooting steps you've already tried? That way we can avoid any repeating steps. 
 

On another note, we'd like to know on what devices you're having issues with the local files.  

We'll be on the lookout.

[1nvm]

there is no 'enable desktop sync option' on my phone's settings

[Kiril]

Hey @1nvm,

Thanks for posting in the Community!

There were recent changes on how 'Local files' work, and the synchronization over the local network is not supported. You can still have your 'Local files' streamed on your mobile or any other device, when the actual files are present on that device as well.  You can read more on this topic and how it works now here.

Hope you find this useful. Keep us posted if you have any questions.

[sirpollywog]

Offline Sync is a stupid way of saying of downloaded. What ended up doing it for me was stopping the firewall on my (windows) computer for the period of time when synced the songs. After the firewall is down, make sure the playlist is downloaded on the computer and that u are on the same wifi as the phone, then un-download it on ur phone the download it again (should be for real this time).

[J94ever]

This still isn’t working for me.