When does Spotify use my downloaded songs?

[idkjustaguy]

For example, if I have internet conection but i've previously downloaded the song, where does the music i'm listening to comes from? Thanks

[Ivan]

Hey there @idkjustaguy, 

Thanks for searching for the answer you need here! 
 

Keep in mind the Spotify app uses your downloaded content only in case you're not connected to the Internet. 

The Internet connection is initially required for downloading. Then you need to go online at least once every 30 days to keep your music and podcasts downloaded.  

Make sure to check this help page in case you need further help with your offline content. 

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions.  

[robigouk]

Hi @Ivan

just to clarify, if I have a song downloaded yet I'm connected say via 4G/mobile data, the app will still stream/use data even though the song is already on my device downloaded?

[Ivan]

Hey @idkjustaguy, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

When connected to the Internet, the Spotify app will stream the track even if you have it previously downloaded on your device. This will make the app consume mobile data. 

If you want to listen to your offline content when connected to a network without the app making use of your mobile data you can visit the Settings and switch on the Offline mode feature. Take a look at this article if you need more help with this.   

Let us know how you get on! We'll be here in case you need any further help with this. 

[Bas23]

This is so incredibly stupid and user unfriendly. And should be a 5 minute fix for anyone who knows their way around in the code (check if a local copy exists in the right quality, if yes then use that). 

I have downloaded my library in high quality, but don't want to set the app to offline since I want to have the option to listen to stuff that I do not happen to have available offline, even if 80-90% of the time the song I want is in my library. So instead of switching all the time leave it to online mode. 

I have a highest quality local copy, but an on a pretty limited mobile connection so set mobile streaming to low. However instead of using a high quality copy when it can and reverting to low quality when it has to, it now streams everything in low quality the whole time , which is the worst possible option available.

Pretty inexcusable error, especially since it seems to have been around for a couple of years.