Apple Watch - Adding New Tracks to Downloaded Playlist

[spotzz]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

(iPhone 8, Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular))

Operating System

(iOS 14.6, Apple Watch OS 7.5)

My Question or Issue

After finally navigating how to download a playlist to my Apple Watch, I am now unsure of how to add tracks to this downloaded playlist beyond deleting the entire playlist, adding tracks, then re-downloading the entire playlist with added tracks.

When I add a new track to this playlist on my phone, it does not automatically download the new track to the downloaded playlist on my Apple Watch. And there is obviously no option to add individual tracks to the Apple Watch in any way.

So, am I correct that the only solution to updating downloaded playlists on the Apple Watch is to un-download the playlist from the Apple Watch, add/remove tracks from the playlist on the iPhone and then re-download the playlist onto the Apple Watch?

[Julian · Accepted solution]

Hey there @spotzz,

Welcome to the Community! We're happy to shed some light into this.

We've tested the Apple Watch on our end, and can confirm that in order to synchronize new songs with a playlist, it's necessary to remove it, add the songs and then download it again on the watch. 

If this is something you'd like to see implemented in the future, we'd recommend adding your vote and feedback to support this idea.

We always take new ideas and feedback into consideration to improve the app. Here you can read more on how ideas work.

Hope this helps.

[edma]

This isn't a solution - it is a clumsy workaround. I use Spotify on my watch to run without having to carry my phone with me. Every time I add a song to a playlist I want to take out with me I have to remove the entire playlist and wait for the painfully slow download of the entire playlist again. Spotify Apple Watch implementation has felt quite late nineties since day one and this kind of poorly thought out approach just adds another layer of frustration. This is compounded by having a really low quality download instead of allowing the user to pick a limited number of tracks that can be downloaded to the watch at a normal (min 256kbps) listening quality.

[sonofanickel]

I have the same use case - running with just my watch, not my phone. Redownloading the playlist every time I want to listen to a new song I’ve added is basically a non-starter. It’s too slow. 

[Karskit98]

This is stupid

[conorfl]

The linked idea doesn't seem related to auto-syncing updates to playlists. It's about viewing the history of your listening, am I missing something?

[Uchmahn]

Please this is not a fix, please work on this

[billgoodin]

Definitely ill thought out functionality. Can't believe this would pass functional review this way. My Apple Watch Ultra says it supports 10,000 songs but no way I am going to go through the pain of removing my list every time I want to add a new song or songs, to re-add the 9000 other song there. Bad functionality. Please fix. Logical user functionality should not have to be "voted" on to add. Your product owner should know this and add it to your backlog immediately. 

[MusicRun]

Please work on this. Since Spotify works based on a synced experience across devices, as you can see by the comments we all expected that a previously downloaded playlist on the Apple Watch should update to include any new tracks added to the playlist. Any other mode of behavior is counter intuitive. 

[UCDREW]

This is not a "solution." This should just work without a workaround and should not require feedback. Nonsense. 

[Jonathanlinford]

This should work like having a downloaded playlist on your phone does. At the VERY LEAST, have a "sync" button on the apple watch playlist page so you can refresh. Is something like this in the works?

[2gotgrossman]

I found a hack around this!!! 

Say you have playlist "Watch". On iPhone, click on the ... options and click "Add to other playlist". Create a new playlist ("Watch 2"). Download it to your Apple Watch and the old playlist should auto-update. You can then delete "Watch 2"

[2gotgrossman]

I found a hack around this

Say you have playlist "Watch". On iPhone, click on the ... options and click "Add to other playlist". Create a new playlist ("Watch 2"). Download it to your Apple Watch and the old playlist should auto-update. You can then delete "Watch 2"