Apple watch downloads dont work offline

[Slartybartfast]

I have an apple watch SE, all IOS versions are up to date (watch and phone). If I download a playlist, spotify refuses to play it through my watch (as a device) unless the watch is 1. Connected to my WiFi, and 2. Disconnected from my phone. This completely defeats the point of downloading a playlist for offline use. Further, if my phone is connected to my watch it refuses to play from my watch at all, and will just start playing from my phone.

I have tried:
- Updating IOS versions
- Turning my watch off and on again
- Deleting the spotify app and downloading it and the playlist (twice)
- Force closing the app and re-starting it
- Deleting and redownloading spotify on my phone
- Trying WiFi and Bluetooth off and on in every combo.

[Medikast]

I have been facing the similar issue in my new apple watch ultra 2, in my case i dont even have a downloaded bar in my spotify in watch. I have tried everything till now- clean reinstalling, installing,turning off

[KeithAbb0tt]

Yes, I should have mentioned in my post(s) above that when the downloaded music disappears, the "Downloads" bar also disappears.  The only remaining bars displayed at that point are "Albums", "Artists", and "Playlists".

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for your replies. 

In this case, we suggest that you try all the steps you can find in this FAQ to see if those make the difference for you. 

On another note, could you send us a photo where we can see that the "Downloads" bar is missing? You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert image option in the post editor. Make sure not to send any private info.

We'll be on the lookout.

[KeithAbb0tt]

I will definitely post a photo the next time the downloads disappear.  Fortunately, the app has been behaving itself since my post 12 days ago, so I think deleting and reinstalling the iPhone app did help.  Also, if it happens again, I'll follow the steps outlined in your post.  Thanks!

[KeithAbb0tt]

It's been over a month since any of my downloaded music has disappeared, so I am going to close this forum topic.  I believe that performing a clean reinstall of the app on my smartphone may have solved the problem.

[JMorten]

This happens not after any specific update. All downloaded music are gone infrequently. I uninstalled spotify premium on my phone an reinstalled on both iphone and watch. Both are updated to the latest version. Still, a few days later all was gone when I came to the gym.

[Maria]

Hey @JMorten,

Thanks for reaching out in this thread!

Just to confirm, did you try the troubleshooting steps in the FAQ mentioned by @Eni earlier in the thread?

Shouldn't that do the trick, could you let us know the make and model of your devices, along with the OS versions?

Let us know how you get on.

[Bobolo]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

Apple watch series 5 32gb wifi

Operating System

Version 10.6

My Question or Issue

Whenever I try and use Spotify offline mode to listen to a playlist of 100 songs without my phone present, it works 20% of the time.

Whenever I switch the device to the watch and my phone is anywhere nearby it auto forces back to the phone - bug

Whenever I kill the Spotify application on my watch, it still has all the previous data of what it was doing and doesn't effectively restart to fix any of those issues - bug

Whenever I turn off my phone and Spotify forces itself into offline mode, it won't allow me to switch the song from now playing to anything else. Even when going to playlists and trying to start the offline playlist - bug

Whenever I connect the watch with my phone, start the playlist that is downloaded for offline mode, turn off my phone, the playlist stops, refuses to skip a song, and just locks up - bug

Usually I have to uninstall the app off the watch, reinstall it and then re download the playlist to fix the issue, which then allows it to work for about a week.

The watch has plenty of space available for songs, so that is not the issue. There are multiple bugs listed here that have made it near impossible to use my watch as the only music listening device when engaging in athletic activity.

I'm looking for a solution that isn't reinstall and download the songs whenever it decides it's not feeling it anymore.

Thanks

[ABlock]

Same issue with palle watch ultra, all Spotify downloads get wiped every 2 days

[AlejaR]

Hey there @ABlock,

Thanks for posting here and welcome.

Would you mind letting us know any troubleshooting steps you've tried so far? That way we can avoid repeating any steps. If you haven't yet, we'd suggest:

• Perform a clean reinstall of the app on your smartphone. By doing that, the app can be up-to-date, and you can make sure some damaged cache is not leading to this inconvenience. You can find out the steps for doing it here.
• Take a look at your settings on your Apple Watch. Under Music, make sure that Optimized Storage is turned off (this option is not available in all Apple Watch models).

If the above doesn't do the trick, please send us:

• The OS of both your Apple Watch and your mobile device.
• The exact Spotify version you're running in both.

Keep us in the loop!

[JMorten]

yes, the with delete of cache worked out

thxs

[brettbe]

I have downloaded a playlist to my watch.

It has played on my run away from the phone and wifi in the past (as recently as last week), but today it stopped playing mid-run and mid-song (gave "Check connection" message, but the whole point of downloaded playlist is that no connection should be needed).

After returning home to wifi and my phone, I still cannot get the downloaded playlist to play.

Wondering why this isn't listed in the "Ongoing Issues" list since there are reports from many users over a long period of time about offline playback on Apple Watch.

[brettbe]

Happened to me again!

Workaround to get it working - uninstall Spotify from Apple Watch, re-install Spotify, re-download playlist to Watch.

Went on run and it worked.

About a week later, went on run and playlist started working heading out from home (and wifi) but stopped early into the run.

When I got home, figured out that my playlist had been un-downloaded. How does that happen?

[brettbe]

Happened yet again!

Before going on a run, checked my playlist to find it had been un-downloaded again.

Come on, Spotify! You really need to get to the bottom of these problems.

[Rexxu]

Having this same issue, downloaded musics would disappear after a day from installing them which is annoying. I did try the solutions:
> Performing a clean reinstall of Spotify
> Updating both the Software of the iPhone and the Watch
> Reinstall Spotify again after the update
> And no, there is no optimized storage under the music tab in the iPhone

The devices currently runs iOS 16.7.10 & WatchOS 9.6.3. Spotify build is 8.9.82.628. The downloads has disappear about 4 times now and I have tried the solution about 3 times so far.

[Dessi]

Hi there @Rexxu,

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the Spotify Community!

It'd be great if you can give the steps you haven't tried from this troubleshooting guide a shot - force close and restart the app, reboot the watch and reset the network settings on your iPhone. Can you also try downloading the content to your watch on a different network to see if the downloads still disappear afterwards?

Let us know how it goes.

[Rexxu]

I have tried all of the steps besides the "Reset Network Settings on the iPhone" which I'm currently testing, I will try the other solution of downloading with a different network if the issue still persists after trying all of the steps on the troubleshoot guide.

[BHattingh]

There is no such setting on apple watch as music?

[sptfyapplwtchbroken]

I can consistently reproduce this issue. None of the suggestions fix the problem. It has been happening for weeks. I can download just fine. But as soon as I start listening to offline music, it removes all of my downloads within a few seconds. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app and the same thing still happens every single time.

[Voltix12]

Same problem on my apple watch and your tips did not help at all.