Custom Songs won’t play on iphone

[eska]

Plan

Premium

Device

iPhone 11 Pro Max

My Question or Issue

I added some custom songs through my pc and I can listen to those no problem on my pc, but when it comes to my iphone they’re unplayable. Can’t seem to sync them and download them on my iphone

[Prague]

Barking good to see you eska!

It's possible that the issue you're experiencing with custom songs not playing on your iPhone could be related to syncing or downloading. Here are a few things you can try to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Check that your iPhone is connected to the internet: Make sure that your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data, as you may not be able to download or stream songs without an internet connection.

2. Sync your local files with your iPhone: If you've added custom songs to your Spotify library on your PC, you'll need to make sure that those songs are also synced to your iPhone. To do this, connect your iPhone to your PC and make sure that the "Sync local files" option is turned on in the Spotify desktop app settings. Then, select the custom songs you want to sync and click the "Download" button to download them to your iPhone.

3. Make sure your custom songs are in a compatible format: Spotify only supports certain file formats, so if your custom songs are in a different format, they may not play on your iPhone. Spotify supports MP3, MP4, M4A, and M4R file formats.

4. Restart the Spotify app: Sometimes, simply restarting the Spotify app on your iPhone can help resolve playback issues.

My ears are perked up and waiting for updates!

-Prague the Dog

[eska]

Where can I find the “Sync local files”? I cant find it on neither my iphone or pc

[Prague]

Looks like that was old information! Try this out. 

If you are trying to play custom songs on Spotify on your iPhone, it is important to note that Spotify does not support the playback of local files on its mobile app. This means that if you have added custom songs to your PC and you want to play them on Spotify on your iPhone, you will first need to upload the songs to your Spotify account using the desktop app.

Here's how you can upload custom songs to your Spotify account:

1. Open the Spotify desktop app on your PC and go to the "Settings" menu.
2. Scroll down to the "Local Files" section and click on "Add a Source". Select the folder where your custom songs are stored.
3. Once you have added the folder containing your custom songs, go to the "Local Files" section in the left-hand menu.
4. Select the custom songs you want to upload to Spotify and add them to a new or existing playlist.
5. Make sure that your PC and iPhone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
6. Open the Spotify app on your iPhone and go to the playlist that contains your custom songs.
7. Tap on the "Download" toggle button at the top of the playlist to download the songs to your iPhone.

Once the songs are downloaded to your iPhone, you should be able to play them on Spotify even if you are offline.

[MattSuda]

Some of this might be redundant and already mentioned in the previous posts, but I thought it might help.

There are 2 ways to add Local Files to the iOS app. These also work similar for the Android app.

I prefer using the second way (WiFi) listed below.

First you will want to go into the Spotify iOS app settings --> Playback and make sure to turn off "hide unplayable songs" so you can see the Local Files, but they will be greyed out before they are synced. (They only show up grey before being synced if you are using the second way listed below)

● iOS: First way is to import the files to the iTunes app on your computer and then sync these to the Apple Music app on your iPhone and then allow Spotify iOS app to import these files. You will then see a playlist in Your Library with a green folder with a blue background with your local files inside.

https://community.spotify.com/t5/FAQs/Local-File-Discovery-iOS/ta-p/5384985

Android: You can import local files that are stored directly on your phone

https://support.spotify.com/article/local-files/

● iOS and Android: The second way is to add the folder where your files are located on your computer as a Local Files location in the Spotify desktop app settings and then sync them to your phone over WiFi.

Spotify desktop app settings --> Turn on show local files and then add the source location. Then go to Your Library --> Local Files list. Create a new playlist named "Local Files" then use keyboard shortcut either CMD + A or CTRL + A to highlight all the Local Files and drag from the Your Library section to this newly created playlist.

Then on your iPhone, connect to the same WiFi network that your computer is using and make sure the Spotify desktop app is still open. Then in the Spotify iOS app, go find the "Local Files" playlist you just made in the desktop app and then tap on the download icon. Once it finishes syncing the local files over WiFi, you should see them all there. You might also then see a playlist in Your Library with a green folder with a blue background with your local files inside just like you do when using the other method. The reason for creating your own "Local Files" playlist is so you can actually download them. It seems that the green folder playlist is mainly meant for the ones you import from Apple Music, even though it will also show the ones you have synced from the desktop app over WiFi. If this second method does not work, you can try doing the first method listed. This first method listed was added because a lot of people had issues getting the local files to sync over WiFi since sometimes your WiFi settings can make the transfer not work correctly.

https://support.spotify.com/article/local-files/

[eska]

I give up that doesn’t work either 

[phuonganh]

That doesn’t work 😞

[SkySi]

I also found that none of these methods worked.

The way I managed to get it working was to put the custom songs onto my iPhone using iTunes.  This puts them into the default "Music" app.  Once the files were in there they were no longer greyed out in Spotify and would play directly from my phone in Spotify.