Mobile data used although song is downloaded

[herzberger40]

Today I found out that spotify uses about 1 MB of my mobile data for 3 minutes of music even though the song is downloaded. Is this a Bug?

I use the latest versions of the spotify app (8.4.3.884) as well as IoS (10.3.2) with an Iphone 6.

Anybody with an idea? Thanks.

[cadmielp]

Hi @herzberger40 

Did you switch "On" the "Offline Mode" ?

[herzberger40]

No but why should I? It shouldn't take data when the song is downloaded or at least not that much...I still want to use other functionalities while playing downloaded songs which I can not use in offline mode.

[cadmielp]

That's why the Offline Mode is available, cause while you are using the rest of functionalities, the internet traffic data is neccesary, but  it use less data when you are listening downloaded songs. The Offline Mode blocks any traffic data interaction with the app. Other apps have that functionality too.

I hope I've answered your doubt. 🙂

Cheers!

[herzberger40]

I understand that but spotify uses 1MB for 3 minutes already downloaded music without me doing anything else than just listening. I have been using spotify for some years now and the app did not take that much data until recently. It takes almost the same amount of data as if I was streaming there must be something foul.

[cadmielp]

Hello again! @herzberger40

Sorry for the delayed response.

Until now, Spotify does use data even when listening to downloaded playlists. Meanwhile you can use the app in Offline Mode or over WiFi if possible, especially when the app is starting up.

Your concern is very important and I've passed your comments to the relevant folks of Spotify. 😉

Have a nice day. 🙂

Cheers!

[LoganHelps]

It could be the behind the lyrics, you can turn that off in settings, also try offline mode, I've had to do that.

[Soupchef]

Exactly! Four years after your post, they have done nothing to correct this issue. Telling you to switch to offline mode is not a solution. You should not have to manually toggle offline mode off and on in order to keep your playlists up to date without gobbling up our mobile data. Every other service I use has figured this out.

[Mouth_Michaels]

I too am frustrated with this. Playing downloaded songs should be the default automatically. Lately, when I'm driving in an area with low cell coverage, my downloaded playlist just stops. Also happens in the back of my apartment where I have spotty wifi. 

[v-ea1ya_46so]

Hi,

Im experiencing a problem alike this. However when I activate offline mode nothing works and I can assure you that I’m playing downloaded playlist. So when I try to play downloaded songs on offline mode nothing works and normally it requires data or else I just hear nothing and the song doesn’t play. 

[MihailY]

Hey @v-ea1ya_46so,

Thanks for reaching out.

Can you send us a short video or a few screenshots of how things look on your end, so we can investigate further? In the meantime, you can try reinstalling the app as described here to see if that fixes the issue.

Keep us posted!

[Felxx4]

That's because this isn't an issue. Spotify upgrades the quality of the downloaded music to whatever your network connection allows. For example, you download your music in low quality, in order to safe storage. If you're the streaming and your connection allows it, spotify will stream the music in high quality, as far as I understand.

[Completelycool]

Is there a way to make it not do that? I want it to just play at the quality it's downloaded at. 

[Felxx4]

Depending on the quality you downloaded the songs in, the app may automatically "upgrade" the streaming quality depending on your settings and the available network connection. You could limit the streaming quality to your download quality or select a higher download quality. Turning off mobile data or using the app in offline mode are your other options.

There could still be data used for videos or Lyrics tho.

[Eatwell]

This issue is also happening to my husband. He has downloaded all music, sets to offline mode to stop using data but then he can only listen to about 4 songs on repeat even though there’s a huge number downloaded. It’s been a problem for years. 

[Bas23]

But it's doing the exact reverse in my case, I have downloaded my library in high quality and set streaming to low. But when I play without setting to offline it will stream the song in low quality and ignore the download, which is the worst of both worlds. 

I cannot see how you could get this wrong. Can't possibly be so difficult to select the cached high quality copy if it exists 

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this here in the Community. 

@Eatwell, would you mind checking if your husband has followed these exact steps to listen to his downloaded content? If so, could you let us know if this happens with all his playlists or only with a specific one? Additionally, sending us a short screen recording of the issue happening would come in handy. You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it).

@Bas23, playing offline content shouldn't consume data, but not turning Offline mode on might consume some data as the app needs an active connection to sync with our servers and provide the other features not available while offline. Having said that, if you don't turn this option on, the app might start streaming and as you set the streaming quality to low that setting would kick in instead of the one you set to your downloads. 

We'll be on the lookout. 

[italdesign]

There should be a setting for only using downloaded content and never using data when not on Wifi.  I understand this may be the same as turning on offline mode, but it's annoying to turn that on and off every day when I'm out and about vs at home with Wifi.  I just want to set it once and be done.