Spotify Not Working Offline on Apple Watch

[jskiing360]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Apple Watch SE

Operating System

watchOS 9.0

My Question or Issue

I have an apple watch SE and downloaded a spotify playlist to play offline.  If I turn on my apple watch and my phone is not nearby, then when I open the spotify app it won't play my downloaded playlist.  It will only work if my phone is nearby for a few minutes to "sync".  Then I can leave my phone to workout and the spotify app will work fine.  It shouldn't need to pair with my phone to play a downloaded playlist.

[BrandonFon]

Same issue here. This is unacceptable. The only reason I bought this watch was so I would run without my phone and listen to offline music. I’ll be switching to Apple Music.

[rachael_c]

I have had issues with Spotify on my watch for almost a year now. Completely unacceptable. Do better and fix this. 

[maltma]

Same issue with my apple watch, your engineers are so bad. 

[Lebrowser21]

same thing for me..  reinstalling the app/ redownloading the songs didn't change anything. 
Last Version of Spotify with Apple Watch Series 7 WatchOS 9.3.1 and IOS16.5 on iPhone 13 Pro.

Hope you can resolve this problem soon, Spotify is kinda unusable without my phone rn.

[stnoappmju59a0sno3jw]

Same thing for me.
Apple Watch SE (A2351) on WatchOS 9.5.2 with Spotify 
iPhone 13 Pro on iOS 16.5.1 with Spotify 8.8.46.565

Indeed, Apple Music works offline... 😕

[annoyed_user2023]

stop providing troubleshooting steps and work on fixing the issues. really it doesn't work for anyone. if you respect your users at least remove the option "download to iwatch" if you can't make it work for years. 

[Jerath95]

I have the same issue, I wouldn't have bought the watch if I couldnt use spotify while running. Maybe I should just use Apple Music from now on.

[bpomeroy03]

same issue here

[tkeating4]

I was having this same issue but got it working!!!!

1. Removed all downloaded content (albums, playlists, and podcasts) within the Watch App.
2. Went to my library in the Watch App and downloaded a playlist from there, did not push to Watch from phone.
3. Once downloaded, listened to the playlist from phone, then on the Watch and used the icon in the bottom right to change from listening on phone to watch.

Might have been a fluke but I can now use my watch offline again!

[bobmoff]

Dito!

[Hhurtado]

Same issue here and none of the resolutions work. 

[Matte03]

Same problem please Spotify do something

[SA119]

Same issue here. Apple Watch Series 8, iPhone 13 Pro Max, all software updated to the latest versions. Can't play my downloaded playlists when running outdoors. I can see the lists/songs and try to play them, but nothing happens, the app just takes me back to show what is being played and it shows the last track I've been listening when connected to the phone. And its not playing, just stuck. I've restarted spotify app multiple times with the same result. This is very disappointing, I've specifically checked that Spotify premium subscribers can play downloaded playlists before buying Apple Watch. I see that this issue has been reported multiple times but Spotify chooses to ignore it (I don't consider all the silly suggestions to reinstall/restart the app or the OS on the watch or on the phone as real attempts to investigate and fix the issue). I've been a premuim subscriber (family plan) for 5+ years, but if this is issue is not fixed promptly, I'll be switching to Apple Music in the nearest future.   

[Rez6586]

Same issue here! Try to fix the service that you are charging people for. I will switch to Apple Music after this month's subscription is over.

[seanrleahy]

I’m also having this problem on occasion. Before a run I wait until I am out of range of my phone before turning on my headphones, which appear to connect to the watch properly, but playing anything downloaded just does nothing. If I go back to within distance of my phone I can play from the watch using that as a speaker, but only whatever I have been most recently playing from the phone.

This is a constant error, and very annoying as it’s not something fixable once I’m half way down the road.

[mobokeeg]

Same problem here. Come on guys... it's been months and you can't get this to work. plus you advertise offline listening on Apple Watch. So add me to the list of people switching to Apple Music.

[StoBro]

This is quite the reason I bought the Apple Watch and continued to use Spotify. If this isn’t fixed with watch OS 10 I’m moving to Apple Music 

[thomas_vdlaan]

36 people who have this problem and no reply from Spotify... Indeed, if this isn't fixed in Watch OS 10 im also switching to apple music

[dreadprtroberts]

So lots of folks are having this same issue, Including me: iphone 14 pro max ios 16.6, watch series 8 os 9.5.2 

Have done clean installs to no avail. Downloaded playlists will not play while offline. This issue was brought up in March and it still isn’t fixed. I’m a Spotify premium family user and like everyone else commenting, could use some support here. 

[LondonListener1]

Same issue for me. Very annoying as it used to work fine until recently.