Why does Spotify App take up so much space on iPhone?

[mattrendell27]

I tried to download the new iOS 8 only to find out my iPhone doesn't have enough capacity to download it.  I checked my usage settings and it turns out the Spotify App is taking up 4.7 GB of space on my iPhone (exactly the amount of free space I need to download iOS 8).  I went to one of the biggest playlists I'm following in Spotify (543 songs) and clicked "unfollow this playlist" and it only reduced it from 5.0 GB to 4.7 GB.  I'm only following three other playlists with around 300 songs each.  Is there something else I have to do to reduce the amount of space the app is taking up? 

[olenickdesigns]

Im about to stop using their service if I cant find a way around putting 3333 songs on my phone and having to seperate them into playlists(kidding me?) and deleting the app? I tried deleting and re installing to get rid of "Max downloads bs" so I can re-setup who I want to listen to...none of which were in playlists....re-install app...boom all artists gone. cool to have to look for 150+ artists again only to have to put them in literal playlists... after all the cool features of spotify, how could they not fix such a seemingly easy developer fix. beyond me...good job guys, keep taking peoples money.

[SarahH1981]

This has been frustrating me for months so I am so glad I found this thread!  Deleting and reinstalling the App has helped a lot but I don't think this is a reasonable long-term solution.   VERY ANNOYING!

[kovoor]

The Spotify iOS app is seriously in need of a button to Clear the Cache.

It’s utterly stupid that Spotify having over 100 million total listeners all over the world has no solution to this other than having both of us delete the app and reinstall every f****** time.

Moreover, I have a 16GB iPhone 5. I know, I should upgrade, but with Apple giving us no options to clear the cache of any of its apps, its just downright unfair. (if you're an Android user and you're reading this, then you're pretty lucky)

So far I have only found these 8 ways to reduce Spotify's storage on iPhone to work with my iPhone 5 16GB..

Here's the guide guys, I hope it helps you guys too! 🙂

8 Ways to Reduce Spotify's Storage on iPhone

[kcarabio]

I am confused by (the first) answer in this thread since the only reason I pay for Spotify Premium is so I can listen to my playlists offline. Am I missing something? 

[kcarabio]

Agree.  Another reason to just give up on iCloud (unending problems with Outlook-iCloud 'interface'). Photo storage of my iphone by iCloud is what really used up all my remaining 5G alloted. And I don't want to BUY more, since it's so easy to get free online storage of photos, even without mentioning the easy fix of selecting Photo Streaming instead of Photo Library in iCloud settings. But I still have problems with Outlook.  All I really need to do with iCloud is back up my phone.  Everything else iCloud 'offers' I get with other apps and software. 

[kcarabio]

Thanks for the link.  Will check out the 8 ways....As long as one of them isn't using Spotify with no music available for offline use.

[user-removed]

Seriously Spotify, I've got a 90MB app taking up 5.86GB of space because you don't allow us to clear the cache? Get this fixed please

[Nickson1988]

Totally agree, of course there's no problem in using cache. But at least give the user the option to clear it, or set an option for automatic clearing. I'm not going to remove and reinstall my app every week.

We can land people on the moon and get them back here alive, but we can't use an app without its cache munching all our free space? 

[Habdank]

Hi,

Is there any other good way to clear Spotify's cashes?

I would rather expect feature like - setting the cashe limit to some given size in e.g. MB.

This would let user to decide how much she or he will give to the app.

Spotify shall on its own in background delete too much useless/old stuff.

Perhaps settings shall be splited in two parts - cashes and space for complete off-line songs.

Currently my Spotify used so much space, that other apps are starved.

Best regards,

Seweryn.

[BlackNovaWolf]

If they don't fix it soon I'm migrating to Apple Music...

[CEvans01]

So... I don't have Spotify Premium, but my Spotify accounts is taking up 2 GB. I do not have many albums or playlists. I deleted my previous account and opened a new account and now, I have less albums and it is taking up way to much space. Why?! I'm afraid to delete my app now since I've done it twice and nothing has happened except all my albums go away. Help please! Also, my Spotify app is on a iPad. 

[user-removed]

Unfortunately, Spotify has no intention of addressing this issue. A thread in the Ideas forum requesting a "clear cache" button received thousands of likes before a Spotify representative confirmed that they have no plans to add this feature. The thread has since been deleted.

[BlackNovaWolf]

This is absolutely appalling, Spotify needs to address this; subscription to playlists shouldn’t take device storage at all. I can bet that if all the subscribers felt the same and decided to (at the same time) stop paying for the service. Spotify would surely act then wouldn’t they...

[CEvans01]

Ugh! So I have to live like this forever now? I loved you Spotify! Now, I'm beginning to really hate you!

[CEvans01]

So, I just deleted my Spotify app and reinstalled it. It now only takes up 86.7 MB. Much better than 2.8 GB. Woohoo! So far so good! 🙂

[CEvans01]

Never mind, MB is going up. It was at 86.7 and now it is at 117. ); UGG!

[BlackNovaWolf]

It's beyond ridiculous, and they say they won't address it. Like saying the people paying for the service, nah we don't give a damm what you want...

[Shaoleung]

There are so many great things about Spotify. Several minor details that are annoying but I am willing to overlook. This memory issue is a deal breaker though. Why a streaming music app needs to take 3GB of memory on my phone is beyond me. Very frustrating. 90% of the time I'm using WIFI and have no offline content. Going back to Pandora.

[Guido · Accepted solution]

Hey all,

Dropping by to give you some further info about Spotify Storage.

Spotify uses your device’s available memory to:

• Store temporary, or snippets of, music for streaming (i.e. as cache). This means that when you press play, you hear the music immediately with few interruptions.
• Store downloaded music if you listen offline (Premium only).

To free up some space or fix common issues, you can clear your cache or manage where your downloads are stored.

How to clear cache on desktop:

1. Click in the top-right corner of the desktop app and select Settings.
2. Scroll down and click SHOW ADVANCED SETTINGS.
3. Scroll down to Offline songs storage to see where your cache is stored.
   Tip: Click CHANGE LOCATION to store your cache somewhere else.
4. Go to that folder on your computer.
5. Select and delete all the files in that folder.

How to clear cache on iPhone:

Note: After clearing the app’s cache, you’re logged out, and your login details are cleared. You’ll need to resync any offline music, and reselect your preferred settings after logging back in.

On iPhone, Spotify saves downloaded music in an encrypted form on your device’s storage. If you need more room for a new download, iOS automatically frees up space by deleting any unused stored data. If no more stored data can be deleted, you need to free up space by manually removing downloaded tracks.

Clear cache on Android:

Note: After clearing the app’s cache, you’re logged out, and your login details are cleared. You’ll need to resync any offline music, and reselect your preferred settings after logging back in.

1. Tap Home.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Scroll to Storage, and select Delete cache.
4. Tap Delete cache.

Further info about Android devices.

If your Android device has an external SD card, you can download Spotify music to it, instead of the device's internal memory.

Tip: Make sure your SD card has at least 1GB free space. The storage option only appears if your SD Card is available and accessible.

1. Tap Home.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Other, then Storage.
4. Select where you want to save your downloaded music.
5. Tap OK. The transfer takes a few minutes, depending on the size of your library. You can still listen to Spotify as normal during the transfer. Spotify restarts afterwards.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have further questions.

Have a nice day!