Spotify is an online music and podcast subscription service that offers you a library of content, which includes songs, albums, playlists, and podcasts. If you are wondering how do you listen to music offline on Spotify, the answer is its offline feature, available through downloading content in the app.
However, Spotify’s offline functionality isn’t about file ownership or transfer. Instead, it refers to licensed in-app playback: Spotify will let you play your downloaded content offline, but the actual content remains within Spotify and is subject to the rules and constraints Spotify sets forth for how long you can download, where you can store it, and so on.
You’ll need to be logged into Spotify’s website, mobile app, or desktop software in order to download and manage downloads, though you don’t have to remain connected to the internet in order to listen to your downloaded Spotify content. However, as we’ll cover later in this article, Spotify does require that you reconnect to the internet every 30 days, otherwise it may remove the downloaded files from your device.
This article will take you through Spotify’s steps to download music (and podcasts) on a mobile/tablet or desktop computer, along with how to access them offline. We’ll also talk about what happens if something goes wrong.
Spotify Download Options
Let’s start by walking through Spotify’s process for downloading content to listen to offline. We’ll start on a smartphone/tablet, then walk through a desktop PC instead. We’ll show both methods here since they’re quite similar, though there are a few subtle differences between them.
Download On Mobile/Tablet
Open Spotify
If you’ve never opened Spotify before, then open it up now. It’s probably installed on your phone or tablet already. Otherwise, head to the App Store (iOS), Google Play Store (Android), or Amazon Appstore (Fire tablet).
Now that Spotify is open, go to the home screen. From here, tap the profile picture in the top right-hand corner to open the Settings menu.
From here, select Data-saving and offline.
Spotify lets you control a variety of options including whether you want to save battery life and data, but you’ll also see an option labeled Offline mode at the bottom of the page. Tap the switch, and it will turn blue, activating Offline Mode.
After you activate Offline Mode, Spotify restricts playback to the content you’ve already downloaded. Anything you haven’t downloaded appears grayed out and unavailable.
Alternatively, if you haven’t yet downloaded any content, you can do so while you’re still online.
Selecting a playlist will open the playlist itself. From here, use the download control at the top to download the playlist to Your Library. You can check the status next to each song or playlist as the download finishes.
Once the download is successful, the playlist will be available in Your Library. To find it later, use the Downloaded filter; Spotify doesn’t show a Remove button next to every downloaded item by default.
Alternatively, if you simply want to download a single track, add that song to a playlist of your choice. Once the track is added to a playlist, simply go to that playlist, then click the Download button, as explained above.
Spotify saves its downloads on the device where it’s being played back. If your phone uses an SD card and it isn’t working properly, that can also cause download problems.
The only exception is when you attempt to add a song directly to your Downloads list — Spotify doesn’t allow this. Instead, Spotify wants you to use its playlists to organize the content that you’d like to download.
Spotify Desktop App
If you’re using a Mac or Windows PC, then Spotify is probably installed via the Spotify desktop app. Open that now and log in.
Once Spotify is launched, use the top menu instead: on Mac, click Spotify, then Offline Mode; on Windows, click File, then Offline Mode. Spotify will restrict playback to the music you’ve already downloaded, and anything you haven’t downloaded will appear grayed out and unavailable.
Spotify doesn’t support direct song downloads, but it does support downloadable playlists. So if you haven’t downloaded any content before, then just navigate to the playlists you wish to download and click the download button.
Otherwise, if you’ve downloaded music or playlists before, simply click the Your Library tab and choose the Downloads filter to view all the content that you’ve previously downloaded. Spotify keeps a record of all the content you’ve downloaded in chronological order. The most recently downloaded tracks or albums appear first, followed by the least recently used ones.
Spotify’s Download Capacity
There are several constraints placed on Spotify downloads:
Spotify limits each individual device to downloading no more than 10,000 tracks, and it uses a rotating algorithm to keep your library updated.
Each user account is limited to five devices, meaning you can’t have a separate copy of Spotify running on more than five different devices simultaneously.
If you download content on a sixth device, then Spotify removes downloads from the device you’ve used least recently.
You can’t turn these limits off manually, so you’ll need to remove downloads or devices to stay within Spotify’s allowance.
In short, there’s a finite amount of room for Spotify downloads, and you should ensure that there’s plenty of free space on your device for additional files. At minimum, I recommend that you keep at least 1GB of memory available.
Force Spotify Into Offline Mode
If you’ve already activated Spotify’s Offline Mode, you can force it into Offline Mode without re-launching the app again.
On a mobile/tablet, simply click the Profile icon in the upper-right corner of Spotify, then choose Settings and privacy, then choose Data-saving and offline. Toggle the switch beneath the word “Offline” to enable the feature.
Spotify will then restrict playback to the content you’ve already downloaded. Anything you haven’t downloaded appears grayed out and unavailable.
On Mac/PC
Click the Apple menu bar on macOS computers, then choose Spotify, then choose Offline Mode. That’s it!
On a Windows-based computer, click File and then Offline Mode. That’s it!
Note: Not all Spotify users are going to have their downloaded tracks shown in Offline Mode, either because of limitations on the number of downloaded tracks that Spotify allows per device, or because of the length of time that the content has been downloaded for. Spotify will gray out non-downloaded content.
Spotify’s Offline Rules
Spotify requires that you stay connected to the internet at least once every 30 days, otherwise it will remove the content that you’ve previously downloaded from your device. This means that you’ll lose access to your Spotify library unless you connect to the internet and reconnect to Spotify.
So why does this matter?
It matters because Spotify will cache the data it receives during a playback session, but that data is stored in a temporary buffer. This regular online check lets Spotify collect play data and compensate artists; without it, your downloaded content can be removed from the device.
The key difference is between caching Spotify playback data and having a locally-owned file.
Spotify allows you to configure whether or not you would like to download Spotify music over cellular data. For iPhone and iPad users, this defaults to Wi-Fi connections only, but you can change this within the app settings.
First Checks and Repairs
If Spotify fails to download music or podcasts for you, there’s always a chance that something simple could be wrong. Let’s walk through a few checks that you can run yourself to find out what might be causing your issues, in order of simplicity.
Check that you have an active Internet connection.
Ensure that there’s at least 1GB of free memory available to the device.
Make sure that you aren’t using more than five devices for Spotify.
If Spotify isn’t working properly, then try turning off any cache-clearing apps.
Also, turn off any battery-saving apps that may be interfering with Spotify.
Try closing and reopening Spotify.
If none of the above works, then try uninstalling and reinstalling Spotify. If Spotify was functioning correctly before, then the issue may be related to an error that has occurred after your last login.
Finally, if none of the above helps, then consider trying to re-download your favorite Spotify content after installing Spotify again.
Why Previously Downloaded Content Disappears
As explained earlier, Spotify requires you to go online at least once every 30 days to keep your downloads. Similarly, if you reinstall Spotify, then the downloaded Spotify files won’t return unless you re-download them again.
Other causes of disappearing downloads include:
Leaving Spotify on your device for longer than 30 days
Reinstalling Spotify
Downloading Spotify content on more than five devices
Using an outdated version of Spotify
A faulty SD card
Removing the least recently used Spotify device
How To Remove Spotify Downloads
If you want to remove Spotify downloads from your mobile device, then follow the steps below. Alternatively, you can choose to delete multiple downloaded items at once.
Go to the Profile picture in the upper right-hand corner of the Spotify app.
Choose Settings and Privacy.
Then, choose Data-Saving and Offline.
Under Storage, select Remove all downloads.
Alternatively, you can browse your Spotify collection and look under Your Library. Make sure that you choose the Downloaded filter to locate Spotify’s downloaded music and podcasts. Then, press the green arrow button on the far right to select Remove.
Spotify Content Doesn’t Belong To You
Spotify offers you the ability to download music and podcasts to your phone or tablet, allowing you to enjoy your Spotify library offline. Unfortunately, this functionality is very limited, and downloaded music and podcasts only stay available under Spotify’s rules, regardless of how much content you have stored on your phone.
Instead, the downloaded Spotify content remains inside Spotify and is subject to Spotify’s terms of use. This means that you shouldn’t expect to be able to export downloaded Spotify music to your local MP3 files.
Ultimately, Spotify provides you with a great way to enjoy Spotify music, and Spotify podcasts. However, make sure that you understand the constraints that come with the download feature.