Problem: automatic downloads on mobile data

[Derivel]

Plan

Premium

Device

Galaxy S10e

Operating System

Android 11

My Question or Issue

My problem is that the Android app downloads the songs on mobile data, even if it's not allowed in the settings. It happens regulary for months. As I observed, if a Daily Mix list is set to download, and the song list is updated when it's on mobile data, it automatically downloads all songs to the phone.

This is very frustating, because a lot of us has limited amount of data that we can use. I checked the settings, and it should not do that. I reached my monthly data limit in 1 week because of this! And I can't even react, because it usually happens, while I'm driving. I only notice it, when I get a message, that my data is gone.

I'm gonna set a data limit for this application, but I hope this will get a fix soon.

[Alex]

Hey @Derivel,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

We're actually sorry to hear about this and we understand your frustration. We wish to look with you into why this happened and some ways to avoid this in the future.  

You've experience this because the app keeps using some data to play downloaded songs (and mobile data, if that's the only data source available) in order to provide you with the most up-to-date version of the songs. This might relate to, for instance, the availability, covers, Canvas, and lyrics of the songs. 

To prevent this from happening you'd need to use Offline mode, as it will cut all the data-based app operations. Keep in mind though that at the same time it also limits some features that might be dependent on internet connectivity.  

Have a quick look here to check how to set your mobile up for Offline mode listening and also here to make sure you know all you need to keep your data usage in check when using Spotify.  

Hope you find this info helpful. Don't hesitate to reach out again if you have questions.

[Derivel]

Hello Alex,

This problem is not about the streaming of songs, it's about when Spotify starts to download a huge amount of songs to my phone storage. So this is how it happens:

1) I set the Daily Mix list to download to my phone.

2) It downloads a lot of (let's say 100) songs to my phone's storage. This is also indicated by the notification that shows the progress of the download. This is the current list of songs in Daily Mix.

3) When the Daily Mix is updated (daily), it downloads all of the songs, that are not on the local storage yet. These are also houndreds of songs at once.

The issue is that this 3. step is done even if I'm on mobile data.

Sometimes I can catch it while it's downloading (the Android notification shows the downloading progress), so I can quickly disable mobile data, but a lot of times it downloads, while I'm not looking.

[Alex]

Hey there @Derivel,

Thanks for the reply.

As I've mentioned above, as long as you have an active internet connection and you've not enabled Offline Mode from the settings, the app will automatically download all playlists you've clicked Download on. This is intended to provide you with the latest version of the playlist in real time.

There is no way to disable this. You'll need to switch on Offline Mode from the settings if you want to listen to music without Spotify downloading or updating songs. (This includes songs which are already downloaded)

Keep us posted if you have more questions.

[Derivel]

Then why is there an option in settings to turn off the downloading of songs, while it's on mobile data? Is that toggle useless now?

[Eni]

Hey @Derivel, 

Thanks for getting back in touch. 

We're sorry for the confusion. 

Could you let us know if this option has never worked or just stopped working after a specific event?

On another note, would you mind sending us a video of the issue showing the music being downloaded in data while in the app settings the Download using cellular is turned off?

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[Derivel]

Hello Eni,

This worked well for years, there were no issues. As I looked back my data usage graph, the first time was around 20th of January. I got a notification, that I'm close to my limit, and I saw that Spotify was finishing the download. It consumed 1 GB, while I was not watching.

I will try to make a video of it, but this month is already depleted now, because of this. I will keep this in mind, when I will get more data.

[Eni]

Hi @Derivel, 

Thanks for sending us this info.

Could you let us know the exact make/model, operating system and Spotify version of your device?

On another note, would you mind logging in to your account in a different mobile device to check if the issue persists?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply 🙂

[Derivel]

Hello Eni,

My exact phone model is Samsung SM-G970F/DS, with Android 11 (OneUI 3.1). The Spotify version right now is 8.6.8.1094.

The Android 11 update was launched on January 14th for this device, so one or two days later my phone was updated from Android 10 to 11. This can be the source of the problem. I can reinstall the Spotify app, maybe this can solve it.

I will try it on another device too, when I get a chance, but that will probably take a few days.

[Eni]

Hey again @Derivel, 

Thanks for letting us know that!

Just to confirm, are you using an SD card in your phone? If so, we suggest that you remove it > restart your device > run a clean reinstall of the app > check if that makes the difference.

If you don't have an SD card, you can run a clean reinstall as well. In both cases, we recommend following these specific steps. This process is more thorough than the usual one. 

Lastly, take your time to test with a different phone, we'll be here waiting for you to know how it goes. 

Cheers 🙂