Local Files (Not keeping downloaded in the phone library)

[debeby]

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong but how am I supposed to use my files in playlists? The way my local files are being added to my library there are 2 separate files for each song I put and I have to put both in all my playlists. Is there no way for them to simply sync anymore?

[Vasil]

Hey @debeby,

Local files are meant to only be played locally so you'd have to have an actual copy of the files themselves on your device in order for them to load in Spotify. 
The old way of the files syncing is not guaranteed to work anymore as this system is now gradually getting deprecated.

As a workaround, you can copy your playlist from the desktop app and name one x (mobile) and x (desktop), after which you can add your respective local files so that they don't get duplicated and/ or greyed out.

More info on Local Files can be found here.

Hope this helps!

[iinkhat]

Local Files have been notoriously buggy for a long time, having difficulties syncing with desktop. Instead of fixing the syncing issues, I can see that the Local File Integration is instead being moved to an entirely manual process. 

This was already annoying, this change makes it even more so.

The previous integration would have been fine if there was some kind of manual sync button, so the user could tell if Spotify was trying to search for the local files and couldn't receive them, or just wasn't activating to search.

I'm really hoping that this manual local files solution is temporary while Spotify Staff are engineering a better solution to the problem.