Announcements

Help Wizard

Step 1

NEXT STEP

FAQs

Please see below the most popular frequently asked questions.

Loading article...

Loading faqs...

VIEW ALL

Ongoing Issues

Please see below the current ongoing issues which are under investigation.

Loading issue...

Loading ongoing issues...

VIEW ALL

Local Files Won't Sync to Phone

Solved!

Local Files Won't Sync to Phone

I have Windows 10 and an iPhone 8 Plus. 

 

I'm trying to finally completely cut the cord with iTunes but I'm having major difficulties syncing the local files that aren't available on Spotify to my phone. I feel like I've been through every tutorial on here and tried everything and no luck. 

 

I have my local songs in a playlist and they are marked as downloaded on my desktop. On my phone, connected to the same wi-fi, I opened the app and select the download feature. I can see all the songs grayed out, once I hit download, the icon spins and then turns green to mark the playlist as downloaded as if it thinks it was a job well done, while none of the songs downloaded at all. 

 

Here are the things I have tried:

  • Logging out of both devices
  • Uninstalling and re-installing the app on both devices
  • Switching to a different Wi-Fi Network
  • Creating a personal hot-spot with my phone and connecting with that. 
  • Shouting at both my phone and my computer
  • Restarting both my phone and my computer
  • Whitelisting Spotify on my Firewall
  • Turning off my firewall completely
  • Checked that my Wi-Fi was set to Private (it was)
  • Checked that my routed was set to Upnp (it was)
  • Updating my iOS
  • Silently glaring at both my phone and my computer
  • Converting any M4A files to MP3 (I also know for sure that many of the files contain no DRM because they were recorded by my brother's high school band)
  • Moving my local files into a sub-folder in my downloads folder and having Spotify re-identify them
  • Deleting the playlist and making a new one
  • Adding local files to playlists that were already downloaded on my phone. 
  • Playing songs on my phone then using the desktop app to make the next song a local file. (This then leads to the app on my phone giving me steps, the fouth of which is that if I follow the first three the songs will appear on my phone "like magic". Spoiler alert: They don't)

I'm at my wits end, I have tried every suggestion I have found on the help page, on this forum and on Reddit and nothing seems to work at all. I'm hoping there is something I'm overlooking and that it's not a lost cause. Please, don't make me go back to iTunes for this small batch of songs. 

Reply

Accepted Solutions
Marked as solution

I solved it! 

I tried making a personal hotspot with my iPhone again, but what I did this time that I didn't do last time was used a wired connection with the USB and turned the WiFi on my computer off. 

 

It works now. Hallelujah. 

View solution in original post

4 Replies
Marked as solution

I solved it! 

I tried making a personal hotspot with my iPhone again, but what I did this time that I didn't do last time was used a wired connection with the USB and turned the WiFi on my computer off. 

 

It works now. Hallelujah. 

I'm happy for you because I know your frustration. But when you say that you "solved it", you mean that you solved it for yourself only.

 

Remember when you went through all of the troubleshooting on your list and were disappointed when they didn't work? I'll bet each one of those were called a "solution" when they were posted and ended with something like, "..And that's all there is to it!" 

 

As for me, I have been fighting to get my local files to sync for years now. In the past, my solution was always different. I went through a series of turning things on/off, signing in/out, firewall on/off, reinstalling, and then doing those things again and again in different orders and until eventually it worked. But it's been two weeks now absolutely nothing works. 

 

I now know the solution, I'm going to throw my laptop, phone and router in the trash, buy new ones and start all over again. And that's all there is to it!

 

 

Precisely this. I'm just going to hope that this isn't the magic solution that would fix all of it for me, since my PC lacks wifi capabilities.

Email the audio file to yourself, download the file, open it in spotify

Suggested posts