Unable to download local files from PC to Android

[30Manjuu]

Plan

Premium

Country

Singapore

Device

Samsung S22 Ultra

Operating System

Android 12

My Question or Issue

As the subject mentions, I am unable to properly download local songs from my PC into my phone. I used to be able to do this by pressing the "Download' icon whilst connected to my PC. However, recently, I noticed that all of my local songs were unplayable, and when attempting to download them again, I am unable to do so.

I have tried:
Reinstalling both Android and Windows App (After clearing the cache and data on the phone) - Not working.

Creating a new playlist with all the songs again and download - Not working.

Putting my local song files into my phone and manually "downloading" them again - Works for a moment, but removing those files will cause the playlist to be unplayable again.

What happened Spotify? I am trying to be patient with this issues, as I am a developer myself, but it is really trying to see that none of your solutions work and the only work around is to manually add my own songs into the phone, removing the point of having Spotify altogether. Seeking your understanding and assistance in this matter.

[Yordan]

Hi @30Manjuu!

Here's something that works for me when I run into issues with syncing the local files from my PC to my phone:

1. Keep the Spotify app running on your PC, then go to your phone's settings > Apps > Spotify and clear the app's cache and data. This will remove all downloads and reset your preferences.
2. Force stop the app, then reboot your phone. When it boots back up, log in to Spotify, adjust your preferences in the app's settings and download the playlist containing your local files.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

[30Manjuu]

Hi @Yordan,

Unfortunately, this does not seem to fix the issue.
Some songs that were originally from Spotify's servers are currently unavailable for download, even my songs legitimately bought from Bandcamp cannot be loaded onto my phone.

[Dian]

Hey @30Manjuu,

Thanks for the reply.

Could you try out a different network connection between the phone and the PC, also a different PC? Is it possible for you to connect the PC to the internet via a hot spot from your phone?

If not, could you try resetting the router?

Just to be sure, the local files are not on the cloud, but in a folder on your PC, right?

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[30Manjuu]

Hi @Dian, I have tried all of what you have mentioned.My files are stored on my local PC, and I used to be able to download them onto my phone by pressing the "Make Available Offline" or "Download button" (If they are the same thing).

I am still unable to resolve this issue. 

At this point, the only solution for this is to manually store the files on my phone, which I believe defeats the purpose of Spotify.

It's a shame, but until this issue gets resolved, I think there isn't much reason to stay subscribed to the premium service, as  the app's promoted feature isn't working, and I can't get the songs on Spotify servers because they don't exist.

[Kiril]

Hey @30Manjuu,

Thanks for your response and effort here.

We'd like to clear up any possible confusion here, as there was a recent change onto how Local files work for mobile devices that you might have skipped. We've replaced Local files import with a more simplified experience on Android and iOS and it's now called Local file discovery. It now allows to transfer of local files from desktop to mobile by adding them to a playlist on desktop and downloading that playlist on mobile. Here you can read the updated info on how to enable Local files discovery mode and sync them across your different platforms. 

Hope this helps clarify things. Don't hesitate to give us a shout if there's anything else we can help with.

[30Manjuu]

Hi @Kiril,

Thank you for the post, It definitely clears what the Local Storage feature is able to do.

My previous experience with Spotify was that songs on my playlist (which didn't exist in Spotify servers) could be "downloaded" onto the phone as part of the playlist; This was done by connecting the phone to the pc which the songs were held, and pressing the (Download) button.

While I don't know if this feature that Spotify recently introduced is basically that; it however feels rather inconvenient that I would have to manually store my own files onto my phone, at which point I might as well have owned a free media player app and curate my own playlist from there.

I think Spotify has a really great thing going, and it's definitely easier than ever to listen to music thanks to you guys, but I'm afraid that my Journey might be ending with Spotify thanks to the recent changes.

I'm wishing you guys all the best and hope that the user experience will improve enough to make me regret my decision to leave.

Cheers.

[Kiril]

Hi again @30Manjuu,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

We're always aiming to improve our features so we hope you’ll continue your journey to use Spotify and find it gets better in the future 🙂 I'll just add a bit more info about downloads and Local files. 

Your actual files remain on your PC, and when they are discovered on that PC, then they become available to incorporate in your collection and different playlists via the desktop app. To sync this information on your mobile, this requires a bit of storage space to be taken up from that device, to store some hashed data about the files (not the actual song files) so they can be played on that device too (and be also available offline). This is the usual behavior of the app with all content that you wish to download for offline hearing, and more on this you can read here. 

Hope you find this useful. If you need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[30Manjuu]

Hi Kiril,

Indeed, you have described what I was expecting as a premium feature in Spotify.

However as I last pointed out, it currently isn't working consistently, if at all.

I hope Spotify will be able to resolve this issue soon.

[Alex]

Hey there @30Manjuu,

Thanks for the reply.

Another thing that could be preventing those files from syncing with your phone is that the songs themselves might be DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected. In which case they won't be able to sync from the PC to the phone. This depends on where you've obtained the music files from.

One more thing that could be preventing the download is that your network is marked as Public on the PC or your PC is not discoverable on the network. You can check those settings.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[30Manjuu]

Hi @Alex,

Thanks for your reply. While I do have some songs that are obtained through soundcloud, there are other tracks that I have bought from sources like Bandcamp which Spotify outright rejects.

Pertaining to the network, I have tried switching my network to Private, and it still fails to download. Thank you for your assistance regardless.

[Yordan]

Hi @30Manjuu,

Thank you for your cooperation so far. We'll do our best to help out here and get to the bottom of this.

You mentioned that some of the songs are from Bandcamp. Could you let us know what format you've downloaded them in? While on your PC (where you're storing them) the tracks may be playable even in .flac or .wav, on your phone they would be synced (and playable) only in .mp3 format. If you currently have them in a different format, please log in to your Bandcamp account and redownload them on your PC in .mp3, then try again.

In case the songs still won't download even in .mp3, try the steps I suggested in my first reply to you at the top.

Other things you can check out is if Spotify on your phone is allowed to access your Wifi network by going to your phone's settings > Apps > Spotify. Also, if you use VPN on your PC, disable it temporary while downloading the tracks.

Keep us posted on this. Take care!