Can no longer add local files to playlists

[ocdajuiceman]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

(iPhone 13)

Operating System

(iOS 16.3.1)

My Question or Issue

I’ve been having this issue since the recent update replacing the hearts with the plus. When clicking the three dots next to a song from my local files, usually there are multiple options including to add it to any playlist. However, now the only option is to add the song to the queue. However, all of my local files already on a playlist are still there and can still be removed from the playlist. I am only having this issue with local files, and not any of my other songs.

[MihailY]

Hey @2video and @GinaBspotty,

Can you confirm you have uploaded the files to your phone's storage? If yes, please try creating a new playlist and see if the issue persists.

Keep us posted.

[benstone0]

Hey I'm having a similar issue where I can click the plus to add to my liked songs and whatever playlist I want except one specific playlist won't let me add it.  This is my only playlist which already contains local files so it could be that but it's strange since I was just able to add one earlier today.

[benstone0]

Turns out the files which I added earlier today have been removed by themselves ever since I had this problem.  They're still in the local files folder and my liked playlist and I can still add them to any playlist except 1.  Please help this is so annoying lol.

[benstone0]

Ok so I made a duplicate playlist with all the same songs and now everything is working how it should.  The only weird thing is that the original playlist says it has 40 songs compared to the duplicates 28 but when I counted them they both only had 28 and have the same runtime.  I don't have smart shuffle enable so I have no idea what could be causing this.

[BOB332]

THIS IS STILL BROKEN. THIS DOES NOT WORK. I CANNOT ADD LOCAL FILES TO PLAYLISTS. I HAVE TRIED MULTIPLE TIMES, DELETED FOLDERS, AND CREATED MULTIPLE NEW FOLDERS AND IT DOES NOT WORK. LOCAL FILES IS A BROKE SYSTEM. DOES NOT WORK ON IPHONE OR DESKTOP APP.

[AlejaR]

Hey there @BOB332,

Thanks for your reply.

In this case, it'd be really helpful if you could share with us the make/model and OS of the affected device along with the Spotify version you're running there.

We'd like to gather some additional info. Are you able to play the Local Files from the folder you find in your library? If yes, please send us more details.

Since you mentioned you can't add local files to other playlists, would you mind clarifying if this is happening when trying to add them to a specific playlist or does it happen no matter what playlist you try to choose? Keep in mind that your files need to be added to the Spotify folder located in Files > On My iPhone. If you can't find the folder there, reboot your device and it should show up properly on the app.

Lastly, it'd be really helpful if you sent us a video recording of what you kindly mentioned. You can attach it in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and make it public, so we can visualize it.

Keep us in the loop!

[Gaw00]

It does seem to work when you try to create brand new playlist and then add files to it. However you cannot merge that playlist to an existing one anyway, which is not a solution at all. 

I have my original playlist to which i am unable to add local files any way i tried:
1) directly from local files list (... -> add to playlist)
2) by adding local files to brand new playlist and then trying to merge it into existing list

Local files seem to be possible to add into other, smaller playlists or brand new ones though. Like I mentioned previously making brand new list is not really a solution especially when you're used to using the existing one and have it shared with friends.

[BOB332]

Mac 14.2.1 / Spotify for macOS (Intel) 1.2.35.663.gb699649e

iPhone 17.4.1 / Spotify 8.9.32.586

On my Mac I have a folder in my Music folder named Spotify Local Files. Local files show up in Spotify. I cannot add a song from local files to a playlist. It does not show up.

On my iPhone I have local files added to the right location on my iPhone, the same thing happens. I cannot add any songs from local files to another playlist. I have uninstalled and reinstalled still does not work. You need a better system. We shouldn't have to be doing all of this.

[Eni]

Hey @BOB332, @Gaw00, @GinaBspotty, @2video,

Thanks for your replies.

@BOB332, thanks for all the info you've sent so far. 

@Gaw00, @GinaBspotty, @2video, could you let us know if you're still experiencing this? If so, make sure to send us the info @AlejaR asked for previously. We'd like to investigate this further.

We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

[Gaw00]

@Eni, @AlejaR,

Please check the video attached. Music file just does not get added to my existing playlist.
The same behavior i can notice in Spotify windows app, while the message says file was added to the list it is nowhere to be found there (sorting by last added files). Changing playlist status (private/public) doesn't affect the song adding behavior either.

[Maria]

Hey @Gaw00,

Thanks for sending over the video!

We had a look at it from our end, and we can see that you seem have Smart Shuffle switched on. When that feature is turned on for a specific playlist, the local tracks won't appear for you. 

Could you try switching off Smart Shuffle to see if you're able to add and see the local files in that playlist?

You can also check the reply from @Yordan earlier in the thread for more details about the Smart Shuffle feature.

Fingers crossed this works! Let us know how you get on.

[Gaw00]

Hey,

Yeah smart shuffle seems to be the thing. Thank you!

On the other hand it would be clearer to end user if tracks would still get added (like they actually do) but appear greyed out instead of not appearing at all 

[jacrippz2004]

I can’t add them to playlists 

[rhonin77]

I still can't add them to playlists

[tombid]

Nothing happens in spoify whan I drag and drop, soooo, doesn't work.

[Xanati96]

I still can't add them. Your service sucks so **bleep**ing ass. Luigi Mangione.

[CookieGirl104]

It still isn't working for me, and IDK why. I'm on the newest version and I've tried doing it on multiple devices, turning local files on and off again, nut it wont let me add to the playlist. It lets me add to other playlists though, which is weird. Do you have a fix that might work?

[Yordan · Accepted solution]

Hey folks,

Try creating a copy of the playlist you're having issues with by tapping the three dots menu > Add to other playlist > New playlist. Check if you'd be able to add local files to it then.

If the issue persists, please share a short screen recording which captures the exact behavior in action so we can take a clear view of what's happening on your end.

Cheers 🤘

[_taiyo]

My local files folder appears fine and I can listen to my songs from there, but when I try to add them to my other playlists they remove themselves from the playlist and aren’t able to be added. I tried multiple different file types like mp3 audio and m4a audio. Even the albums I bought that are synced to Apple Music aren’t able to play. I’ve done a clean reset and deleted the app and cache multiple times..The strange thing is is that I had no trouble with any of this yesterday, and the problem only occurred today when I tried adding more files to my local files. Sorry for the big wall of text. If anyone has answers to share, that’d be great.

[Overclow]

No sé si quitaron la opción de poder mezclar canciones descargadas junto a canciones de una lista de reproducción(en mi caso es privada) pero actualmente me pasa este problema, ya probé con desinstalar la aplicación y iniciando la cuenta de vuelta pero persiste, hay una que otra canción que no se halla en Spotify por lo que te tocaba a ti agregarla manualmente y de esta forma se pudiera escuchar todo en un solo lugar, no sé si esto es por una actualizacion o es personal, lo cual no me haría sentir mucho mejor esto segundo, de hecho me sofocaria más, así que porfavor que alguien me ayude o por lo menos me explique si es normal o tonto el error que tengo😿