Downloaded songs on desktop are grayed out, won't play on iPhone

[souttoa]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

iPhone SE, generic Dell laptop

Operating System

iOS 15.6.1, Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I have a 50 songs in my "Downloads" folder on my laptop.

I've located them with Spotify on desktop and they show up in "Local Files" in my library.

I've added them to a playlist and clicked the "Download" button.

All of these songs show up on my iPhone, but they are all grayed out.

When I try to click the "Play" button, this pop up comes up.

The "Learn more" button provides the steps shown below.

Both devices are on the same network. The iPhone is on the latest iOS version available. Settings > Apps > Spotify > Local network is switched ON.

What I've already tried includes:

- Turned on "Local Files" on both devices

- Tried playing with Offline Mode on both devices

- Attempted to play songs on a different laptop unsuccessfully.

- Waiting for the songs to download

- Switching networks to a hot spot for my computer/phone

- Uninstalling, reinstalling Spotify on both devices (clean install per https://support.spotify.com/us/article/reinstall-spotify/)

I've run out of ideas and I've seen that others here have the same issue that I do. It's like the cloud download feature isn't working at all; the songs are only playable from the desktop with the songs installed locally. Any help would be appreciated tremendously.

[Lyubka · Accepted solution]

Hey @souttoa,

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community.

The way local files work has changed recently. The synchronization between files from PC and your mobile devices over the network is no longer available. The audio files, that you want to play within the app, need to be physically present on your iPhone's storage in order to be played by Spotify. You have to upload them following the steps in this FAQ.

Let us know how you get on. We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[finlayb123]

I have the exact same problem as the other person and have followed all the same steps, the files are also in my iPhone storage yet are still greyed out do you have a solution for this?

[souttoa]

https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/Downloaded-songs-on-desktop-are-grayed-out-won-t-pl...

[souttoa]

This guide worked perfectly, thank you!

[mrcmrc65]

Sorry, but once connected my iphone on the mac,  and selected the Locations section in the sidebar and selected my iphone, where I need to drag my mp3 files? On the Music section (tab)?

Thanks!

- Marco.

[souttoa]

Just drag them anywhere into your iPhone. They will automatically assign themselves as music.