How to unsync a playlist? (Spotify is not giving back my data space)

[Vito_Basile]

Hi!
I have no more space dat on my iPhone because Spotify downloaded playlists are using some space, so what should i do? I already deleted some playlists on Spotify but is not giving me the space available again, i went to settings and even though i'm getting rid of some playlists and songs, The app is not giving me back the space, I refuse to clear all the data from spotify and lose all my synced playlists, is there away to get back my space data? I really need some space for other apps, i would love to know how to get my space data again, seems like i can't unsync a playlist, can somebody help me please? Thanks in advance...

[Taylor]

Hi, and welcome to the community!

The safest way to deal with this is to go to Settings in iOS>General>Usage. Then find Spotify in the list of apps, click on it, and press delete and confirm. Good to do a reboot at this point! Then you can reinstall it and all the data should be gone.

Anthony 🙂

[Kenny_Jacobson]

Is this really the only way to unsync an offline playlist? What if I have 10 playlists synced but only want to unsync, say, two playlists? Then I have to uninstall, reinstall, then sit and wait for 8 playlists to resync rather than just unsyncing the two from the get-go. There's got to be a better way than uninstalling/reinstalling Spotify, it seems like such a roundabout method and kind of a serious oversight. 

[Peter__]

I was reading a post earlier saying if you mark the playlists you no longer want offline and then log out of the application, restart your device and then log in again they will have been removed from the cache (and therefore freeing up space) but I don't have a device to test it on. 

Peter

[khm1985]

Not necessary to log out, restart device, log back in (atleast not on iPhone with iOS 6.1.3). I just unsynced the playlists I no longer wanted, and to force update the cache I just synced some new playlists.

So just make a playlist with one song to force update cache if you are low on free space on your device.

Cheers
Kenneth

[Skooter_Mo]

Guys, you have to make it simpler than this. No one wants to have to re-boot and work through re-syncing tracks again.  C'mon Spotify, work something out here.  You're advertising like mad, and people will sign up of course, but won't stay unless issues like this can be sorted quickly and conveniently.

[meahtenoha]

Hi guys, we're looking to gather more info on the users this is affecting. 

If you are un-syncing playlists and not seeing a change in storage space please post the following details:

a. Your iOS device and iOS

b. Your Spotify app version

c. How much space is used before unsycning 

d. How many playlists/ tracks you unsynced

e. Please confirm how much space is still being used

Be sure to wait a few minutes before posting as this space isn't cleared immediately. For instance, I unsynched 969 songs in 6 playlists and my storage went from 2.6GB to 800MB. 

Thanks again everyone!

[Rdio4me]

Meredith... countless users have been posting these things now for nearly two years. How about Spotify actually act on the problem, get the testing/QA team to actually do some testing. We're not here to do the job for Spotify.

I can't even test as I'm no longer a Spotify user (specifically due to this problem), but I can't ignore the fact users are still complaining.

[Birdonahook]

I have an iPhone 4, I'm a Premium Spotify monthly subscriber (unless this gets fixed very soon), and I have this problem.

No, restarting your phone does not work. No unsynching playlists does not work, even after you plug it back in to your computer. 

I've been a Premium user for close to a year, and I have been somewhat accustomed to what it takes to get around it, but the longer you have Spotify the greater your "phantom cache" grows. It's gotten to the point where everytime I reinstall Spotify it takes up over 10GB even though I have A LOT less than 10GB synched. It has even started to crowd out other things in my iPhone's music library, so it won't let me listen to things that truly are synched, and my iPhone gives me a message that I'm "xxGB over the maximum limit" every time I plug it in. The iPhone library comes back after I uninstall Spotify, but only for a little while after reinstall Spotify. Don't listen to posters who say they don't have Spotify, but they've heard that such-and-such actually works to fix this.... it doesn't. 

This is very clearly a glitch in the program, and I will be issuing a warning to everyone, and at every sounding board I can get: DO NOT PAY FOR SPOTIFY UNTIL THEY FIX THIS, IT HEAVILY SUBTRACTS FROM ITS USABILITY. 

[mjsprad]

a.  iPhone 5S and iOS 7.0.4

b.  0.9.3.212

c.  432 MB

d.  2 / 116

e.  432 MB

I have tried every possible fix that has been suggested by other users (logout, reboot phone, wait a few minutes).   I sometimes have as much as 10GB and dozens of playlists / thousands of songs synced for offline use, and I have NEVER gotten space back when unsyncing playlist(s).  I have uninstalled and reinstalled Spotify countless times on my iPhone to free up the space that Spotify never gives back.

EVERY other mobile streaming music service (Rdio, Beats, Rhapsody, etc. - and believe me, I've tried them all) frees up space when an offline playlist is unsynced.  Spotify is the only service that doesn't give the space back.  This is an absolutely massive problem that needs to be fixed.

I anxiously await a resolution to this problem.  Please give it the highest priority, over useless social features that noone cares about.

[meahtenoha]

Thanks very much for those specifics @mjsprad That's exactly the info we need.

[tpic1990]

a. iPhone 5 - iOS v7.0.6 (would be v7.1 if I could clear memory!)

b. 0.9.3.212

c. 5.9GB

d. about 10 playlists - approx 1000 songs

e. 5.9GB

I've tried restarting, leaving over night, staring angrily at the phone...

This is a tad ridiculous, surely the aim is that I can change my music at will, and a benefit would be temporary space savings!

[Rdio4me]

So is the issue being acted on Meredith? I have trouble believing Spotify are doing anything. Every single person running the iphone app will have this problem. It sounds to me either Spotify simply don't care, or they know the issue is simply too hard to fix do to the way their cache system works. You can't tell me after years of this issue your IT team can't reproduce the problem.

[Michael50825]

a. iPhone 5 - iOS v7.0.6
b. 0.9.4
c. 2.1GB
d. Around 15 playlists and 300 songs
e. 2.1GB

This bug hinders me to update to iOS 7.1 since Ive got no space left for the update. Being a paying customer, I find this hardly annoying.

[Kael]

I was about to post that I was having the same problem, but after asking Spotify to unsync a playlist, it seems to have done so after a few minutes.

I had about 900 songs in this particular playlist, totalling around 8GB. It was stopping me from updating to iOS 7.1.

V. 0.9.4

Can't complain but I would certainly like a clear cache button, too.

[Michael50825]

I've been waiting for days and still no change...

[Atreadwell]

Ios 7.0
5.7GB
5playlists/285 tracks
5.7GB
0.9.1.230

[Atreadwell]

Updated to 9.4.25
Used space changed to 5.6GB

I only have about 300songs in playlists all up now.

[Jereme]

Premium Membership
iPhone 5
Spotify: 0.9.4.25
iOS: 7.0.3

Spotify does not free storage space of offline playlists which have been switched to non offline mode.

Please update on this issue it is preventing me from updating other apps.

[baldo2k]

I'm having this exact same issue on my Ipod Touch 5th gen, iOS 7.1, Spotify 1.0.0.3251. The app does not free up space when unselect "available offline". Will this issue be fixed?