Local Files appearing on iPhone but not playing

[FriedClam]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

iPhone 8

Operating System

iOS 13.3.1

My Question or Issue

I am an avid user of Local Files. I've been using them for over a year, a few bugs here and there but nothing I haven't solved or worked around. However, this is a new problem that I've never seen. All my files play on my PC (Windows 10) perfectly, but about 90% don't play on my phone at all. They show up (minus their album art, which isn't normal), and I'm able to click on any of them, but they pop up for a milisecond before not playing and going away. Some of them play just fine, but most of them do not, despite having worked well in the past. I've tried everything I can think of:

-Logged out and back in on both devices

-Checked WiFi connection

-Joined my phone's hotspot to try to sync it properly

-Made sure all the files played on iTunes without a hitch

-Added to a new playlist and tried to redownload from my phone (which didn't take--the phone registers them as downloaded, just not playable).

-Checked both devices for any Spotify updates

-Allowed Spotify through my firewall

I'm not sure what to do. All of these files have worked in the past, and I'm not sure what I've done to change it and how to change it back. Any help would be appreciated!

[Ivan]

Hey there @FriedClam, 

Thanks for reaching out to the Community about this. 
 

Just to confirm, have you tried a clean reinstall of the Spotify app on your iPhone? We recommend this step as it'll remove the old drivers first and then install the new ones. This tends to solve issues with the app's synchronization between devices. Give your device a quick restart as well before you open the newly installed app. 

We also suggest you change the source of the local files on your iPhone. Simply create a new folder in a different directory on your device and move your local files to this folder. Then just delete the old folder used for the local files. Now you can try importing the files again. 

It's also a good idea to test if you observe the same under a different network. If it works with another connection, it's best to contact the service provider of the original network for more information. For example, some shared or public networks (e.g. schools/work/office) might restrict access to certain services, which would explain what happened here.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted. 

[FriedClam · Accepted solution]

Ah, forgot to update.

I ended up undownloading the entire playlist (so nothing was available offline) and then redownloading while the PC was on. Everything synced perfectly, and a few minor bugs I was dealing with in the past also managed to clean themselves up. Thanks for the help, though!

[sdglkjnslkjgf]

I have downloaded the playlist 15 times but i still cant play on my iphone. The song appears on my iphone normally but when i try to play it, it just pops up for a millisecond and doesnt play.

[MafeG]

Hi @sdglkjnslkjgf,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community. 

There may be an issue with the cache files on your app, so we suggest you start by reinstalling it following these specific steps.

After this, create an internet hotspot with your phone, connect your PC to it and try to synchronize the playlist again. In this thread you can find more detailed info and steps about this.

Let us know how this goes.