PC Local Files not Syncing to iPhone

[arztderpy]

I've got premium, and have used a tower desktop and laptop to upload local files to my Spotify. Apps on my PCs and iPhone are up to date. My iPhone refuses to download the local files I assign to any playlist on my PC. These are the things I've tried:

• Reinstall Spotify on all devices
• Cleared offline devices list
• Any order of deleting/removing downloads from iPhone (via reinstallation), assigning the local files music to normal playlists, and downloading them for offline on my iPhone (it just skips over the local files songs (e.g. it shows the "Downloading X out of Y" songs, but just stops at the 6 or so songs that are local files))
• TURniNG It OFF AnD bACk oN AGain
• Contacting actual Spotify support (apparently the music that I obtained legally is "from an illegal source" smh)
• Used the same WiFi for my computer and iPhone (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and mobile hotspot over WiFi AND wired cable)
• More

I've skimmed over probably a dozen articles with people with the same problems; the aforementioned solutions usually fixed most peoples' problems, but I guess the universe hates me. Any ideas?

[arztderpy]

Bumping my own thread bc this is annoying

[arztderpy · Accepted solution]

I got it to work for anyone who views this thread:

I have my iPhone connected to my computer via cable, and the computer is using the phone's hotspot as its wifi. I enabled the option "Download Using Cellular" under Music Quality in the settings of the iPhone app, added the Local Files to a playlist on my computer (with Spotify open on both devices), marked it to download on my phone, and voila!

[masterchief_017]

you deserve a damn medal for this ty very much!~

[SammyKasim]

While the solution was already found, I had this same problem and the solution for me was that there was a new setting on my iPhone for Local Files, and I had to turn the setting to sync music "On".

[moreasa183]

still not able to sync it, i've try to uninstall, open both app in the same time, plug my ipad to my computer... the problem always the same. So(on my computer) i've put the local files i want in one playlist and switch it so it sync. on my ipad i've activate the local files option but i don't have a switch to sync a playlist on my ipad... so my playlist is just empty. i've saw that we don't need premium to do this but the fact that i don't even have the sync switch on my ipad make me think that maybe it change...

is it suppose to sync by magic? does it still possible to work without premium?

I really hope someone could help me one this one because its been 1hour im trying everything the internet tell me and nothing work till now.

[KevvieMetal]

Hi SammyKasim -- where did you find that setting? I have an iPhone and I can't find it.

[Elzcian]

On your mobile device

Settings > Scroll down to local files (Should be the second last category above "About") > Touch enable sync from desktop

[dg24_]

This worked for me, thank you!

[Ver]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

Glad to hear that it worked out and everything is running smoothly.

@moreasa183 In order to sync music on other devices besides on desktop, the account needs to be on Premium. This is because you have to download them in order to sync them. Feel free to take a look at this support site article if you'd like to know more about the type of listening experience you can access with the free service in comparison to Premium.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We'll be happy to help.

[KrazyKiDdKING]

I know this is a year late but I had the same problem even after doing all these steps and I thought it was good to add on. In your iPhone settings, make sure you allow Spotify access to your local network. You go to the settings app, scroll down to Spotify, and then set local network so that Spotify has access.

[coldcav]

This was huge, not sure when that setting was added or why it defaults to off. thank you

[mistercoiso]

This worked for me too, thanks! Such a stupid thing to have to toggle this option, why would I think to do this, if the process itself to sync songs is so elaborate? We already have the "download" button on playlists. Really dumb design. And there's no feedback on the interface to help users. Spotify can do better.

[mistercoiso]

Hey, tell your friends on the design pods and whatnot to eliminate that weird toggle on the settings menu just to allow syncing files. A whole menu item with a single unhelpful option doesn't make sense! Not intuitive at all! And no interface feedback to help me get there. Really frustrating.

[Jeremy]

Hey there @mistercoiso,

Thank you for your post and feedback.

We're always testing things by adding or removing features to make Spotify better overall and constantly aiming to improve our features. 

You can read more about how your feedback reaches Spotify here.

Once again - thanks for the feedback, we appreciate it. Let us know if we can help with anything else. We're always one reply away.

[vb2154]

hiya,

i have this problem atm and am struggling with what to do. I am on a pc laptop and been trying forever!!. However i have done every step listed above and more but no matter what i do i cannot get the local files on my computer to play on my phone. However my friend who has a macbook tried this yesterday and got it to work perfectly and the songs are downloaded on her phone. I’m thinking it coukd be because i have a system administrator as it’s a school computer which blocks certain applications but spotify has always worked perfectly on it. As well as this i tried on our normal home computer and it still did not sync to my phone then. The steps i have tried to fix the issue so far is

• plugged my phone into the computer 
• toggled the local files button on 
• made sure that spotify on my phone is on local network 
• made sure both devices are on the same wifi service
• tried using a hotspot on both devices 
• tried using different mp3 website converters

i have run out of options on what to do next and it’s just confusing because it worked perfectly fine for my friend. Hoping someone can help :))) 

[Alex]

Hey @vb2154,

Thanks for the detailed description of your issue.

We'd recommend using only original songs which you've legally purchased. If you're using a online converter, try a few different formats. Supported formats are: 

• .mp3
• .m4p (unless it contains video)
• .mp4 (if QuickTime is installed on your computer)

You can try the following to make sure everything is running smoothly:

1. Run a clean reinstall of the app both on your computer and your phone. We'd recommend using the home computer as work/ school computers often have firewalls and system management software which may block the successful upload of local files.
2. Remove the local files from the Spotify app on the Computer.
3. Clear the local files cache. Follow this Guide.
4. Connect both your phone and computer to the same WiFi.
5. Have both apps open.
6. Reupload some songs to the Desktop app local files. Add them to a new playlist.
7. Enable Local Files on the iPhone and check if you can download this new playlist with local files.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[jayduncan11]

Hi, I'm gonna perform necromancy on this old thread to ask for help with a similar problem.

Before going through this thread I had already gone through all of the solutions mentioned, my problem is different in that most of my local files will download except for a select 4 that will show on my phone as downloaded, but if I try to play them, the track will light up green for a tiny moment then go dark and not play anything at all.

I've removed these specific tracks from my local files folder that spotify pulls from and re-adding them and redownloading to my phone from my PC multiple times but the issue is the same.

If needed I can post the mp3s of the tracks that I'm having issues with but if anyone has a solution or could flag my account or these tracks for a bugfix then that would be amazing, thank you ❤️

[MafeG]

Hi @jayduncan11,

Thank you for posting on the Community 🙂

Have you tried moving your tracks to a different folder on your PC to synchronize them again to your phone? If not, please give it a try. 

It's also worth making sure that those specific files aren't DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected. If you have iTunes, you can follow these steps to find if they are. 

Lastly, please keep in mind that as @Alex mentioned, files downloaded from unofficial sources aren't supported. 

Let us know if you have any questions!.

[Plo0bus]

Also replying to a dead thread,

I've been trying all of these methods. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Spotify on both devices, I have "allow local network" turned on in settings, I have local files turned on for both my devices, the files are in MP3 format, but when they show up on my phone, with it seemingly looking like I can play it (with the green download icon next to the song), it says that the song isn't downloaded and gives me the "Learn More" button to press. Am I missing any steps?