Slow loading times for downloaded content

[Olllyyyj]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

iPhone X

Operating System

iOS 16.2

My Question or Issue

When attempting to load a downloaded playlist or album on a slow/inconsistent wifi connection, the loading screen takes significantly longer than it should. It's clear that this issue is a result of the app attempting to fetch new data from the Spotify servers, and cannot, due to the poor connection. The issue with this is that the content is already downloaded to the device, so the inability to download new data should not prevent the user from accessing the locally downloaded files. A quick fix for this is to turn on airplane mode (or turn off wifi + mobile data), forcing the app to give up on the download and load the local files immediately. While this works as a fix, it should not be necessary in the first place - there should never be a significant loading time for downloaded content

An obvious fix for this issue is to load any locally downloaded content straight away, and silently attempt to fetch new data in the background, while the user plays the downloaded content. My question is, why is this not the current method for accessing downloaded content while connected to the internet?

[OscarDC]

Hey @Olllyyyj,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community.

When the app is online, and it has a poor network connection, it's expected to have longer loading times related to the data traffic speed. However, if you want to play just the downloaded content it's not necessary to turn on the Airplane mode of your mobile device.

Instead, you can activate the Offline mode. When the app is in Offline mode, it won't try to load online content since the app blocks all internet access and focuses on the downloaded tracks.

To activate the Offline mode, you just need to open your app settings, and under Playback you'll find the button to turn it on.

Keep in mind that while the app is in offline mode, you can't search for songs, access profiles or use the Connect feature as the app doesn't have an active internet connection.

Hope this helps. If you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[Olllyyyj]

Hi Oscar,

Thanks for the response! While I accept that enabling offline mode will remove the long loading screens, why is it necessary in the first place? The content is already downloaded, so it shouldn't be necessary from a users point of view to enable offline mode to access content that's already fully downloaded and available. Realistically, there should never be any loading times when accessing locally downloaded content, irrelevant of the current connection quality, as connection speeds have no bearing on local downloads.

[AlejaR]

Hey @Olllyyyj,

Thanks for your reply and for the info shared,

We understand where you coming from, and we really appreciate all the comments you kindly sent us. We value every piece of feedback you share with us; we know you want to make the best out of your listening experience.

In this case, as mentioned by @OscarDC, we'd suggest to use the Private session. We really appreciate the time you took to let us know this behavior. 

We'll be here if anything else comes up. Once again, thanks for the feedback.