7 Best Fixes for Spotify Not Playing Downloaded Songs on Android and iPhone

Like other streaming platforms, Spotify allows you to download your songs for offline listening. You can enjoy your favorite tracks and download entire playlists for listening on your iPhone or Android phone.

Some users complain that Spotify won’t play their downloaded songs while the phone is offline. This can be an issue if you want to limit your mobile data usage. If you are facing the same issue, this post will share the best fixes for Spotify not playing downloaded songs on Android and iPhone.

1. Enable Offline Mode

Whenever you turn off internet connectivity on your mobile device, Spotify automatically enables Offline Mode. But if Spotify is not working offline, you can manually enable Offline Mode on your Android or iPhone.

Step 1: Open Spotify on your iPhone or Android phone.

Step 2: Tap your profile icon at the top-left corner and select Settings and Privacy.

Step 3: Tap on Playback and tap the toggle next to Offline to enable it.

2. Check Internal Storage

If you cannot use offline mode on Spotify, check the internal storage on your iPhone or Android phone. All the songs or podcasts you download are stored in the internal storage of your mobile device. So, if your storage space is running out, you might face issues with offline playback. Spotify enables you to listen to music offline by creating an app cache. But this can lead to the app occupying an unnecessary amount of storage. You can refer to our post to learn more about why does Spotify take a lot of storage and how to fix it.

3. Force Quit and Relaunch Spotify

If you still can’t listen to your downloaded music, you can try force quitting and relaunching the Spotify app. This will give it a fresh start on your iPhone and Android phone.

On iPhone

Step 1: On the home screen, swipe up and hold to reveal the background app windows.

Step 2: Swipe right to look for Spotify and swipe up to remove the app window.

Step 3: Relaunch Spotify and check if the problem is solved.

On Android

Step 1: Long-press the Spotify app icon and tap on App Info.

Step 2: Select Force Stop and tap on Ok to confirm.

Step 3: Close App Info and relaunch Spotify to check if the problem is solved.

4. Clear Spotify App Cache

If Spotify is still not playing your downloaded songs, clear the app cache. As mentioned above, Spotify is prone to accumulating a lot of app cache, especially for offline listening. However, the app cache gets corrupted over time, and can lead to issues like this. So, we suggest clearing the Spotify app cache. You can refer to our post to learn how to clear the Spotify app cache.

5. Download the Song Again

After you have cleared the app cache, log in to your Spotify account and try downloading your song(s) again. You should be able to download your songs without any hiccups now. If you are downloading an entire playlist of songs, we suggest switching from Mobile Data to Wi-Fi to fasten the process.

6. Check Your Spotify Account Status

If you cannot download your songs, you need to look at your Spotify account status. Downloading songs is a part of using a Spotify subscription. So, you should check whether your payment was processed successfully for your account. You will need your computer for the same.

Step 1: Open the Spotify website in a browser tab on your computer.

Visit Spotify

Step 2: Click on your profile icon at the top-right corner and select Account.

Step 3: Scroll down and click on Manage Your Plan.

Step 4: Check if your subscription is still active.

7. Update Spotify

If you still cannot listen to songs offline on Spotify, you need to install the latest app version, depending on your device. This will remove the bugs in the current version that might be causing this issue.

Update Spotify on iPhone

Update Spotify on Android

Use Spotify Offline

These solutions will help if Spotify is not playing your downloaded songs. You can also set a sleep timer on Spotify while you listen to songs to wind down at home. The sleep timer will automatically stop music playback after a certain duration.