How to Download Music from Spotify for Offline Playback
Download Music from Spotify on Mobile
Spotify allows you to download music on almost every screen in its mobile apps, but the option is curiously different depending on where you are. While you can download any song or album as long as you have Spotify Premium, let’s start with the most obvious, your Liked Songs playlist.
To do this, open the Spotify app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device and then navigate to the “Your Library” tab.
From the Music > Playlists section, tap the “Liked Songs” option.
You’ll now see a big “Download” option at the top. Tap the toggle next to it to start downloading your Liked Songs. Now, as you keep liking songs, they’ll be saved to your library and automatically downloaded to your device. And, yes, this feature works for any playlist in your Library.
But this is a single switch. What if you only want to download a particular album, perhaps without adding them to your Liked Songs playlist?
Navigate to the album or the playlist and tap the “Download” button below the description.
The music will be added to your Library, and Spotify will start downloading the songs instantly as long as you’re on Wi-Fi.
If you want to enable downloads over cellular, you can do that by going to Settings > Music Quality > Download Using Cellular and toggling on the option.
Now, as long as your smartphone or tablet connects to the internet once every 30 days, the downloaded songs will remain available for offline use.
You cannot directly download individual songs. Instead, you’ll have to use the Liked Songs feature. Tap the “Heart” icon found next to an individual song to Like it, and as long as you have the downloading feature enabled for the Liked Songs playlist, they’ll be available for offline listening.
Download Music from Spotify on Desktop
Spotify’s desktop app is quite limited when it comes to downloading songs. You can only download your Liked Songs and playlists. You can’t download individual albums or songs.
To download your Liked Songs playlist, open the Spotify app on your Windows 10 PC, Mac, or Linux computer and then select “Liked Songs” from the “Your Library” section in the sidebar. From there, click the toggle next to “Download” to start downloading all liked songs.
To download a playlist, first, open it in the Spotify desktop app and then click the three-dot Menu button. Here, choose the “Download” option.
How to Switch to Offline Mode on Spotify
Unlike Apple Music, Spotify doesn’t have a separate section for downloaded music. Instead, it offers an Offline mode. Once enabled, Spotify will stop interacting with the streaming service, even if you’re connected to the internet.
You’ll still be able to browse Spotify’s catalog of music, but you won’t be able to play them until you go back online. Offline Mode presents you with all of your recent offline music at the top of the Home page, and you can go to the Library to see the albums and playlists that you have downloaded. If a song is not grayed-out, it means it’s downloaded and can be played.
To switch to Offline Mode, click the “Settings” button found at the top of the Home section.
Here, choose the “Playback” option.
Now, you can tap the toggle next to “Offline Mode” to go offline. You can come back here again to go online.
