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You could be forgiven for thinking that Spotify already allowed you to download music to your Apple Watch, but in fact, that feature had recently just arrived. The much-requested feature is useful for anyone who wants to go for a run without a phone swinging around in their pocket.
This feature, unsurprisingly, is limited to Spotify premium subscribers. It's why in our Spotify Free vs Premium piece, offline listening support was a major factor in our evaluation. Luckily, everyone can already control their Spotify playlist from their Watch, and that’s not changing, but being able to directly download music and podcasts from Spotify is new.
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Firstly, you’ll need to find the music you want to download. It might be easiest to make a playlist called “Watch” for music, say. You can download any playlist, album or podcast by pressing the three dots at the top of the screen and selecting “download to Apple Watch”.
You’ll see a green arrow next to songs or podcasts once tracks have been loaded on to the watch. You can also check on the download progress in the “downloads” section of the Watch app. While we haven’t been able to check yet, presumably switching selections out will be handled in the same way, as space is limited on the Apple Watch.
This functionality will work on any Apple Watch from the Series 3 on up. You’ll need to be running at least WatchOS 6. It’s also important to make sure you have the latest version of the app. In our experience, sometimes apps don’t auto-update perfectly on time, so you might want to check the app store.
Spotify also says it’s rolling the feature out to subscribers “over the coming weeks,” so if you don’t have it yet, you may have to wait a bit for it to appear. Until then, you can always break out your Sony Walkman and pop in your "Dookie" cassette tape by Green Day.
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Ian has been involved in technology journalism since 2007, originally writing about AV hardware back when LCDs and plasma TVs were just gaining popularity. Nearly 15 years on, he remains as excited as ever about how tech can make your life better. Ian is the editor of T3.com but has also regularly contributed to Tom's Guide.
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Here's a detailed, step-by-step guide on how you can download Spotify music tracks onto your Apple Watch for offline listening.
Music is an important element of our daily lives. Whether we're going through unbearable heartbreaks never experienced before, celebrating moments of joy, or just winding down -- there's a music track that matches this particular mood. More notably, we tend to listen to energetic songs when we're exercising or commuting. Apple Music supports downloading tracks to the company's watch for offline listening. This enables you to leave your iPhone at home when going for a jog, without missing out on the beats -- assuming you have Bluetooth earbuds to connect to your watch. Spotify recently followed suit and started offering a similar feature for its Premium users. Here's a detailed guide on how to download Spotify music onto your Apple Watch.
How to download Spotify music onto your Apple Watch
Before we get started, you must ensure that you're subscribed to Spotify Premium. That's in addition to having an Apple Watch Series 3 (or later) running watchOS 6 (or newer). Update Spotify from the App Store, then follow the steps below:
- Launch the Spotify app on your iPhone.
- Head to the playlist you would like to download onto your Apple Watch.
- Click on the 3-dot menu button.
- Select Download to Apple Watch.
- A pop-up will inform you that the download process has started. You can check the progress through the Spotify app on your Apple Watch.
- If you change your mind and decide to delete a playlist, you can remove it from your Apple Watch through the same 3-dot menu.
- When you want to listen to your offline Spotify library on watchOS, simply connect Bluetooth earbuds to your Apple Watch. Launch Spotify on the tiny screen -- where you will be greeted by the Now Playing screen.
- Swipe from the left edge of the screen to the right. There you will find the Downloads section that includes your offline music.
Being able to listen to Spotify Music on our WiFi-only Apple Watches is such an underrated feature. Gone are the days of needing to carry a phone around when going out for a run. It's worth noting, though, that Spotify doesn't support downloading the Liked Songs playlist -- for whichever reason. It's kind of baffling because this playlist is semi-auto-generated and just needs users to like their favorite tunes, making it very easy to create a loop of your favorite tracks without a second thought. If you do want to download your liked songs on Spotify, you will need to create your own playlist, add songs that you like to it, then follow the steps listed above to download it.
Which music streaming service do you use the most, and why? Let us know in the comments section below.