How to Download Songs on Spotify To Listen Offline

Want to bring your favorite Spotify tunes with you anywhere without needing an internet connection? With Spotify Premium, you can download music, podcasts and playlists to listen offline when you‘re on a plane, camping in the woods, or anywhere without WiFi or cell service.

In this detailed guide, I‘ll explain everything you need to know about downloading songs on Spotify for offline listening. I‘ll show you how to save music to your phone or laptop so you can listen anytime, anywhere – even without an internet connection.

By the end, you‘ll be a pro at downloading music and customizing your offline Spotify library. Let‘s get started!

An Introduction to Offline Listening with Spotify

Spotify is the world‘s most popular music streaming app, with over 456 million active monthly users according to their latest quarterly results. One of the best perks of a Premium subscription is the ability to listen offline.

This lets you download songs, albums, playlists and podcasts to your devices so you can play music without using mobile data or WiFi. It‘s perfect for situations when you won‘t have internet access – like when traveling, commuting on the subway, flying on a plane, or even listening at the gym.

According to a Spotify survey, 61% of users say they listen to music to make travel and commuting more enjoyable. And 46% of Spotify listeners are "music obsessives" who constantly seek out new music and listen for over 21 hours per week.

So it makes sense that offline listening is a hugely popular Spotify feature. In fact, Spotify shared that over 2 billion offline tracks are accessed by users each month.

Offline listening has revolutionized how we enjoy music on the go. Keep reading and I‘ll show you exactly how to use this awesome feature.

Step 1: Getting Set Up with Spotify Premium

Before you can download music for offline use, you need a Spotify Premium subscription. This unlocks offline listening, high quality audio, unlimited skips and more.

Here are the key details on Spotify Premium:

Cost – $9.99/month for an Individual plan, $15.99/month for a Family plan for up to 6 people, and discounted Student and Military plans.
Free trial – Get 1 month free to test out Premium benefits.
Upgrading – You can upgrade an existing free account to Premium in the app.
Devices – Listen on your phone, tablet, computer, speakers, TV and more. Download to any 5 devices.
Audio quality – Enjoy music in standard quality or high fidelity with Premium. No ads!

Once you‘ve signed up for Premium, you‘re ready to start downloading tracks for offline listening. This works the same whether you‘re using Spotify‘s mobile app or desktop program.

Step 2: How to Download Music for Offline Playback

Downloading music for offline use is a simple process on both mobile and desktop. Here‘s a step-by-step guide:

On Mobile:

Open the Spotify app on your iPhone, Android or tablet.
Use Search to find an album, playlist or podcast you want to download, or browse to it.
Tap the Download icon next to the item. This is a downward facing arrow.
Downloads will show a green arrow instead of gray when complete.

On Desktop:

Open the Spotify desktop app on a Mac or PC.
Search or browse to the album, playlist or podcast you want offline.
Click the Download icon next to the content.
Downloaded items will display a green arrow.

And that‘s it! The songs, albums or playlists will now be available offline. Easy, right?

Now let‘s look at how to download individual tracks…

Step 3: How to Download Single Songs

Spotify doesn‘t let you download single tracks directly – you‘ll need to add songs into a playlist before downloading them.

But creating a playlist to download just one song is simple:

Right click the song title.
Select "Add to playlist" > "New playlist".
Give the playlist a name like "Offline Songs".
You can now download this whole playlist.

Follow these steps to download individual songs for offline listening. Then they won‘t get lost in an album or artist page.

Step 4: Finding Your Downloaded Music

Once you‘ve downloaded albums, playlists or podcasts, how do you find them?

Your downloaded content will be under "Downloads" on mobile or "Local Files" on desktop. This lets you view and play downloads offline.

On mobile, you can also access downloads by:

Going to Songs and selecting "Downloaded"
Filtering playlists or albums by "Available offline"
Viewing "Made For You" playlists marked "Available Offline"

This makes it easy to navigate and play downloads even without an internet connection.

Next let‘s look at how to listen while offline…

Step 5: Listening to Downloads Offline

Once you‘ve downloaded music to your devices, listening offline is simple:

Enter Airplane Mode or disconnect from the internet.
Open the Spotify app. It will say "Offline mode".
Go to a downloaded album, playlist or podcast.
Tap play! The downloads will play perfectly without WiFi.

Your Spotify app transforms into a personal offline music player. You still access your content just like normal, it just only plays downloaded music.

Some tips for offline listening:

Use Downloads or Local Files to directly access downloads
Search won‘t work offline but you can browse and shuffle
New podcast episodes won‘t download until reconnected

Offline listening gives you a seamless experience. Spotify even creates recommended playlists so you have offline mixes tailored to your taste.

Now let‘s go over some key limits…

Step 6: Spotify Download Limits

To prevent excessive usage, Spotify places limits on how many songs and playlists you can download:

Songs per device

10,000 song limit per device
Sync up to 5 devices

Songs per playlist

3,333 song limit per playlist

Playlists limit

100 playlist limit for downloads

Liked songs

3,000 liked song limit

For most people, these generous limits provide more than enough music for offline use. But if you do hit the caps, simply remove some downloads and add new tracks.

Now let‘s go over some ways to manage downloaded content…

Step 7: Managing Downloaded Music

It‘s easy to organize and control your downloaded Spotify content:

To delete downloads, tap the green arrow again to remove.
Editing playlists syncs changes to the downloaded version.
Use Downloads or Local Files to see and manage content.
Delete individual songs by tapping "Remove Download".
Clear all downloads with "Remove All" under Downloads.
Change download settings like quality and device limit.

Be sure to check your downloads and remove any you don‘t need offline. This will free up more space for new music!

Step 8: Troubleshooting Download Issues

Here are some common offline listening issues and fixes:

Can‘t download? Check you‘re a Premium member. Also make sure the app has storage permission and enough free space.

Songs won‘t download? Try moving locations – poor signal can disrupt downloads. For long playlists, downloads may take time.

Lost downloads? They remove automatically if you don‘t play them. Simply re-download.

Stuck download? Network errors can freeze downloads. Pause and restart the download.

Can‘t find music? Go to Downloads or Local Files. Check the content successfully downloaded.

Other issues? Disabling and re-enabling offline mode can help. Contact Spotify support if needed.

Hopefully these troubleshooting tips will resolve any download problems!

Step 9: Using Spotify Offline vs. Downloads

Spotify has two ways to listen without internet: Offline Mode and Downloading. What‘s the difference?

Offline Mode temporarily caches songs from recently played playlists and stations. This lets you keep listening through short connection losses. But cached content is cleared regularly.

Downloading saves specific songs, albums and playlists to your devices until you delete them. This gives full offline access to your library without relying on cached songs.

Offline mode works for brief disconnects. But downloading is better for complete offline listening without having to reconnect to refresh the cache.

Step 10: Advanced Tips for Offline Spotify

Here are some bonus tips for mastering offline listening:

Save data by downloading over WiFi instead of mobile data.
Sync listening across devices by enabling the feature under settings.
Follow playlists you love so new tracks download automatically.
Reduce streaming quality in settings to use less space for downloads.
For long trips, download playlists beforehand while still online.
Make sure important playlists are downloaded before traveling abroad.
Browse Spotify‘s suggested offline playlists for ideas.
Set downloads to auto-delete after a set number of days.
Download a few podcasts to binge during your commute or travels.
Remove old downloads regularly to make space for your latest music finds.
Make sure to download your Discover Weekly playlist each Monday for new personalized music offline.

So there you have it – everything you need to know to become an offline listening pro on Spotify!

The Benefits of Offline Listening

Why is downloading so important for Spotify Premium users? Here are some key benefits:

No mobile data needed – Listen anywhere without using data. Great for limited data plans.
No streaming costs – Avoid data roaming charges when traveling overseas.
Listen anywhere – Airplanes, subways, remote areas, road trips, and more!
Higher quality – Downloads in High quality for the best listening experience.
Data saver – Less battery drain vs. streaming music constantly.
Seamless experience – Downloads integrate seamlessly into the Spotify app.
Personalized playlists – Discover new music with offline playlists recommended for your taste.
Save favorites – Download your all-time favorite albums and make them available offline.

Offline listening gives you incredible freedom and flexibility. The ability to play music anywhere, even without cell service or WiFi, is a total game changer.

Summary: How to Download Songs on Spotify for Offline Playback

Let‘s do a quick recap of everything we covered about downloading music for offline use on Spotify:

Upgrade to Premium – Offline listening requires a paid Premium account.
Download albums & playlists – Tap the download icon on mobile and desktop apps.
Listen offline – Use the Spotify app in offline mode to play downloads.
Find downloads – Access downloads in "Downloads" or "Local Files".
Download limits – 10,000 song cap per device, 100 playlist cap, etc.
Listen seamlessly – Downloads integrate directly into your Spotify library.
Enjoy anywhere – Listen on planes, in remote areas, while traveling abroad, and more without data!

So now you have all the knowledge you need to become a pro at downloading and listening to Spotify offline!

I hope this guide was helpful for learning how to get the most out of Spotify Premium‘s awesome offline features. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Happy offline listening!