How to Fix Spotify Local Files Not Syncing/Showing/Playing

Part 1. How to Fix Spotify Local Files Not Syncing though Wi-Fi

1. Check your subscription

The ability to sync local files to your mobile device through Spotify's local files feature is indeed limited to Premium subscribers. Free users can only upload local files to their computer and listen to them there, but they cannot sync these files to their mobile devices for offline playback.

If you are a Spotify Free user, you won't be able to play local files on your mobile device, such as an iPhone, Android phone. You may consider upgrading to Premium to access the full feature of syncing local files to your mobile devices. If you are already a Spotify Premium subscriber and you are facing issues, please check your subscription.

1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
2. Click the Profile icon.
3. Click Account.
4. Look down "Your Plan" and check to see your subscription plan.

If are a qualified subscriber, try log out of the Spotify app on both your computer and smartphones to refresh your session.

On Windows/Mac:

1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
2. Click the Profile icon.
3. Click "Log out", and then use your Spotify account credentials to log back in.

On iPhone/Android phone:

1. Open the Spotify mobile app.
2. Tap the Gear icon.
3. Scroll to the bottom, and tap on "Log out".
4. Log in back to your Spotify Premium account.

2. Check firewall and security software

Sometimes, firewall or security software can block the connection between devices. Make sure that both your computer and iPhone have the necessary permissions to communicate over the network. You may also need to create exceptions in your firewall settings.

1. On Windows, open the Control Panel. You can press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box, and type "control" then press Enter.
2. From the upper-right corner, change the "View by" option to "Small/Large icons". And locate and click on "Windows Defender Firewall".
3. Click on "Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall" located on the left side menu.



4. Click on "Change settings".
5. Scroll though the list of "Allowed apps and features" to locate "Spotify".
6. Check the boxes for both "Private" and "Public".

3. Check network connection

Ensure that both your computer and smartphone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network and that the connection is stable to sync your local files. If available, try another network on your devices.

4. Check Offline mode

Double-check that you are not in Offline Mode on your devices. Turning on and then off Offline Mode is proven to be the most efficient way to fix the syncing issue on Spotify, as it helps force sync your music and local files.

On Windows:

1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
2. Tap on the horizontal three dots icon at the top-left.
3. Click File.
4. Ensure to disable Offline Mode, and wait for a good 5 to 10 minutes then disable Offline Mode to go online.

On Mac:

1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
2. Go to Spotify in the menu bar, and enable "Offline" for a good 5 to 10 minutes.
3. After that, disable Offline Mode.

On iPhone/Android:

1. Open the Spotify mobile app.
2. Tap the Gear icon.
3. Tap Playback.
4. Toggle on "Offline mode" for a while, and then disable this feature.

5. Download your local files playlist

On your desktop app, try downloading the playlist with local files. This may help initiate the syncing process to your mobile device. Additionally, you can try to create a playlist with only local files or remove the digital music from that playlist.

1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
2. Go to Your Library > Playlists, and locate your local files playlist.
3. Make sure your playlist has local files only.
4. Click on "Download".

6. Update or Reinstall Spotify

Ensure that you have the latest version of the Spotify app installed on both your computer and smartphone. Sometimes this can help resolve the syncing issues. If you are already using the up-to-date version, try removing the Spotify app from your mobile device and then reinstalling it from the app store.

7. Restart your device

Restart both your computer and smartphones. This can help refresh the network connections and settings.

8. Check iCloud/Apple Music settings (for iCloud users)

Spotify's local files feature allows you to add your own music files to your Spotify library. These local files are not actually hosted on Spotify's servers but are accessed directly from your computer when you're using the Spotify desktop app. When you sync local files to your mobile device, the files are transferred from your computer to your device over your local network.

However, when you use services like "iCloud Music Library" and Apple Music, they may interact with your music library in ways potentially interfere with Spotify's local files syncing process. Turning off your iCloud Music Library can potentially resolve the syncing issues of your local files. At the same time, the Apple Music syncing is paused.

On iPhone:

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
2. Tap Music.
3. Toggle off "Sync Library".

On Windows:

1. Open the iTunes software.
2. Go to Edit in the menu bar, and choose Preferences.
3. Go to General.
4. Make sure not to check the box of "iCloud Music Library".
5. Click "OK".

On Mac:

1. Open the Music app.
2. Go to Music in the menu bar, and choose Preferences.
3. Go to General.
4. Make sure not to check the box of "Sync Library", and click OK to apply changes.

Part 2. How to Fix Spotify Local Files Not Showing

1. Check your Spotify account

Your Spotify account is the key that ties tother your library, playlists, and preferences across different devices. Ensure that you are logged in to the same Spotify account on both your desktop and mobile device. When you're logged in to the same account, it allows for seamless synchronization of the digital music and your local files.

2. Check the file format and location

Ensure that your local files are in a supported format by the Local files feature in either MP3, MP4, or M4A. Then also ensure they are stored in a location on your computer that Spotify can access.

1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
2. Click the Profile icon.
3. Click Settings.
4. Scroll to Show songs from.
5. Look down the "Show songs from" section and check to see the location.
6. Make sure the correct folder path is selected and toggled on.

3. Readd the file location

When it comes to settings changes, for example you use the Local files feature to upload your files to the Spotify desktop app, sometimes Spotify won't update these preferences. In this case, the local files may not show up in your library. From there you will need to refresh your local files settings or readd the file location.

1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
2. Click the Profile icon.
3. Click Settings.
4. Scroll to Show songs from, and toggle off the source you use for local files.



5. Exit the settings and the app for a while and reopen it, then go back to the file location to toggle it back on.

If you need to readd the file location, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Show songs from section within the app settings.
2. Click on "Add a source".
3. Navigate the computer and locate the folder.
4. Select the folder, and click "OK".

On your smartphone, please make sure a setting called "Show audio files from this device" is enabled, which ensures your access to the local audio files.

1. Open the Spotify mobile app.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Tap Local Files.
4. Toggle on "Show audio files from this device".

4. Check Show settings

If Spotify still won't show your local files, you can use related settings to see them.

1. On your iPhone or Android phone, open the Spotify mobile app.
2. Tap the Gear icon.
3. Tap Display.
4. Toggle on "Show unavailable songs in playlists", and you can check to see your local files are unavailable at this point.

If you can't find "Show unavailable songs in playlists", try to access and toggle off "Hide Unplayable Songs" instead.

1. On your iPhone or Android phone, open the Spotify mobile app.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Go to Playback.
4. Toggle off "Hide Unplayable Songs", and you can go to your library and find your local files that are unplayable.

5. Force sync your local files playlists

If your local files still won't show on your mobile device, you can try force sync it.

On Mac:

1. Open the Spotify desktop app.
2. Go to Your Library > Playlists, and find your local files playlist.
3. Right-click or control-click the playlist, and choose "Delete".

On iPhone/Android:

1. Open the Spotify mobile app.
2. Go to Your Library, and go into your local files playlist.
3. Tap on the 3 dots icon at the top of your playlist, and choose Delete Playlist.

Once the playlist is deleted on both your computer and smartphones, restart the Spotify app. After that, create a mobile Hotspot and connect your devices to it (have Wi-Fi switched off at this point), then open the Spotify app on your devices and upload your files again.

Other Solutions:

Part 3. How to Fix Spotify Local Files Not Playing

1. Check ID3 tags and name

The names and ID3 tags of local files are reported to cause issues with Spotify's local files feature. Incorrect or mismatched metadata (e.g. song titles, artists, albums names, etc.) in the ID3 tags of your local files can lead to problem like greyed-out or unplayable songs, even if he files are successfully imported into Spotify.

Ensure that the ID3 tags of your local files are accurate and match the information of the corresponding songs on Spotify. This includes details like song title, artist name, album name, track number, etc. As a music fan myself, when I manage them on my computer, I always get the metadata from the Spotify platform to edit the ID3 tags of my local files, and it's good!

2. Clear cache on your device

You can try clearing the cache within Spotify's settings on your smartphone.

1. Open the Spotify mobile app.
2. Tap on the Gear icon.
3. Scroll to Storage.
4. Tap on "Clear cache".

3. Check Show settings

You can check to see if those songs are unplayable by enabling the related show settings.

1. Open the Spotify mobile app.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Go to Playback.
4. Toggle off "Hide Unplayable Songs", and you can check to see if your local files are unplayable at this point.

Other Solutions:

Part 4. How to Combine Spotify Streaming Files with Your Own Files

If all the methods above can't fix the Local Files issue as expected, there's one more method that lets you combine the exclusives to Spotify (Spotify Music catalog) with your own files, that is, to make Spotify streaming files into the same formats - such as MP3.

While Spotify streaming files are all encoded into DRM and limited to Spotify's platform, a music converter can make them yours. Added with the DRM-removal function, ViWizard Spotify Music Converter is the best 3rd-party tool that can convert Spotify contents into 6 formats - MP3, M4A, M4B, WAV, AAC and FLAC.

The best part of it is that the whole process requires only a Spotify free account. Once you make Spotify offline in MP3s, it's simple to transfer them to the mobile device or combine and manage them in a safer place - like iTunes.

Key Features of ViWizard Spotify Music Converter

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• Download Spotify songs, albums, playlists, podcasts, audiobooks
• Convert Spotify music to lossless MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, M4A, M4B
• Support playing offline Spotify music on any device at any time
• Compatible with Windows and macOS, as well as, the latest Spotify

Step 1Select Spotify Contents

Launch ViWizard, wait until it launches or relaunches Spotify app for desktop connected with your Spotify account. You can use drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste to add the selected Spotify contents to ViWizard.

Step 2Adjust Format Settings

Once the contents are added to ViWizard, you'll also need to adjust some format settings. In the menu bar, click the menu icon > Preferences to go into the preferences settings. Click Convert, then click Output format's drop-down to choose MP3. After that, click OK to save this change with the file format.

Step 3Convert Spotify Contents into MP3

In ViWizard, click the Convert button can start the whole conversion in a 5x super faster speed. You can browse to the converted files in MP3 either in the pop-up after the conversion or in ViWizard's Converted menu anytime you want.

Step 4Combine with Your Own Files

Once the Spotify streaming files are converted into MP3, you can transfer them to your mobile device with a USB table or combine them with your own files in iTunes, where MP3s are compatible.

To Combine Converted Spotify Music Files with Your Own Files in iTunes:

1. On desktop, open iTunes or Music app.
2. From here to upload the converted Spotify music files to iTunes or Music app.

For Windows: use File > Add File to Library or Add Folder to Library. In the Windows Explorer pop-up, naviagate to the folder where all the converetd music files are stored with ViWizard > Open.

For Mac: use File > Import. In the Finder pop-up, locate the music files or folder that you want to add to your Apple Music collection > Open.