Only Premium can download music. Free accounts can download podcasts and nothing else. Premium covers albums, playlists and podcasts, up to 10,000 tracks on each of up to 5 devices.
You can't download a single song. Add it to a playlist first, then download the playlist.
Phone or tablet
- While online, open the playlist, album or podcast.
- Tap the download icon. It saves to Your Library.
- A green arrow beside it means the download finished.
Downloads use Wi-Fi by default. To allow mobile data: profile picture, Settings and privacy, Data-saving and offline, then turn on Downloads over cellular.
Desktop
Open the playlist while online and click the download button. Same status icons as on mobile.
Playing offline
Downloads play automatically when you lose your connection. To make Spotify play only downloads, turn on Offline mode: Data-saving and offline in mobile settings; the Spotify menu on Mac; on Windows, the three-dot menu, then File, then Offline Mode. Anything not downloaded turns gray.
When downloads disappear
Spotify's list of causes:
- You didn't go online within 30 days. Spotify needs a connection to collect play data for artist compensation.
- You downloaded on more than 5 devices. The least recently used device loses its downloads.
- You reinstalled the app.
- The app is out of date.
- The SD card, if you use one, isn't working properly.
When a download won't start
Check the connection, free storage (Spotify recommends at least 1GB), and whether you've hit the 5-device limit. Turn off cache-clearing or battery-saving apps, restart the app, and as a last step reinstall it, which means downloading everything again.
To free space on mobile, go to Settings and privacy, Data-saving and offline, Storage to remove all downloads. For a single item, open it from Downloaded in Your Library and tap the green arrow, then Remove.
Premium prices on iPhone are in YouTube Music vs Spotify on iPhone.
Sources
- Spotify Support — Listen offline (checked Nov 9, 2026)