Spotify Not Downloading Songs? 2025 Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide
Summary: This comprehensive guide is your definitive resource to diagnose and fix why your Spotify downloads are failing. We'll walk through every potential culprit, from the most obvious subscription checks to surprisingly subtle device settings. We will also share a tool – MusicFab – that simplifies the task of downloading your favourite songs.
Table of Contents
If you are a music lover, I am sure you must be on Spotify. Imagine a situation where you find Spotify not downloading songs all of a sudden. Picture yourself finding a perfect playlist for your flight, creating a killer workout mix, or simply wanting to save precious mobile data.
But you find Spotify songs are not downloading for some strange reason. This can happen with Apple Watch, iPhone, or any other device. When you find this, it can be due to multiple reasons. Before you can fix the issues, it is quite practical to understand what can cause this issue.
1. Why are my songs on Spotify not downloading?
- • No Premium, no offline files.
- Spotify still limits song downloads to Premium users only. Free plans can download podcasts, nothing else. So, this should be the first thing you need to check.
- • Shaky connection
Community logs show network drops cause 3 in 10 failures. Check Wi‑Fi strength or allow cellular downloads (Settings › Audio Quality › Download using cellular).
- • Storage under 1 GB
Spotify’s support page recommends keeping at least a gigabyte free.
- • You hit the 5‑device / 10,000-tracks-per-device cap.
Once full, new downloads pause until you delete old ones.
- • App cache or version glitch
Old builds and corrupted cache accounted for 15 % of 2024‑2025 complaints
2. How to Fix General Spotify Downloading Issue
| Troubleshoot guide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Action | Why it matters | How to do it （2025 UI） | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Confirm Premium status | Free tier can’t download music | Home › Settings › Account |
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| Toggle Offline mode off/on | Resets stuck download queue | Tap Settings › Playback › Offline
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| Switch networks or enable cellular download | Covers 30 % of failures |
Settings › Audio Quality › Download using cellular(iGeeksBlog) |
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| Free storage (≥1 GB) | Spotify halts if cramped |
Delete videos / cache； iOS (iPhone/iPad): Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Android: Go to Settings > Storage. Desktop (Windows/Mac): Check your drive's properties (right-click on the drive) or use system tools to see free space. |
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| Remove old offline devices | Bypass 5‑device ceiling |
Settings › Manage Downloads › Offline devices (added back 2024‑Q4)(Spotify Community) |
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| Clear cache | Fixes corrupt file index | Settings › Storage › Clear cache |
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| Update or reinstall the app | Patches known bugs | Latest build 8.9.120+ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Re‑log all sessions | Refreshes licensing tokens | Log out everywhere, then back in | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3. Spotify not Downloading: Device‑Specific Playbooks
iPhone/iPad
- Check iOS Low-Data or Low-Power mode; both pause background downloads
- In Settings> Cellular> Spotify, leave "Data" toggled on if you intend to download over 5G
- Large libraries? Use Downloaded > Remove Downloads to clear space before retrying.
Apple Watch
- Keep watch on the charger and the iPhone unlocked on the same Wi-Fi
- In iPhone Spotify, tap the playlist menu > Download to Apple Watch.
- If stuck at "Waiting...", force-quit Spotify on the watch, reopenand scroll to the bottom-progress should resume.
- Still frozen? Delete Spotify from the watch and reinstall; this solved the issue for 70% of forum posters
- in May 2025.
Android/Desktop
- Disable battery-optimiser apps that kill Spotify in the background.
- On Windows, verify that corporate firewalls don't block port 4070(Spotify's CDN).
- Kill stale processes in Task Manager and restart the app.
To see where Spotify saves your music, head to this post.
4. Spotify Not Downloading All Songs in Playlist: A Partial Problem
This can be a very frustrating issue. Downloads work on some songs, while they fail on many others.
Let us explore the reasons and fixes that should work for you when you find Spotify Not Downloading All Songs in a Playlist.
| Why & How to fix Spotify not downloading playlists | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Causes |
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| Regional rights expired | Track name greyed‑out | No fix; Spotify removes offline rights | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Explicit filter ON | Clean tracks download, explicit fail |
Settings › Content › Allow Explicit Content (Spotify) |
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| Hit local 10,000-song limit | Last songs won’t queue | Remove older downloads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Metadata bug | One or two songs loop “Waiting” | Remove and re‑add the track, then redownload (community workaround) (Spotify Community) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5. Bonus: Download Spotify Playlists Easily MusicFab Spotify Converter
Well, you may have tried all those steps and are still facing the downloading issues or you just get tired of those issues.
This is where MusicFab Spotify Converter comes in. The downloader tool addresses the basic core problem of your downloads – DRM protection on Spotify.
Here are a few features that make the downloader stand out:
- Universal Compatibility Across All Devices: You can convert your Spotify tracks into MP3, WAV, FLAC or more that offer universal compatibility. You can play your downloaded tracks on any device you prefer.
- Faster downloads: Get your downloads faster. It offers you a download speed of up to 20 times compared to the other tools in its genre.
- Retention of metadata: All the details of your downloaded tracks are retained. This helps you organise your downloaded files seamlessly.
- Batch downloads: Download multiple tracks in one go. That should be an excellent way to help you save time and effort.
- High-quality downloads: Get studio-quality audio performance and clear sounds. You can be assured of the downloads in resolutions as high as 320 kbps.
How to use MusicFab to download Spotify tracks with ease?
Step 1. Install MusicFab on your device
Download your MusicFab Converter from the official website. You can choose from among the Mac and Windows versions depending on your device.
Step 2. Choose Spotify
From among the music streaming services supported on the tool, choose Spotify. Sign in to your Spotify account or create a new account if you do not have an account already.
Step 3. Choose your track to download
Search for the track that you want to download. This will bring up the download parameters options. These would include download resolution, file formats and other relevant settings.
Step 4. Download the tracks
Click on Download Now or click on the download icon to download the track.
6. FAQs
Each factory reset or watch OS reinstall may register as a new device. Purge the ghost entries under
Manage Downloads and wait 30 days for tokens to expire if the slot won't clear instantly. sources: Spotify community
Yes-as of February 2025, Spotify restored per-device removal in the mobile and desktop app under
Settings > Manage Downloads> Offline devices. sources: Spotify community
Smart Shuffle only affects in-session playback order; it does not block downloads, but users report UI
confusion between the two features. Turning it off resolves mis-tapps. sources: Spotify community
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