For quite a while, Spotify has allowed their users to listen to locally downloaded music on their Android/iOS app. However, there was a limitation for the feature where users would need to be synced on the same local network as their desktop Spotify app. This is about to change as Spotify is testing the ability to play locally stored music on the phone directly via the app.
Spotify is finally working on on-device local files support for Android!
No need to sync it from your desktop anymore 😀 pic.twitter.com/fVKiFAyxbs
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) December 6, 2020
The feature was spotted by the well known reverse engineer, Jan Manchun Wong, who posted a picture of the feature available as a toggle in the Android app’s setting.
At the moment, to listen to local files, users would need to log in to their account in both the desktop and mobile app. Users need to import the local music files in the desktop app, and then they will have the option to download the music on to their phone.
The requirement of always being connected to the same network proved to be quite annoying to many people. So finally, Spotify is testing a way to play locally stored music files without needing to be synced with a desktop app. The feature is currently being tested only on the Android Spotify app and it is unclear when, if at all, will the feature be available to the wider public.