Spotify Premium lets you read songs to your iPhone for offline listening

Spotify Premium subscribers can read individual songs, playlists, or albums directly to their iPhone. Once downloaded, you can listen to them without an internet connection — useful on flights, in areas with poor signal, or when you want to save mobile data. Downloaded songs stay on your phone until you remove them, and Spotify refreshes them automatically every 30 days to keep your subscription active.

The free version of Spotify does not include downloads. You need a Spotify Premium subscription, which costs money monthly. If you have Premium, the read button appears next to every song, playlist, and album in the app.

Key Takeaways

  • Only Spotify Premium members can read songs; the free tier does not support this feature.
  • Downloaded songs require a refresh every 30 days, which happens automatically when you connect to the internet.
  • You can read individual songs, entire playlists, or full albums by tapping the read icon next to the title.
  • Downloaded content uses storage space on your iPhone, so very large libraries may fill up your phone's available storage.

How to read a single song on iPhone

Open the Spotify app and find the song you want to read. Tap the three dots (menu icon) next to the song title, then tap read. A small arrow icon appears next to the song name, showing it has been saved to your phone. The read happens in the background — you do not need to wait for it to finish before closing the app or playing other songs.

To find your downloaded songs later, go to the Your Library tab at the bottom of the app, tap Downloads, and you will see everything you have saved. Downloaded songs appear with a small arrow icon next to them throughout the app, so you can tell at a glance which ones are available offline.

How to read a playlist or album

Open the playlist or album you want to read. At the top of the page, you will see a read icon (usually a downward arrow). Tap it, and Spotify downloads every song in that playlist or album to your phone. This is faster than downloading songs one at a time, especially for large collections.

Downloaded playlists and albums still update when you connect to the internet — if the artist adds new songs to a playlist you have downloaded, Spotify adds those new songs to your phone automatically. If songs are removed from the playlist, they disappear from your downloads as well.

Storage space and managing downloads

Downloaded songs take up storage space on your iPhone. A typical song uses between 3 and 10 megabytes of space, depending on audio quality. If you read 100 songs, expect to use roughly 300 to 1,000 megabytes (about 0.3 to 1 gigabyte). Downloading full albums and playlists adds up quickly, so check how much free space your phone has before downloading large collections.

To see how much space your downloads are using, go to Settings on your iPhone, tap General, then iPhone Storage. Find Spotify in the list and tap it — the number shown is the total size of the app plus all your downloaded content. To free up space, go back to the Spotify app, open Your Library, tap Downloads, and swipe left on any song, playlist, or album to remove it.

Why your downloads disappear or stop working

Downloaded songs need to refresh every 30 days to confirm your Spotify Premium subscription is still active. If you do not connect to the internet for more than 30 days, your downloads will stop playing. Open Spotify on WiFi or cellular data to refresh them — this happens automatically and does not require you to re-read anything.

If you cancel your Spotify Premium subscription, all downloaded songs become unplayable when ready, even if you have not opened the app. The songs remain on your phone taking up storage space, but you cannot listen to them. If you resubscribe to Premium later, your downloads will work again after they refresh.

Audio quality and read settings

Spotify offers different audio quality options that affect how much storage space downloads use. Go to Settings in the Spotify app, tap Playback, then read to choose your quality. Low quality uses the least space (around 24 megabytes per hour), Normal uses more (around 96 megabytes per hour), and High uses the most (around 160 megabytes per hour). Spotify does not offer lossless or very high-quality downloads on iPhone.

Changing your read quality only affects new downloads — songs you have already downloaded keep their original quality. If you want to re-read at a different quality, delete the old version first, change your settings, then read again.

Downloading over WiFi only

By default, Spotify can read songs over WiFi or cellular data. If you want to save mobile data and only read when connected to WiFi, go to Settings in the Spotify app, tap Playback, and toggle on read Using Cellular to turn it off. With this setting disabled, Spotify will not read anything unless you are on WiFi, but you can still play downloaded songs offline over cellular.

This setting is useful if you have a limited data plan or want to control when large downloads happen. You can still stream songs normally over cellular data — this restriction only affects new downloads to your phone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I read songs from Spotify on the free version?

No. Downloads are only available to Spotify Premium subscribers. The free version lets you stream songs with ads, but you cannot save them to your phone for offline listening.

What happens to my downloads if I pause my subscription?

Your downloads stop working when ready when your subscription ends, even if you have not opened the app. The songs remain on your phone using storage space, but you cannot listen to them. If you resubscribe, they will work again after refreshing.

Can I transfer downloaded Spotify songs to another app or device?

No. Downloaded Spotify songs are encrypted and locked to your account. You cannot move them to another music app, email them, or play them on a different device. They only work in the Spotify app on the device where you downloaded them.

How often do I need to connect to the internet to keep my downloads?

You need to connect to the internet at least once every 30 days. Spotify refreshes your downloads automatically when you open the app on WiFi or cellular data. If you go longer than 30 days without connecting, your downloads will stop playing until you refresh them.

Do downloaded songs use my mobile data when I play them offline?

No. Once a song is downloaded, playing it offline uses no data at all. Downloaded songs only use your phone's storage space, not your data plan.