YouTube Music lets you read songs to your phone, but the rules depend on which version you use

YouTube Music comes in two versions: the free tier with ads, and YouTube Music Premium (a paid subscription). Only Premium members can read songs to listen offline. If you use the free version, you can play music while the app is open, but you cannot save it to your device. The read feature works on both Android and iPhone, though the steps differ slightly between them.

Downloaded songs stay on your phone for 30 days without an active internet connection. If your Premium subscription lapses or you cancel it, the downloaded files become unplayable — they do not turn into regular music files you own. This is different from buying a song on iTunes or Amazon Music, where you own the file outright.

Key Takeaways

  • YouTube Music Premium is required to read any songs; the free version does not offer downloads at all.
  • Downloaded songs work offline for 30 days, but stop playing if your subscription ends or lapses.
  • On Android, tap the three-dot menu next to a song and select "read"; on iPhone, swipe left on the song and tap the read icon.
  • Downloaded files take up storage space on your phone, so check how much room you have before downloading many songs or full albums.
  • YouTube Music does not let you read entire playlists at once — you read songs one by one or use the "read all" option within a playlist.

How to read on Android phones

Open the YouTube Music app and find the song, album, or playlist you want to read. Tap the three vertical dots (the menu icon) next to the song title. A menu will appear with several options. Select "read" from that menu.

The song will begin downloading when ready. You will see a read icon appear next to the song title, and it will fill in as the read progresses. Once the icon is solid, the song is ready to play offline. If you are downloading an entire album or playlist, you can tap "read all" instead of downloading each song individually, and YouTube Music will queue them all up.

Check your phone's storage before downloading many songs. Downloaded music files are fairly large — a typical three-minute song takes up 5 to 10 megabytes of space. If you read 100 songs, you could use 500 megabytes to 1 gigabyte of your phone's storage.

How to read on iPhone

Open YouTube Music and locate the song you want to read. Swipe left on the song title (the same motion you would use to delete a text message). A read icon will appear on the right side of the screen. Tap that icon to start the read.

For albums and playlists, open the album or playlist page and look for a read icon near the top. Tap it to read all songs in that collection at once. The read will begin, and you will see a progress indicator next to each song as it saves to your phone.

iPhone storage fills up faster than Android on many phones, so be mindful of how many songs you read. You can delete downloaded songs from your phone without canceling your subscription — just swipe left on the song in your library and tap "Remove read." The song stays in your YouTube Music library and will play if you have an internet connection.

Where to find your downloaded music

Downloaded songs appear in a separate section of the YouTube Music app. On both Android and iPhone, tap the "Library" tab at the bottom of the screen. Look for a "Downloads" section or a filter option that shows only downloaded content. Songs you have downloaded will appear there, and you can play them without an internet connection.

Downloaded music does not appear in your phone's standard music player or file manager. It lives only inside the YouTube Music app. If you uninstall YouTube Music or clear the app's cache, your downloads will be deleted.

What happens when your subscription ends

If you cancel YouTube Music Premium or your payment method fails and the subscription lapses, downloaded songs will stop playing after a grace period. YouTube Music will attempt to verify your subscription periodically, and once it confirms you are no longer a member, the downloaded files lock. You cannot play them even though they still take up space on your phone.

To regain access, you would need to resubscribe to YouTube Music Premium. The songs do not need to read again — they will unlock automatically once your subscription is active. If you want to free up space, you can manually delete the downloaded files from the Downloads section of the app.

Storage limits and managing downloads

YouTube Music does not set a hard limit on how many songs you can read, but your phone's storage does. Most phones have between 64 and 512 gigabytes of total storage, and that space is shared with photos, videos, apps, and other files. Downloading 500 songs could use 2.5 to 5 gigabytes of space depending on audio quality.

You can check how much space YouTube Music is using on your phone. On Android, go to Settings, then Apps, then YouTube Music, then Storage. On iPhone, go to Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage, and scroll to find YouTube Music. If you are running low on space, delete downloaded songs you no longer listen to regularly.

YouTube Music does not offer an option to change the audio quality of downloads or to compress them to save space. All downloads use the same quality setting, which is optimized for offline playback but not as high-quality as streaming over Wi-Fi.

Offline listening without downloads

If you do not want to use storage space on downloads, YouTube Music Premium also lets you listen to songs and playlists while offline if you have played them recently while connected to the internet. This is called "Smart Downloads" on some streaming services, but YouTube Music handles it differently — it caches songs temporarily rather than giving you explicit control over what gets cached.

The cached songs may disappear if you do not open the app for several days or if you clear the app's cache manually. For reliable offline listening, the read feature is more dependable than relying on cached content.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I read music from YouTube Music if I have the free version?

No. Downloads are only available to YouTube Music Premium subscribers. The free version lets you stream music with ads, but you cannot save songs to your phone for offline listening. You would need to upgrade to Premium to use the read feature.

What happens to my downloads if I switch phones?

Downloaded files stay on your old phone and do not transfer automatically to a new device. You would need to read the songs again on your new phone using the YouTube Music app. Your subscription and library follow you to the new phone, but the actual downloaded files do not.

Can I read music and then cancel my subscription to keep the songs?

No. Downloaded songs stop playing once your subscription ends, even though the files remain on your phone. They are not converted to files you own — they are tied to your active subscription. Canceling Premium removes your access to the downloads.

How long do downloaded songs stay on my phone if I do not use them?

Downloaded songs remain playable as long as your subscription is active and you do not manually delete them. There is no automatic expiration date. However, if your subscription lapses, the songs will lock and become unplayable after a short grace period.

Can I read music to my computer using YouTube Music?

YouTube Music does not offer a read feature for computers or web browsers. Downloads are only available through the mobile app on Android and iPhone. If you want to read music to a computer, you would need to use a different service like Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music, which offer desktop read options.