Spotify users with Apple Watches can breathe a sigh of relief. You can finally, finally download playlists, albums, and podcasts onto the watch for offline use.
In its official blog, Spotify said it’s rolling out offline playlists starting today. All a user has to do is select the music or podcast they want to listen to, press the three dots, and then hit “Download to Apple Watch.” A little green arrow will then appear next to the fully downloaded content. This update also brings Siri support for Spotify on the watch using voice commands such as, “Hey Siri, play my Discover Weekly Playlist on Spotify.” (You just have to remember to add the “on Spotify” part.)
That said, there are a few caveats. To get offline playlists, you have to have an Apple Watch Series 3 or later, running at least watchOS 6. However, Spotify recommends running watchOS 7.1 or later for the best experience. The watch also needs a cellular or wifi connection, and this ability is only available for Spotify Premium subscribers. On top of that, you’ll have to download the latest version of Spotify on both your iPhone and the watch itself. Still, huzzah!
The Spotify app on the Apple Watch has had a long, bumpy journey. While the first Apple Watch was released in 2015, it wasn’t until 2018 that Spotify created an app for the smartwatch. Unfortunately, the app was nothing more than a glorified remote. Users who wanted offline playlists for phone-free activities were forced to either switch to Apple Music, find another smartwatch, or just give up and carry their phones with them. This changed somewhat late last year when Spotify began rolling out the ability to stream music onto the Apple Watch.
Previously, the only wearable platforms that supported offline Spotify playlists were Samsung’s Tizen OS — a rare win for Tizen’s limited third-party app ecosystem — and Garmin. However, along with today’s news, Spotify also announced during Google I/O earlier this week that the new unified Wear platform would also get offline music and podcasts. This is another major win, as the Wear OS version of Spotify was also a glorified remote and Google shut down the Google Play Music app earlier this year. However, unlike the Apple Watch version, it’ll be a bit before this functionality comes to Wear since the new platform hasn’t been released just yet. All in all, this is great news for anyone and everyone with a smartwatch.