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Summary
When Spotify doesn’t show your local music tracks, make sure the music exists on your device, turn on app’s local files option, give Spotify required app permissions, check if your music is in supported format, log out and back into your Spotify account, or uninstall and reinstall your Spotify app.
Don’t see your device’s local music files in your Spotify for iPhone or Android app? There are various reasons the app won’t list your local music tracks. We’ll what you can do about it so you can stream your local music with the Spotify app.
PSA: Spotify Won’t Sync Your Computer’s Music With Your Phone
If you’re trying to locate your Windows or Mac machine’s local music files in Spotify on your phone, you’ll be disappointed to know that Spotify no longer lets you sync your computer music with your mobile device. It was possible to do that before, but that feature is now gone.
Related:How to Copy Music to Your Android Phone
This means, if you want to play your computer’smusic files in Spotify on your iPhoneor Android phone, you’ll have totransfer those files from your computer to your smartphone. Spotify only displays the music files that it can locally find on your device.
Enable Spotify’s Local Files Option
Even if you do have local music tracks on your phone, to make Spotify display them, you must turn on an option in the app on your phone. If the option is disabled, you won’t see your local songs.
To turn on that option on an Android phone, head into Spotify > Settings. In the “Local Files” section, toggle on “Show Audio Files From This Device.”
On an iPhone, head into Spotify > Settings > Local Files. Here, turn on the “Show Audio Files From This Device” option.
Spotify will now scan your phone for music files and add those files to “Your Library.”
Check Spotify’s App Permission on Your Phone
Spotify requires access to your phone’s local storage to scan and add your files into the app. If you’ve denied that permission on your phone, that may be why you can’t see your local files in the app.
Review your Spotify app permissions on your phone and ensure the app has all the permissions it needs.
To do thaton an Android phone, head into Settings > Apps > Spotify > Permissions > Music and Audio on your phone. Here, enable the “Allow” option.
If you’re an iPhone user, navigate to Settings > Spotify and let the app have all the required permissions.
Then, launch Spotify and see if you can find your local music files.
Related:How to Manage App Permissions on Android
Make Sure Your Music File Format is a Spotify-Supported
To have a file show up in the Spotify app, that file must be inMP3, M4P, orMP4format. The MP4 file must not contain video.
Check and ensure your local music files are in one of the supported formats. If not, you’ll have toconvert your audio filesto a supported format to use them in your app.
Sign Out and Back Into Your Spotify Account
Sometimes, your app’s faulty login sessions cause your local files not to show up in the app. In this case, resolve those issues by logging out and back into your account in the Spotify app.
To do that, open Spotify app on your phone and access “Settings.” Scroll down the page and choose “Log Out.”
After logging out, sign back into your account using your preferred method.
Remove and Reinstall Spotify on Your Phone
If your local files still don’t show up in your app, Spotify’s core app files might be corrupted. Such corruption can break many features of the app, including the one that displays the local files.
In this case, fix the issue by uninstalling and reinstalling the app on your phone. You don’t lose your playlists or other data when you do this. However, you’ll have to sign back into your account in the app.
To do that on an Android phone, tap and hold on Spotify in your phone’s app drawer and choose “Uninstall.” Select “OK” in the prompt. Then, open Google Play Store, find “Spotify”, and select “Install.”
If you’re an iPhone user, tap and hold on Spotify on your home screen and choose Remove App > Delete App. Then, launch App Store, find “Spotify”, and tap the download icon.
And that should resolve your local files not appearing in Spotify issue. Enjoy listening to your favorite music on your phone!
