While Spotify is one of if not the most popular music streaming services in the world, one of the things that’s missing from it is the ability to play music files from your mobile device. You will have to sync it from your desktop to be able to do so. But it looks like they have finally woken up to the fact that users have been requesting this feature for a while now and is now working on adding support for local music playback from your device pretty soon.
Reverse engineer and reliable tipster Jane Manchun Wong tweeted that she was able to see that Spotify is finally working on on-device local files support for Android devices. While local files support has been available for the music streaming app for a while now, you had to do it from your desktop. But if they do roll this out eventually, your offline music library saved on your mobile phone or tablet can be added and synced even if you don’t have an Internet connection.
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
Based on the screenshots from Wong, there will be a new toggle on your app settings under the import section. It says “Show device files”. Once you toggle it on, it will scan your mobile device’s internal storage and show all audio files in the Your Library section of the Spotify app. It’s unclear though as to what audio file types it will support or whether it will allow cross-device playback.
Spotify oftentimes tests its features for a small, selected group of users so most likely, Wong has been included here. There have been several new things spotted by some users like local Group Sessions, saving podcast episodes, and even a possible subscription podcast service. We’ve also seen the Stories-like feature tested and then roll out to a wider audience. So we know that the folks over there are busy tinkering with the app.
What we’re not sure though is if this local music playback for Android will only be available for Premium users. But if erstwhile rival YouTube Music is able to offer playback for locally stored files for free users, they should be able to do so as well.