Streaming music and podcasts from Apple Watch through Spotify has been an option for some time now, but there has been a common demand for allowing Apple customers to download audio files onto their Apple Watches so that they could stream them even when there isn’t an Internet source nearby.

As of recently, Spotify has made that possible and now one can freely download songs (playlists) and podcasts onto their Apple Watches so that audio can be streamed even when the watch isn’t linked to the Internet. This means you can now go for a jog or do something else away from your phone and still stream music (or other audio) from your Apple Watch, so long as you’ve previously downloaded it onto the device. Below, we will show you how this new feature works and how you can set it up on your Apple Watch.

How to download Spotify songs on Apple Watch

To download Spotify songs on Apple Watch, one first needs to pair the Watch with your iPhone. Then, to download a Spotify song on the Apple Watch, you must use the Download to Apple Watch option from the three-dot menu in the Spotify app.

One thing we should note here is that Spotify currently only allows you to download entire playlists of songs, without the option to download songs individually. Each playlist download has a limit of up to 50 songs per playlist. However, there’s no limit on how many playlists you can download onto the Apple Watch – the only limit here is how much space you have on the device.

Another, more important, thing we must point out here is that the download feature is only available to Premium users of the Spotify app. If you are a regular user, you’d still be limited to streaming audio over the Internet, and you’d have to have an Internet source near the Apple Watch.

Now, onto how to use the feature:

  1. First, open the Spotify app on your iPhone and choose a playlist you’d like to download.
  2. Select the three dots menu and tap on the Download to Apple Watch (before, this option wasn’t available).
  3. Wait for the download to finish – you can check its progress from the Downloads section on the Apple Watch.
  4. Next, open Spotify on the Apple Watch, tap on the phone icon and choose the option to listen to audio from the watch (and not from your phone). If you don’t do this, your watch will simply act as a remote for your phone and music won’t get played directly from the watch.
  5. Lastly, to play the songs (playlists) you’ve downloaded, go to the Home Spotify Screen on your watch (swipe in any direction in the Spotify app) and you will see a Downloads section. Open it and from there you will be able to pick a playlist and play it.

Note: Make sure that the Apple Watch is connected to your Bluetooth headphones – audio cannot be streamed from the tiny built-in Apple Watch speakers.

Voice commands for Spotify on Apple Watch

Now that there’s Siri support on Apple Watch, users can give commands to the virtual assistant and tell it to use the Spotify app to play music, increase/decrease volume, pause or skip tracks, and more.

As per usual, you’d need to start the command with Hey, Siri and follow it with your request (for instance “Hey, Siri, play *insert album/artist name* on Spotify”). Just remember to always end the sentence with “…on Spotify” so that the assistant knows which app to use.