Do any music apps work without WiFi?
Many popular music apps like Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music require an internet connection to stream music from their libraries. This can make listening to music challenging when you don’t have access to WiFi or cellular data. However, there are some great options for listening to music offline through apps designed specifically for the purpose or by using certain features of streaming apps.
Downloading Music For Offline Listening
The major streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music allow users to download music to their devices for offline listening when an internet connection is not available. This is useful for situations like plane trips, commuting on the subway, or any other time you may not have WiFi or cellular data access.
Spotify Premium users can download playlists, albums, and other content by tapping the download button next to any song, playlist, or album (www.soundguys.com/how-to-listen-to-spotify-offline-100491/). Downloaded content is then accessible in the user’s Library in the Spotify app. Apple Music also lets subscribers save any music for offline listening by tapping the download icon next to songs, albums or playlists (www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/17tf5at/offline_listening/). The downloaded music is available in the user’s Library tab for offline access.
This offline download feature allows streaming service subscribers to listen to the music they want even without an internet connection. It provides a seamless experience by enabling users to switch between online and offline listening modes. Downloading content for offline use is essential for streaming services to serve customers in areas with poor connectivity.
Caching Songs With Streaming Apps
Many popular music streaming apps will automatically cache or download songs you have recently played so they are still accessible if your device loses WiFi connectivity. For example, Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music will temporarily store songs you’ve listened to recently in a cache on your device.
The advantage of this caching behavior is that you can continue listening to those songs even when offline for a certain period of time, usually ranging from a few hours to a few days depending on the app and your device storage capacity. After that time period, the cached songs will be cleared out automatically to free up space.
So streaming apps provide a built-in way to access some songs offline temporarily. However, the limitation is that you can only listen to songs that have been cached recently, not your full library offline. And there is no user control over which or how many songs are cached.
Music Apps With Offline Modes
Some of the most popular music streaming apps like Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud have offline listening modes as well. This allows you to download songs, albums, playlists, and podcasts so you can listen to them without an internet connection. This is useful for everything from long plane rides to areas with spotty data service.
With Spotify and Apple Music, you can save music to your device’s storage for up to 30 days without an internet connection. Spotify Premium also lets you download 10,000 songs so you can customize playlists for offline use. With SoundCloud Go+, you can listen offline, download tracks, and get unlimited skips and ad-free listening. Each service has its own nuances so check with the apps for full details on offline capabilities.
Standalone Music Players
There are several powerful standalone music players that work great offline without needing an internet connection. Some popular options include:
- VLC media player – VLC for Android is a completely free and open source app that plays virtually all audio and video file formats like MP3, MP4, AAC, FLAC, etc. It allows you to build robust playlists of local content and also includes a full music player interface (source).
- WinAmp – A longtime player in the music playback space, WinAmp for Android supports syncing local music libraries, podcasts, and playlists to your device so you can listen offline. It features a customizable music player UI and good format compatibility (source).
- MediaMonkey – This desktop music manager also has a capable Android app that syncs your music library and playlists for offline use. It supports most popular formats, playlist management, and has a nice dark mode interface.
The benefit of standalone music player apps is that they are built primarily for robust offline usage. They give you granular control and customization over music syncing, playlists, formats, storage locations, and playback – including tweaking things like audio effects and equalizers.
Podcast Apps
Many popular podcast apps allow you to download episodes for offline listening when you don’t have an internet connection. For example, Pocket Casts lets you mark any podcast episode as available for offline playback. The app will then download that episode so you can listen without using mobile data or WiFi.
Similarly, Overcast has an option to download episodes for offline listening. You can choose to download individual episodes or automatically download new episodes as soon as they are released. Overcast downloads the audio directly to your device so you can play episodes even without an internet connection.
Castro also lets you mark specific podcasts as available for offline playback. The app will automatically download new episodes of those podcasts as they are released so you always have something to listen to without needing WiFi or mobile data.
Audiobook Apps
There are several audiobook apps that allow you to download titles for offline listening when you don’t have an internet connection. Some popular options include:
- Audible – With an Audible membership, you can download audiobooks to listen to offline. The app allows offline listening on Android and iOS devices (Source).
- Libby – This free app from OverDrive allows you to borrow audiobooks from your local library. Downloaded titles can be listened to offline on both mobile and desktop (Source).
- Freed Audiobooks – This Android app provides free public domain audiobooks that can be downloaded for offline use (Source).
So if you download audiobooks over WiFi in advance, you can still listen without an internet connection using apps like Audible, Libby, and Freed Audiobooks.
Local Music Storage
One of the easiest ways to keep your music collection available for offline listening is to store music files directly on your device’s internal storage or external SD card. Most smartphones and tablets include built-in file manager apps that allow dragging and dropping audio files from your computer.
For iPhone and iPad users, the simplest option for transferring your personal music library is through iTunes. iTunes will automatically copy songs, albums or playlists onto your iOS device for offline use within the Apple Music app. The tracks are DRM-protected, which limits playing them only through Apple’s ecosystem.
On Android devices, free apps like AnExplorer File Manager provide file browsing and transfer capabilities between Windows/Mac computers and internal/external Android storage. The benefit of local music storage is not needing any streaming service or internet connectivity to enjoy your hand-picked selection of songs, podcasts and audiobooks. Make sure to use high-quality, common file types like MP3 and keep storage capacity in mind.
Caching Playlists For Offline Use
Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming apps that allows users to download songs, albums, and podcasts for offline listening. On Spotify’s Premium subscription, you have the ability to download an unlimited amount of content to listen to when you don’t have an internet connection or want to save mobile data (source).
To save a Spotify playlist for offline use, open the playlist you want to download and toggle the “Download” switch on. This will begin downloading the songs to your device’s storage. You can see the download progress for each song in the playlist. Once the downloads are complete, you’ll see a green arrow next to each song, indicating they are now available for offline playback without using internet data.
The key thing to know is that the offline caching abilities on Spotify require a paid Premium account. However, for podcast listeners, Spotify does allow free users to download podcast episodes for offline listening. So downloading podcasts is possible without a premium subscription.
Overall, if you want to be able to save Spotify playlists and music for offline listening across all your devices, upgrading to Premium is needed. But podcast caching is still possible on free accounts. This allows Spotify users to listen to music and podcasts seamlessly whether they have an internet connections or not (source).
Conclusion
In summary, there are a number of ways to listen to music without WiFi:
- Download songs, albums, or playlists from Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, or other providers for offline listening
- Enable caching or offline listening modes in streaming apps like Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube Music to temporarily save songs
- Use standalone music player apps like VLC media player or other apps that don’t require an internet connection
- Store music locally on your device through music transfer from a computer or by ripping/importing CDs
- Download podcasts and audiobooks from providers like Spotify to listen without internet
The ability to access media offline allows you to listen anywhere, anytime – on a plane, in remote areas with no service, or just to save data usage. Determine your listening needs and preferred apps to find the best offline music solution for you.