How can I play Apple Music without Internet?
Apple Music is a music and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. It offers access to over 90 million songs, along with thousands of playlists, music videos, and internet radio stations. One of the key features of Apple Music is offline playback, which allows users to download songs, playlists, and other content to their device so they can listen without an internet connection.
Offline playback makes Apple Music a versatile service that can be enjoyed even when you are on a plane, underground, or otherwise without Wi-Fi or cellular data access. With offline playback enabled, you can take your music library with you anywhere and keep listening to your favorite songs and playlists even when offline. This capability provides an advantage over some other streaming services that require a persistent internet connection.
Enable Offline Downloads
To enable offline downloads in the Apple Music app, you first need to open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. Then go to “Music” and toggle on “Download Over Cellular” and “Automatic Downloads”. This will allow you to download songs, albums, and playlists over both WiFi and cellular data for offline listening. You can also choose to only allow downloads over WiFi if you want to manage your cellular data usage.
According to Apple’s support article, you can enable automatic downloads by going to Settings > Music, and then turning on “Automatic Downloads” (source). This will automatically download any Apple Music content you add to your library for offline listening.
Once you have offline downloading enabled, any Apple Music content you add to your library will be automatically downloaded to your device when connected to the internet. This allows you listen offline at any time, even without an internet connection.
Download Music & Playlists
To download songs, albums, and playlists for offline listening on iPhone, follow these steps:
1. Open the Apple Music app and tap on the Search icon at the bottom. Search for the song, album, artist, or playlist you want to download.
2. Tap on the 3 dots next to the song, album, artist, or playlist and select “Make Available Offline”. This will begin downloading it for offline listening.
You can also manually download music by going to “My Music” and tapping the cloud icon next to a song, album, or playlist. This downloads it so you can listen offline. According to source, playlists and albums may take some time to fully download depending on their size.
Downloaded songs and playlists will have a download icon next to them when viewing them in your library. This indicates they are available for offline listening.
Smart Downloads
One of the most convenient ways to listen to Apple Music offline is to enable Smart Downloads. This feature automatically downloads music recommendations and recently played songs based on your listening preferences. As you listen to music, Smart Downloads will add recommended songs and playlists to your device so you have fresh content ready whenever you go offline. To enable it:
Go to Settings > Music and toggle on ‘Smart Downloads.’ You can also customize options like limiting the amount of storage used for downloads and whether to download over cellular data or just WiFi. With Smart Downloads on, Apple Music will intelligently predict the music you want available for offline playback so you always have something great to listen to, even without an internet connection. Just make sure to have enough free storage available on your device.
As noted in the MakeUseOf article, you can also create Smart Playlists within the Music app to automatically download certain songs or playlists matching set criteria.
Limits
Apple Music allows users to download up to 100,000 tracks for offline playback across all of their devices. The downloads can be a mix of individual songs, albums, or playlists. Each download will count towards the 100,000 track limit.
Downloaded songs can be played offline for up to 30 days before needing to reconnect to the internet to verify the Apple Music subscription is still active. If a user cancels their Apple Music subscription, any downloaded content will no longer be accessible.
Playlists are limited to a maximum of 100 tracks for offline playback. So if you want to download a longer playlist, you’ll need to break it into multiple smaller playlists under 100 tracks each.
There is no time limit for how long albums or individual songs can remain downloaded. The 30 day offline playback limit only applies to full playlists.
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Using Downloaded Music
Once you have music and playlists downloaded for offline use in the Apple Music app, you can easily access and play that content without an internet connection. Here’s how:
On your iPhone or iPad, open the Apple Music app and tap on the Library tab at the bottom. This will show you all of your downloaded content. Tap on a playlist or album to start playing it offline.
You can also download individual songs, albums and playlists for offline listening by tapping the download icon (a downward arrow) next to any content when browsing Apple Music. Downloaded content will have a checkmark next to it.
On a Mac, open the Music app and select Downloads under the Library section on the left sidebar. This will show all downloaded content. Double click on a playlist, album or song to start playing it offline.
The key benefit is that once you have Apple Music content downloaded, you can listen to it at any time without needing an internet connection. This makes it easy to enjoy your favorite music offline while traveling, commuting or anywhere without WiFi or cellular data.[Source]
Updates & Syncing
When you have an internet connection again, any songs, albums, or playlists you’ve downloaded for offline listening will automatically update to their most recent version in Apple Music. This ensures you always have the most up-to-date metadata and edits for those downloads.
If you have enabled iCloud Music Library, any edits or additions you make to your library while offline will sync across your devices once you reconnect. For example, if you add a song to a playlist while offline, that updated playlist will sync to any other devices signed into your Apple Music account.
You can also manually initiate a sync in the Music app by going to Library > Sync Library. This will force a refresh of all your offline music content.
According to Apple’s support article “Add music to iPhone and listen offline,” “Any changes you make to music—like adding songs to playlists or editing album or song information—update across your devices when you have an internet connection again.” (source)
Troubleshooting
If you are having issues downloading music or playlists for offline playback in Apple Music, there are a few troubleshooting steps you can try:
First, make sure that the Offline Downloads setting is enabled in your Apple Music settings. You can find this under Settings > Music > Downloads. If it is disabled, enable it.
Next, try force quitting the Apple Music app and restarting it. This can help clear out any bugs or glitches that may be preventing downloads.
You can also try toggling Airplane Mode on and off on your device. This will disconnect and reconnect you to the network which can resolve temporary connection issues.
Check that you have enough storage space on your device to save the downloaded content. Apple Music requires at least 200MB of available space to download songs and playlists.
If you recently updated your iOS software, consider downgrading back to the previous version as newer updates can sometimes introduce Apple Music bugs. You can find instructions to downgrade iOS online.
As a last resort, try deleting the Apple Music app from your device and reinstalling it from the App Store. This will give you a clean slate which can eliminate stubborn offline playback problems.
If after trying these troubleshooting steps you still cannot download or play Apple Music offline, you may need to contact Apple Support for further assistance.
Alternative Options for Offline Listening
If you don’t want to use the offline features in Apple Music, there are a few other options for listening to music without an internet connection:
Use Local Music Files
You can add audio files stored locally on your device to the Apple Music app. This allows you to listen to your own music collection offline. Simply add the files to your iTunes library on a computer, then sync your device to add them.
Switch to a Different Service
Consider switching to a music service that lets you download songs to your device storage for offline playback. For example, Spotify has a robust offline mode. Amazon Music and YouTube Music also allow downloading songs.
Use a Dedicated MP3 Player
Dedicated MP3 players like the Sony Walkman allow you to load music files directly from your computer. Once transferred to the device storage, you can listen offline anywhere.
Listen to the Radio
FM radio is a simple way to access free music without an internet connection. Smartphones and many MP3 players include built-in FM radio receivers.
Buy Physical Media
Physical formats like CDs, vinyl records, and cassette tapes allow listening to music offline. Consider building a collection of your favorite albums and listening to them when internet access is limited.
Summary
Here’s a quick recap of the key steps covered in this guide for playing Apple Music offline:
- Enable “Offline Downloads” in Settings to download songs, playlists, and albums.
- Tap the download icon next to tracks, playlists, or albums to save them for offline playback.
- Use Smart Downloads to automatically sync fresh content based on your listening habits.
- Downloaded content will have a checkmark icon and remain available offline until deleted.
- You can access and play downloaded music from the Library tab without an internet connection.
- Make sure to connect to WiFi periodically so your offline collection stays up to date.
Following these simple steps allows you to listen to your favorite Apple Music collections anywhere, anytime – even without an internet connection or data service.