How do I download music from Google Drive to my phone?

This article will provide a step-by-step guide to downloading music files from your Google Drive account to your mobile phone. Downloading songs, albums, and playlists from Google Drive to your phone allows you to listen to your music collection offline and saves storage space on your phone compared to keeping all your music in the cloud.

There are several benefits to storing your music library in Google Drive and downloading it to your device when needed. Google Drive offers abundant free storage space, so you can upload your entire music collection. It keeps all your music organized in one place and lets you access it from any device. Downloading songs, playlists, or albums to your phone allows you to listen offline when you don’t have an internet connection. It also saves storage space on your phone compared to keeping your entire music library downloaded locally.

Prerequisites

There are a few key items you need in place before you can download music files from Google Drive to your phone:

A Google account – You need to have a Google account set up in order to use Google Drive. If you don’t already have one, you can sign up for free at google.com.
The Google Drive app – Download and install the free Google Drive app on your phone from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play Store (Android). This will allow you to access your Drive content.
Music uploaded to Drive – Make sure you have some music files already uploaded and stored in your Google Drive before trying to download them. Supported formats include MP3, WAV, FLAC, and more ^[1].

Once you have those basics covered, you’ll be ready to start downloading music to your phone.

Open the Google Drive App

To download music files from Google Drive, you first need to open the Google Drive app on your phone and log into your Google account. Here are the steps:

On your Android or iOS device, open the Google Drive app. You can find it in your list of installed apps.
If you already used the app before, it may automatically log you into your Google account. If not, it will prompt you to sign in with your Google (Gmail) username and password.

Sign into your Google account to access your Google Drive storage and files.

Once you successfully sign in, you will see the contents of your Google Drive on your phone. Now you can navigate to your music files and download them.

Navigate to Your Music

To find the music files you want to download, open the Google Drive app and tap on the hamburger menu in the top-left corner. This will bring up a list of folders. Navigate to the folder where your music files are located. If you have organized your Drive storage, your music files may be in a folder called “Music” or something similar.

You can also search for music files by tapping on the search bar at the top and typing in keywords or file names. This will pull up results from across Drive. Tap on a music file in the results to open it.

If you frequently access certain music folders in Drive, consider starring them or pinning them to the top. This makes it easier to quickly find your music library.

See Google’s support article “Find your files on Drive” for more details on navigating and searching in the Google Drive app: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2424384

Download the Music Files

To download music files from Google Drive to your Android or iOS device, simply open the Google Drive app and navigate to the music file you want to download. Tap on the three-dot menu next to the file name and select “Download” [1]. This will start downloading the file to your device’s local storage.

On an iPhone or iPad, you can also tap the “Download” button at the top of the file preview screen to download the music file [2]. Make sure you have enough free storage space on your device before downloading large music files.

The files will be saved to a “Downloads” folder in the Google Drive app. You can then open your device’s music player app, like Apple Music or Spotify, to find and listen to the downloaded songs offline. Downloading songs enables you to play them anytime without an internet connection.

Save to a Music App

Once you have downloaded the music files from Google Drive to your phone, you will need to open them in a music app to be able to listen offline. Here are the steps for some popular music apps:

For Apple Music:

Open the Apple Music app.
Tap on the Library tab at the bottom.
Select Songs from the menu.

Tap on the + icon in the top left corner.
Select “Add File to Library” and navigate to the downloaded music files.
Select the files you want to add and tap Add.

For Spotify:

Open the Spotify app.
Tap on Your Library at the bottom.

Select Local Files.
Tap on Add a Source.
Navigate to the folder containing your downloaded music files.

Select the files you want to add and tap Add.

The downloaded music files should now appear in your music library in the app. You can then listen to them offline, add them to playlists, etc. Check the app settings to enable offline listening if needed.

Listen Offline

One of the most useful benefits of downloading music from Google Drive is the ability to listen offline. This allows you to access your music anywhere, even without an internet connection. When you download music files from Google Drive to your Android phone, iPhone, or other device, it saves them locally so you can play them from your music app without needing to stream over mobile data or WiFi.

Listening offline is perfect for situations when you don’t have an internet connection, like plane rides, subway commutes, remote hiking trails, and other places with poor connectivity. It also helps save mobile data if you listen to music often and don’t always have WiFi access. Rather than constantly streaming songs and chewing through your data plan, you can download your library once over WiFi and then listen offline as needed without using more data.

Downloaded music also provides a smoother listening experience as you don’t have to buffer songs or worry about playback issues from weak connections. Overall, having your favorite tunes available offline via Google Drive downloads provides flexibility, reliability, and potential mobile data savings whenever you want to listen on the go. Just remember to connect periodically to WiFi in order to download any new additions to your library.

Sources:

https://www.learngoogle.com/2019/02/18/listening-to-music-offline-with-google-drive/

https://support.google.com/youtubemusic/answer/6313535?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid

Share Downloaded Music

Once you have downloaded music files from Google Drive to your phone, you may want to share them with friends and family. There are a few different ways to do this:

You can open your messaging app like WhatsApp or Messenger and attach the music file to send it directly through chat. Most messaging apps allow you to send audio files up to a certain size limit.

Another option is to upload the song to a file sharing site like Filemail or WeTransfer and generate a download link to share. This allows you to share even large audio files.

Some music apps like Spotify allow you to share songs directly to social media or messaging apps through their built-in sharing feature. So if you saved the downloaded song to Spotify, you may be able to share it seamlessly.

You can also connect your phone to your computer via USB and simply drag and drop the music files to share them. Or upload them to cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox and share the link.

In summary, once you’ve downloaded Google Drive music files to your phone, you have multiple options to choose from to share the songs with friends and family instantly.

Troubleshooting Tips

Like with any technology, you may run into issues when trying to download music files from Google Drive to your phone. Here are some tips to try if you are having problems:

Check your internet connection – Make sure your phone and the device hosting the Google Drive files are both connected to the internet. Downloading requires an active internet connection.

Restart your device – Sometimes a simple reboot can fix transient connectivity issues. Try powering your phone off and back on again.

Update the Google Drive app – Go to your app store and check for any available updates to the Google Drive app. Installing the latest version can resolve bugs.

Clear the Google Drive app cache – In your phone’s app settings, find Google Drive and choose to clear its cache. This erases temporary files that may be causing conflicts.

Check your available storage – Make sure your phone has enough available storage space to save the music files you are downloading. You may need to delete some unused apps or files to free up room.

Re-add your Google account – Sign out of the Google Drive app and sign back in to refresh the connection. Also make sure two-factor authentication is not enabled on the account.

Try downloading over WiFi – If downloading over mobile data does not work, try connecting to a WiFi network and attempt the download again while on WiFi.

Contact Google Drive support – If all else fails, reach out to Google support for personalized troubleshooting assistance to get your music downloads working properly.

Conclusion

Downloaded music files from Google Drive to your phone provide offline access and portability, allowing you to listen to your favorite songs and albums anywhere, even without an internet connection. This gives you uninterrupted access to your personal music library on the go. It also saves mobile data usage compared to streaming music from the cloud. According to the article on LogMeOnce Resources How to Play Music From Google Drive, Google Drive integrates seamlessly with Android devices, making it easy to download and play music directly in apps like Google Play Music. Overall, downloading Google Drive music to your mobile device gives you the freedom, convenience, and benefits of accessing your cloud-based music collection offline.