How to download music on Android

Streaming music services are convenient, but sometimes you want to have your music files available locally. Whether that’s because you’re outside of the range of cell towers or want to save some data, here’s how to download music on Android devices.

How to download music from streaming services onto your Android phone

If you want to download your tunes to your Android device, here’s how to do it for some popular music streaming services.

Spotify

Spotify Premium users can download their Spotify songs by doing the following:

1. Find the song you want to download, then tap the ⋮ button in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Add the song to a playlist by selecting Add to Playlist. For example, the screenshot below shows “The Road” added to a new playlist called “Android Authority Demo.”
3. Download the playlist by tapping the downward-pointing arrow-shaped Download button.

Note that you cannot download individual songs, only playlists — though the playlist can contain one song. You can also download albums and podcasts by clicking on the download button on these, too. Plus, you can download all your Liked Songs.

Apple Music

Apple Music subscribers users can download their songs by doing the following:

1. Open Apple Music.
2. Touch and hold the song, album, or playlist you wish to download.
3. Tap Download.

If you like, you can also download a song by swiping left over the song and then tapping the downward-pointing arrow-shaped Download button.

YouTube Music

Using the YouTube Music app to download your tunes is also pretty simple. Note, however, you need a YouTube Music Premium or YouTube Premium subscription to do this. Here’s what to do:

1. Open the YouTube Music app.
2. For individual songs, tap on the cover art and then tap Download or tap the ⋮ button and then tap Download.
3. For albums and playlists, tap the Menu ⋮ button and choose Download, or tap the downwards-pointing arrow on the details page of an album or playlist.

Note that if you still have stray Google Play Music songs lying around, it’s too late to download them.

TIDAL

TIDAL subscribers can also download music on Android. However, you can only download albums or playlists, and the steps vary for each.

Here’s how to download albums:

1. Open the TIDAL app and find the album you wish to download.
2. Open the album and ensure the tracks are listed.
3. Toggle the Download slider on.

Here’s how to download playlists:

1. Open the TIDAL app, tap “My Collection,” then select “Playlists.”
2. Choose the playlist you wish to download.
3. Toggle the Download slider on.

How to download music onto your Android as a local file

An important caveat to consider when downloading songs following the steps above is that they’re tied to the music streaming services themselves. That is, they aren’t available outside the app for you to use as you wish. Unless you’re using a service like Qobuz that lets you download music files locally on any device, you usually can’t get around this limitation.

One possible way to circumvent this limitation is to use third-party apps that let you download files to local storage on Android. These apps might violate the terms of service for your streaming service and may even be illegal, however. Plus, if you do this, you won’t be supporting your favorite artists. It’s usually easier and more favorable to artists to purchase albums and merch or stream music from your favorite platform.