August 11, 2021 was significant not only for Samsung. It was also a big day for Wear OS fans – they had a better buy in the smartwatch market. The Galaxy Watch 4 ushered in a new chapter in Wear OS history that could breathe new life into Google’s wearable platform. It looks like other app makers are also supporting this resurgence, with Spotify taking the lead by providing the long-awaited download feature.
The idea of playing music from your smartwatch may seem a little strange to some. This is definitely not the norm, but this functionality can come in handy for activities that require you to leave your phone at home or at a distance. Running and exercise comes to mind easily, but there may be other scenarios where you want to have your favorite music or podcasts in your smartwatch.
Of course, this is not a problem if the smartwatch has its own internet connection, or if the music was downloaded from questionable sources and stored locally. This does not apply to music from streaming services, however, and Spotify has thankfully already prepared a fix for this.
The upcoming update will finally allow users to download Spotify content to their Wear OS smartwatch for offline playback. You don’t even need to do it from your smartphone, you can start downloading right from your smartwatch. And it’s not just music, as the offline listening feature also extends to Spotify podcasts.
However, normal account restrictions apply, and only Premium Spotify subscribers can take full advantage of offline listening. Free users are still limited to streaming Shuffle Mode when connected to the Internet, but podcast downloads are available to them – already a lot.
The update will be available in the coming weeks and will appear on all supported Wear OS smartwatches, but of course Samsung has to use this opportunity to advertise the new Galaxy Watch 4 series.
