Spotify offline support now rolling out

Patrick Löffler

Just received the ability to download Spotify content to my Suunto 7!

olymay

I received an update to Spotify a couple of weeks back, but the offline playback wasn’t there.

HOWEVER, I checked again yesterday and it was there (with no app update, so must have been something server related).

It’s VERY basic but it does work. I’ve downloaded one playlist and given a quick test, seems to work ok so far.

I have noticed one limitation that will drive me up the wall! You can download and play a playlist, however you cannot shuffle it. You have to play it in order.
You can decide where in the playlist to start, but it will continue in order.

I like to shuffle my music so that I don’t know what is coming next.

I’m heading out for a short (7km) run later and will give it a test by leaving my phone at home and will have a look at how much it affects the battery (I don’t usually listen to music on this route, but I will set it playing and turn the volume right down )

@olymay said in Spotify offline support now rolling out:

@aleksander-h

I received an update to Spotify a couple of weeks back, but the offline playback wasn’t there.

HOWEVER, I checked again yesterday and it was there (with no app update, so must have been something server related).

Same here, just checked now when I saw your post and I have “Downloads” on watch.

rooldaa

Today I did a one-hour run with Spotify and it seems that during the run Spotify consumed around 15% of the battery.

Jamie BG

@rooldaa - which is pretty near the up to 7hrs estimate for GPS & music.

Steff

@rooldaa the entire watch lost 15% battery(Spotify + tracking) or only Spotify consumed 15%?

olymay

As promised, I went for a run last night using Spotify on my watch to listen to music. I did not take my phone with me at all.

First, my watch settings:

Trail run (basic)
No route loaded
GPS Best
Always on map OFF
All apps were checked and up to date before leaving.
I did not wake the watch or change screens at any point during the run, the only times I touched it were to start and stop the activity.

Findings:

Battery life at start of run: 97%
Activity lasted 00:40:30 (40mins30sec)
Battery life at end of run: 78%

Resulting in 19% drop in 40 minutes. Equates to roughly 30% drop per hour.

Conclusions.

This was one single run and not scientific.

I would be confident to use this feature for shorter runs, but anything over 2hrs and I would start to get a bit nervous of the battery running out.

Also, the inability to shuffle the music, or repeat it (when it gets to the end of the playlist it just stops!) is a deal breaker for me.

It works, but it feels like a half baked implementation.

Therefore, I will not be using Spotify on my watch anymore (I’ve already uninstalled it!).

Steff

@olymay so ~ 3.3 hours of GPS hours…indead pretty near the up to 7hr estimate for GPS & music

Jamie BG

@olymay sorry to hear that.
end of list - could download a longer play list…

But yeah that battery life if it is the norm, isn’t worth it.

olymay

@steff said in Spotify offline support now rolling out:

@olymay so ~ 3.3 hours of GPS hours…indead pretty near the up to 7hr estimate for GPS & music

In this test I carried out, the watch lost approx 10% per 20 mins which is 30% per hour.

Based on those figures, a fully charged watch would expect to run out after roughly 3hours20mins.

This is with BOTH music and GPS. There is not a chance the S7 could last for 7hrs in this mode. Not even with GPS set to GOOD. The drain caused by music playback is massive.

rooldaa

@steff Hi, it was only spotify’s consumption.

mcsolaar

@olymay What I did is after starting the playback on the watch before going out I had a cellphone nearby and I toggled shuffle in so that it impacted the playback on the watch as well. Probably it is similarly workable for repeat function too

Aleksander H

@mcsolaar said in Spotify offline support now rolling out:

@olymay What I did is after starting the playback on the watch before going out I had a cellphone nearby and I toggled shuffle in so that it impacted the playback on the watch as well. Probably it is similarly workable for repeat function too

Oh, that’s an interesting workaround!

Aleksander H

A bit of good news. It seems YT Music will make its way to older devices as well.

https://9to5google.com/2021/09/27/youtube-music-wear-os-2/

olymay

@aleksander-h said in Spotify offline support now rolling out:

A bit of good news. It seems YT Music will make its way to older devices as well.

https://9to5google.com/2021/09/27/youtube-music-wear-os-2/

I saw this last night. I am hoping it will come to the S7 soon.

Although It’s unlikely I will use it due to battery drain, it’ll be a nice to have (and arguably something we should never have been without!).