You can finally stream music to Apple Watch with Spotify without needing your iPhone. This change has been expected since Spotify’s first release for watchOS in 2018. After an initial testing phase, standalone music streaming through Spotify on Apple Watch is now being rolled out to users around the world.
How to Stream Music to Apple Watch Using Spotify
1. Update Spotify for iOS
To maximize your chances of getting Spotify standalone music streaming on Apple Watch, we recommend that you update this app to the latest iOS version (8.5.83 at the time of writing). (direct link)
2. Install Spotify on Apple Watch
- Open the Watch the app on the paired iPhone.
- in the My watch tab, scroll to the ‘Installed on Apple Watch’ section and check if Spotify appears in the list. If so, you don’t have to do anything else.
- Otherwise, keep scrolling until you reach the Available applications section.
Press on INSTALL next to the Spotify label.
3. Open Spotify on Apple Watch
Lift your wrist to wake up your watchOS device and click the button Digital crown to view the bundle or list of apps, depending on how your Apple Watch is set up.
Scroll down to Spotify or tap its icon in the honeycomb.
The Spotify home screen displays common playback functions, including: Play break and Skip forward / backward the song currently playing. The track title is displayed at the top of the screen. The lower part of the home screen includes the favorite function (heart icon) and the Spotify Connect button that lets you check a list of available Bluetooth audio devices that you can also start streaming.
Spotify for Apple Watch includes two additional screens:
– Swipe right to ‘Played recently’. Scroll through the music you’ve recently listened to with the Digital Crown and tap a playlist or album to play it again.
– Slide your finger left from the Home screen to view recently played tracks.
4. Standalone music streaming (without iPhone)
With Spotify up and running on your Apple Watch, you can ditch the paired iPhone and start streaming right from your wrist:
On Spotify Homepage, press the Spotify Connect and you can select your own Apple Watch as the streaming source.
Important: This new feature is being rolled out and may not yet be available to everyone. It is not yet known whether direct music streaming to Apple Watch with Spotify will be available for the free plan or if a Premium plan is required. We will update this article as more information becomes available!
Requirement: Obviously, this feature requires your watchOS to have an active internet connection. Spotify standalone music streaming works best with cellular Apple Watch models that have carrier plan and therefore LTE or similar connectivity!
Add the Spotify watch face complication
If you plan to use Spotify often on your Apple Watch, you can add its complication on the watch face and have your favorite music close at hand. How? ‘Or’ What:
- Long press the face of the watch and tap Edit.
- Swipe to the Complications panel, and tap the complication location you want to edit.
- Scroll down for the Spotify complication and tap it.
- Double click on the digital crown to save your changes.
How to listen to Spotify offline?
At the time of writing, the option to download music from Spotify and listen to it offline is only available on iOS. This means that you will need your iPhone. You cannot download music directly to your Apple Watch from Spotify yet.
Made: You also need Spotify Premium Subscription to enable offline playback. To upgrade to Spotify Premium, you need to do it from a web platform. Spotify doesn’t offer in-app purchases, which will likely avoid Apple App Store commissions.
Are you getting the new Spotify standalone music streaming feature for Apple Watch? Use the comments section and let us know. Please also confirm if this plan works for you with the free or premium plan!
Related: How to get the Spotify widget for the iPhone home screen!