Apple Music - grey down arrow

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Discussion

Phooey

Original Poster:

12,942 posts

181 months

Thursday 27th March
quotequote all
I understand the grey down arrow next to the song means it has been downloaded for offline listening but I don't seem to have any other option when adding music lately. I *think* before I did the latest iPhone software upgrade recently it gave me options of whether to just add the song, or if i wanted to I could download it (grey arrow). Now every song I add has the grey arrow. I'm just concerned I will run out of space on my phone for all these songs. Anyone any advice? Thanks

OGR4M

858 posts

165 months

Thursday 27th March
quotequote all
All of my downloaded playlists have the arrow - I assume it’s to show a downloaded song, vs just something that’s been saved to your library but not on the device

ETA when I select a playlist to save, I’ve sometimes noticed it doesn’t download the songs automatically, I have to tell it when I open that playlist to save songs to my phone. Similarly when I remove one, it asks whether I want to remove the playlist entirely, or just delete the songs saved

Phooey

Original Poster:

12,942 posts

181 months

Thursday 27th March
quotequote all
The issue is I don't want to 'download' any songs. I just want to add them to my library (without downloading) but when i add them to library (Add to Library) it seems to automatically download them (grey arrow). Odd.

NoTreadLeft

162 posts

273 months

Thursday 27th March
quotequote all
Phooey said:
The issue is I don't want to 'download' any songs. I just want to add them to my library (without downloading) but when i add them to library (Add to Library) it seems to automatically download them (grey arrow). Odd.
There's an "Automatic Downloads" switch in the Music app settings. Make sure this is switched-off; if this is switched-on it will work the way you describe.

Phooey

Original Poster:

12,942 posts

181 months

Thursday 27th March
quotequote all
NoTreadLeft said:
There's an "Automatic Downloads" switch in the Music app settings. Make sure this is switched-off; if this is switched-on it will work the way you describe.
Brilliant - thank you. Yes it was switched on - no idea how that happened - must have been in the latest software upgrade....

Is there a way of transferring downloaded songs to library (to save on phone storage) without entirely deleting the song?

benny.c

3,544 posts

219 months

Thursday 27th March
quotequote all
Settings - Apps - Music. Turn on “optimise storage” and pick the approx number of songs you want to keep on the phone (can be zero). The removed ones will still be available in your library, offloaded to iCloud. If you choose to retain some songs it will offload least played songs first.

Edited by benny.c on Thursday 27th March 20:02

Phooey

Original Poster:

12,942 posts

181 months

Thursday 27th March
quotequote all
benny.c said:
Settings - Apps - Music. Turn on “optimise storage” and pick the approx number of songs you want to keep on the phone (can be zero). The removed ones will still be available in your library, offloaded to iCloud. If you choose to retain some songs it will offload least played songs first.

Edited by benny.c on Thursday 27th March 20:02
That’s very helpful, thank you benny smile

benny.c

3,544 posts

219 months

Thursday 27th March
quotequote all
No problem smile