Apple Watch is getting Spotify offline playback with this free unofficial app

Apple Watch is getting Spotify offline playback with this free unofficial app

We will not always be excited about an individual Apple Watch app but Spotty, which brings offline Spotify to everyone’s favourite smartwatch, looks like it could justify the hype.

The free, unofficial iPhone app is due to launch in mid-February, but is in beta right now. It’s the work of student and dev Andrew Chang who has handily filled the gap Spotify has left open for two years.

Spotty works with all Apple Watches and allows you to sync both Spotify playlists and albums to your smartwatch to listen offline and without the need for a nearby iPhone.

That’ll be particularly useful for runners using the Series 2 – right now you can store music from Apple Music on there. You’ll need a Spotify Premium account, obviously, but this could be a dealbreaker for anyone umming and aahhing over an Apple Watch purchase.

It’s an example of an app which both makes the smartwatch more useful for a lot of people and takes some of the pain away from using it. Syncing sounds is quite straightforward – your playlists and albums show up within the Spotty interface and then you just hit a ‘Syncing with Watch’ button to transfer via Bluetooth.

There’s three modes to choose from: tethered – a remote control for your iPhone; offline low power mode – built-in music player, no gestures and offline workout mode – Spotty app, gestures, auto tracking for workouts. Battery life varies between the three so you can mix and match.

In an ideal world, we’d have a slick Spotify app for Apple Watch but we’re looking forward to taking Spotty for a spin.