Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Some YouTube Music Premium users say downloaded tracks won’t play and get stuck loading, while streaming still works.
- Complaints on Google’s support forum and Reddit indicate that the issue occurs only on Android devices.
- There’s no fix yet, and TeamYouTube has asked people to submit feedback.
Just as the time for holiday playlists to be finalized approaches, some YouTube Music Premium listeners say their downloaded tracks have suddenly stopped working. Offline songs that played normally a few days ago are now stuck on a loading spinner, even though streaming the same tracks works without issue.
PiunikaWeb spotted the growing number of complaints across Google’s support forums and Reddit. On the support forum, one Galaxy S24 Ultra user says they tried everything from clearing cache and data to rolling back to an older version, but playback still breaks the moment they download anything. Two other forum posters report the same thing, with one noting that disabling downloads entirely is the only way music will play.
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The Reddit threads show a near-identical pattern. Multiple users say tracks play fine the first time while they’re streaming, then fail as soon as the download finishes. A Pixel 10 Pro owner on Reddit suggests that the issue could be related to the latest Android update. Others mention it happening on older Samsung devices, and one person notes their downloads also fail on a connected watch. It could be Android-related, as several Reddit users say their iOS devices continue to work normally.
Some Reddit commenters think the timing lines up with the rollout of YouTube Music’s 2025 Recap, though there’s no evidence for that yet. Another Reddit user said the problem appeared right after they renewed Premium, but that also seems anecdotal.
Workarounds aren’t great. Forum and Reddit users say deleting all downloads and sticking to streaming works, but that obviously isn’t why people pay for offline listening. One Reddit user got things working by sideloading an older YouTube Music build from APKMirror, though that’s not a route most people will want to take.
TeamYouTube has replied in the main Reddit thread and is asking affected listeners to submit feedback from within the app so the issue can be investigated. There’s no confirmed fix yet, so anyone seeing the spinning-loader problem may be stuck streaming until Google pushes an update.
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