Listen to music while running WITHOUT carrying iphone

[Rainshadow]

Hi,

I'm trying to find a solution or device that let me listen to music (preferably spotify) while running/jogging, without carrying an smartphone. Does anybody have a hassle-free solution?

PS: Already tried many times airpods 2nd gen + Apple watch 4. It doesn't work, it is a really poor solution that either doesn't work or seems to work but fails miserably (synching, no way to check if the songs are downloaded, no way to check if the songs are replicated, apple should be ashamed)!

Thank you very much.

I’m confused. I run with the Apple Watch AirPods setup. Never had an issue - when I’ve downloaded what is on my watch. I wouldn’t stream on my watch while running.

I’ll admit, it isn’t easy to check if the stuff is “on” the watch. But I do it in the app, then put my phone on airplane mode and try it out before relying on a playlist.

I occasionally have timed races/runs that I listen to music on and if I start without the music working, it’s brutal. I habitually start my music before the run starts to be 100% sure but haven’t had issues.

Once I have a playlist that I checked, it’s good to go. No problems.

This sounds like something you tried once, twice, or a few times and got frustrated and threw your hands up. This is the best option out there right now that I know of.

 

[TracerAnalog]

Hi,

I'm trying to find a solution or device that let me listen to music (preferably spotify) while running/jogging, without carrying an smartphone. Does anybody have a hassle-free solution?

PS: Already tried many times airpods 2nd gen + Apple watch 4. It doesn't work, it is a really poor solution that either doesn't work or seems to work but fails miserably (synching, no way to check if the songs are downloaded, no way to check if the songs are replicated, apple should be ashamed)!

Thank you very much.

Apple Watch Ultra. Stream over cellular or store on your watch. Works like a charm. However, it's not a cheap solution 😉

 

[SpotOnT]

Have you considered listening to music on the radio?

There are a million mini sized radios for exercising…and they don’t cost more than one month of Spotify…

 

[GusBougadis]

Switch to Apple Music, add playlist to your watch.

 

[leman]

Never had any problems with the Apple Watch. No cellular plan. I use Apple Music. Selected albums are downloaded in seconds and play reliably when I’m away from the phone. My wife struggles with her Garmin.

 

[spamabyss]

I've been doing this on a Garmin watch for years. It's not streaming (even on the one watch they make that has LTE) so you have to synchronize it while you're on wifi, which is sort of a pain. But not having my phone is worth it to me.

I also do it on my Garmin Forerunner but the audio quality is really bad. I don't know whether it's the bluetooth codec or that the files get compressed but with the spotify app for Garmin it's noticeably worse quality with every headphones I tried (Bose 700, Sony WH1000XM3 and Airpods). Maybe some people don't notice/care but I find it a pity because otherwise the syncing and playing music works well enough for running.

 

[GusBougadis]

Anyone who owns an apple device, should use apple services if you don’t want any issues. Personally, I wouldn’t use Spotify premium for free. I pay $109 plus tax for Apple Music yearly subscription and it works great.

 

[Parowdy]

The problem is synching music from phone to apple watch. It's a terrible process. If you launch spotify on the watch there's no way you make sure music is downloaded to the watch...

Really 'd like to hear from someone that really actually use those features. Also would be really a pity for a user who uses spotify on all devices to subscribe to apple music just to hear it on the go on the watch. But it seems to me Apple Music is on the same boat...

It's unbelievable, in 2024 there's no convenient solution for listening to music while running/jogging. Missed your leadership Steve..

Meanwhile here I am downloading thousands of songs from my playlists on my GPS Apple Watch and listen to them with my AirPods Pro 2 with incredible ANC and great clarity and don’t see how Steve could be disappointed.
Your issue isn’t Steve Jobs not being around.

 

[nathansz]

iPod shuffle?

 

[Siliconguy]

It's unbelievable, in 2024 there's no convenient solution for listening to music while running/jogging. Missed your leadership Steve..

The problem is the addiction to Spotify. The music while running/jogging problem was solved long ago by the iPod shuffle and then the iPod nano. When the Nano finally dies finding a suitable replacement may be quite difficult.

 

[icanhazmac]

Have you considered listening to music on the radio?

There are a million mini sized radios for exercising…and they don’t cost more than one month of Spotify…

Not sure if serious or.....

I cannot think of anything worse than terrestrial radio and haven't listened to it, unless in someone else's vehicle, in 25 years. Below is a sample of a classic rock station, feel free to change out the songs/artist with your genre of choice, they are all the same.

On a normal day:
6-10am: Awful "morning zoo" show, rarely even local anymore
Rest of day:
1 of the same 5 Led Zeppelin songs
1 of the same 5 Who songs
15 minutes of hideous commercials
1 of the same 5 Queen songs
1 of the same 5 Lynyrd Skynyrd songs
15 minutes of hideous commercials
Rinse and repeat

On any holiday:
[corny radio dj voice]
"That was Black Dog by Led Zeppelin in at number 20 of our WXXX Memorial Day top 100 countdown, we'll be right back with the song you, our listeners, voted number 19"
15 Minutes of hideous commercials, the worst are Kia dealerships!
"We're back for more of the WXXX Memorial Day top 100 countdown and in at number 19 is Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd...
[/corny radio dj voice]
Rinse and repeat until a 20 minute build up to the inevitable Stairway to Heaven at #1.

The template for regular radio has literally not changed in 50 years plus.

 

[analog guy]

Good tips in this thread.

I am often in areas with low/now coverage, and I've found it challenging to play content. I download podcasts, for example, and they often will not begin because I am not connected to the internet. If I *start* them when I don't have service, they will play through.

Makes me wonder if somehow a connection is expected to update whether I've begun listening/tracking where I am in case there is interruption.

This does not always happen, but it happens often enough to be frustrating. I don't know if there is a way to resolve.

 

[subjonas]

Hi,

I'm trying to find a solution or device that let me listen to music (preferably spotify) while running/jogging, without carrying an smartphone. Does anybody have a hassle-free solution?

PS: Already tried many times airpods 2nd gen + Apple watch 4. It doesn't work, it is a really poor solution that either doesn't work or seems to work but fails miserably (synching, no way to check if the songs are downloaded, no way to check if the songs are replicated, apple should be ashamed)!

Thank you very much.

Why do you think Spotify on Apple Watch is a poor solution? When does it not work at all? How does syncing fail? It takes awhile to wirelessly sync a full 100-song (limit) playlist, but it syncs. You can see if songs are downloaded, there is a checkmark next to the song on the Watch. Needing to see if a song is replicated on your Watch seems like a weird requirement, but you can see the list of songs and check if you want, but you won't be able to delete it on the Watch.
It seems like you want to manage your music library while you're running. To each their own, but it seems unreasonable to expect to do any library management on a tiny watch screen that is awkward to hold up to your face for more than a few moments. That's why apps on smartwatch, including Spotify, are just meant to be extensions. You'd need the full Spotify mobile app on a phone-size screen to do library management anyway. So maybe what you really want is the smallest phone you can get and just download Spotify on it. Or an old iPod touch (or Android equivalent?). These or a smartwatch are your only options for Spotify. Is this thread just a roundabout way of saying you wish Apple still made the iPod Touch or 4" iPhones?

If you don't need Spotify and want to just download mp3s, there are of course a million small mp3 players.

 

[Surf760]

I used to do it without issue on an Apple Watch S2 without cellular and just put my playlists on the watch before I ran and had no issues. I have since done it with an S5 and now U2, but I've never tried streaming non-preloaded playlists. I presume that later part would just be a does the app support it thing.

 

[Howard2k]

Apple Watch + Spotify. Easy.

 

[Howard2k]

Switch to Apple Music, add playlist to your watch.

No need, the OP just needs to figure out how Spotify works.

 

[Howard2k]

Why do you think Spotify on Apple Watch is a poor solution? When does it not work at all? How does syncing fail? It takes awhile to wirelessly sync a full 100-song (limit) playlist, but it syncs. You can see if songs are downloaded, there is a checkmark next to the song on the Watch. Needing to see if a song is replicated on your Watch seems like a weird requirement, but you can see the list of songs and check if you want, but you won't be able to delete it on the Watch.
It seems like you want to manage your music library while you're running. To each their own, but it seems unreasonable to expect to do any library management on a tiny watch screen that is awkward to hold up to your face for more than a few moments. That's why apps on smartwatch, including Spotify, are just meant to be extensions. You'd need the full Spotify mobile app on a phone-size screen to do library management anyway. So maybe what you really want is the smallest phone you can get and just download Spotify on it. Or an old iPod touch (or Android equivalent?). These or a smartwatch are your only options for Spotify. Is this thread just a roundabout way of saying you wish Apple still made the iPod Touch or 4" iPhones?

If you don't need Spotify and want to just download mp3s, there are of course a million small mp3 players.

You actually can manage downloads from the watch directly. Just go to the Library and tap on Downloads.

 

[Howard2k]

It's unbelievable, in 2024 there's no convenient solution for listening to music while running/jogging. Missed your leadership Steve..

What? There are loads of people running with a watch and AirPods. It’s not a Steve issue.

 

[subjonas]

You actually can manage downloads from the watch directly. Just go to the Library and tap on Downloads.

Yeah you can do a little bit of management like choosing songs to download—although with the Wifi model Watch your iPhone has to be present—and you can even add songs to specific playlists, but I think OP wants more management capabilities.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I download playlist on my AW S6 with Apple Music. No need to stream, works well.

 

[TechnoMonk]

The problem is synching music from phone to apple watch. It's a terrible process. If you launch spotify on the watch there's no way you make sure music is downloaded to the watch...

Really 'd like to hear from someone that really actually use those features. Also would be really a pity for a user who uses spotify on all devices to subscribe to apple music just to hear it on the go on the watch. But it seems to me Apple Music is on the same boat...

It's unbelievable, in 2024 there's no convenient solution for listening to music while running/jogging. Missed your leadership Steve..

Let Steve RIP, many have already said they don’t have issues. May be reach out to Spotify support and leave Steve alone.

 

[mattoruu]

You can buy a “Mighty 3” from Mighty Audio. It’s basically the old clip-on 4th Gen iPod Shuffle (but modern with Wifi, Bluetooth and whatnot). It supports playing Spotify without an always-on internet connection.

 

[Parowdy]

Not sure if serious or.....

I cannot think of anything worse than terrestrial radio and haven't listened to it, unless in someone else's vehicle, in 25 years. Below is a sample of a classic rock station, feel free to change out the songs/artist with your genre of choice, they are all the same.

On a normal day:
6-10am: Awful "morning zoo" show, rarely even local anymore
Rest of day:
1 of the same 5 Led Zeppelin songs
1 of the same 5 Who songs
15 minutes of hideous commercials
1 of the same 5 Queen songs
1 of the same 5 Lynyrd Skynyrd songs
15 minutes of hideous commercials
Rinse and repeat

On any holiday:
[corny radio dj voice]
"That was Black Dog by Led Zeppelin in at number 20 of our WXXX Memorial Day top 100 countdown, we'll be right back with the song you, our listeners, voted number 19"
15 Minutes of hideous commercials, the worst are Kia dealerships!
"We're back for more of the WXXX Memorial Day top 100 countdown and in at number 19 is Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd...
[/corny radio dj voice]
Rinse and repeat until a 20 minute build up to the inevitable Stairway to Heaven at #1.

The template for regular radio has literally not changed in 50 years plus.

So, you do listen to radio enough to know that since you stopped listening by yourself, nothing changed.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Not sure if serious or.....

I cannot think of anything worse than terrestrial radio and haven't listened to it, unless in someone else's vehicle, in 25 years. Below is a sample of a classic rock station, feel free to change out the songs/artist with your genre of choice, they are all the same.

On a normal day:
6-10am: Awful "morning zoo" show, rarely even local anymore
Rest of day:
1 of the same 5 Led Zeppelin songs
1 of the same 5 Who songs
15 minutes of hideous commercials
1 of the same 5 Queen songs
1 of the same 5 Lynyrd Skynyrd songs
15 minutes of hideous commercials
Rinse and repeat

On any holiday:
[corny radio dj voice]
"That was Black Dog by Led Zeppelin in at number 20 of our WXXX Memorial Day top 100 countdown, we'll be right back with the song you, our listeners, voted number 19"
15 Minutes of hideous commercials, the worst are Kia dealerships!
"We're back for more of the WXXX Memorial Day top 100 countdown and in at number 19 is Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd...
[/corny radio dj voice]
Rinse and repeat until a 20 minute build up to the inevitable Stairway to Heaven at #1.

The template for regular radio has literally not changed in 50 years plus.

Do you not have any local, high school, or college stations in your area? We have four really good, completely local, ones that have zero commercials, other than DJ read sponsors, as they are all non-profit. I find new music on them constantly, and none of them really play the top-20 anything.

 

[Tdude96]

If you haven't tried an Apple Watch recently, I'd suggest giving it a try. I used to think the same thing you do, but apps that are still available for the Apple Watch seem to have drastically improved synching. I had the worst time synching media to my GPS Series 4 when I first got it, but have no problem with my GPS Series 7 or streaming with my Cellular Ultra 2. Works great.