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Music apps that work without Wi-Fi: what’s actually free in 2026

By Pradeep Bommana

Short answer

Most big music apps don't let you download music on their free plans. Spotify, YouTube Music and iHeartRadio only let free users download podcasts, and Deezer, Amazon Music, Pandora, SoundCloud and Apple Music need a paid plan for offline music. For free offline music, use Audiomack's free downloads, or copy your own music files to your phone and play them with VLC.

On this page

To play music on a flight, on the underground, or anywhere without a signal, an app has to download the songs while you’re still online. We checked 15 music apps against their own help and pricing pages on 22 October 2026. The honest answer: on the big apps, offline music is almost always a paid feature. Here’s what really works for free, what needs a plan, and which apps from older “best of” lists have shut down.

Free offline music that really works

  • Audiomack (Android, iPhone): lets free users download songs and albums. Audiomack+ ($6.99 a month in the US) adds unlimited downloads and the full catalogue. It also plays music files already on your phone.
  • VLC (Android, iPhone): a free, open-source player for music files you already own. Copy your MP3s to the phone, and VLC plays them with no account and no internet.
  • Free, legal music to download: Jamendo (free for personal, non-commercial listening), the Free Music Archive (personal use; check each track’s licence), and the Internet Archive’s Live Music Archive (concert recordings, non-commercial use).
  • SoundCloud tracks with downloads switched on: some artists let anyone download their tracks. You can do this from the SoundCloud website, but not from the app.

The big apps: offline needs a paid plan

  • Spotify: free users can download podcasts only. Downloading music needs Premium.
  • YouTube Music: podcasts only on the free plan. Music downloads need YouTube Music Premium or YouTube Premium, and they keep working offline for 30 days at a time.
  • iHeartRadio: podcasts only on the free plan, in the apps. Music downloads need All Access.
  • Deezer: no offline listening on the free plan. You need Premium, Duo, Student or Family.
  • Amazon Music: no offline listening on the free plan. Downloads need Standard or Unlimited. Prime members can download the All-Access playlists only.
  • SoundCloud: no downloads in the mobile app on the free plan. You need Go or Go+.
  • Pandora: works in the US only. Offline mode needs Plus, where the app picks up to three of your stations, or Premium, where you choose the songs.
  • Apple Music: no free plan at all, only a one-month trial for new subscribers.

Apps that have gone to seed

Older lists, including earlier versions of this page, still recommend these. They no longer work as music players:

  • Google Play Music: shut down in 2020 and replaced by YouTube Music.
  • Groove Music: Microsoft ended its music streaming and downloads at the end of 2017.
  • Wynk Music: Airtel closed its music service at the end of November 2024.
  • Slacker Radio: the name is gone. The app became LiveOne, and its downloads need a paid plan.
  • Shazam: still alive, but it was never an offline music player. It can tag a song while you’re offline and tells you what it was once you reconnect. Full songs need Apple Music.

Before you lose signal

  • Download your music on Wi-Fi before you set off. Albums can use a lot of mobile data.
  • Turn on airplane mode and play one song, to check that the download really finished.
  • If you use YouTube Music, go online at least once every 30 days, or your downloads stop playing.

How we checked

We read each app’s own help and pricing pages, and its app store listing, on 22 October 2026. Where a service has closed and its pages are gone, we used news reports. Prices are US prices and differ by country. We didn’t test every app on a phone for this update, so treat plan details as “what the company says today”.

Sources

Changelog

22 Oct 2026: merged our older “Best free offline music apps” post into this one. Checked every app against its official pages, removed the apps that have shut down, and corrected which apps really let you download for free. First published 13 Mar 2018.