Spotify and other standalone apps do not correctly work on Apple Watch Series 10 Cellular and iPhone 16 pro.

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Realist1986 Author

Level 1

12 points

Spotify and other standalone apps do not correctly work on Apple Watch Series 10 Cellular and iPhone 16 pro.

Apart from unexplainable battery drain on AirPod Pros, seemingly because they never really disconnect, I have also discovered issues with my Series Watch 10 recognizing to use cellular and the apps that can be used in standalone mode instead of relying on the phone.

When I go for runs, I can never get the watch to play Spotify; when I attempted, it would always start playing on the phone, despite airplane mode on the phone and watch (wifi and bluetooth (control center) off on watch and phone). Some community members suggested I turn the Bluetooth off in the Settings menu, but that will also prevent my AirPods from connecting.

As soon as I physically turn off the phone, then restart Spotify on the Watch, I can stream directly from the Watch to my AirPods as intended and allowed by Spotify Premium.

Why is Airplane mode not Airplane mode? And how do I sever the connection between the watch and phone so that the watch can work independently and without compromising my ability to wear headphones?

iPhone 16 Pro

Posted on Aug 13, 2025 06:18 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 13, 2025 11:39 PM in response to Realist1986

FWIW in my setup with an old Apple Watch 4 and AirPods Pro I take care to download Spotify playlists like "Daily Mix #" locally to the Apple Watch before going jogging in the woods and leaving the iPhone home.

For some strange reason downloading Spotify playlists is VERY slow if Apple Watch Bluetooth is ON, so I use the workaround to turn it OFF and let Apple Watch download via Wi-Fi which is much faster. When the download is complete, I turn Apple Watch Bluetooth back ON so the AirPods can connect. Yes, that is clumsy.

...and it was even clumsier when I had to use iPhone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for the Apple Watch. Then downloading Spotify playlists and Apple Podcasts to the Apple Watch took some serious fiddling with Apple Watch Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings and I still do not know the proper workflow to re-do that.

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