Can you play music offline with TIDAL?

Tidal Music Offline Mode
(Image credit: Andrew Myrick / CordCutters)

If you are using a music streaming service, it wouldn’t make sense for that service to be without some type of "Offline Mode". The same rings true for TIDAL Music — being able to download your music to a tablet for offline usage is extremely helpful.

Best answer: Yes, you can play music offline with TIDAL — after you have enabled Offline Mode and downloaded the content directly to your device.

TIDAL Premium:

TIDAL Premium: $9.99/month after 30-day free trial

Over 80 million music tracks, interviews, guest playlists, 350,000 music videos, TIDAL brings you high-quality music from the artists you love. Listen on any device.

Sometimes streaming isn't the answer
From time to time, you come across a situation where you don't want to deal with streaming music. It doesn't matter if you're driving through the mountains with no cell service, or just want to have music available on your tablet. TIDAL's addition of its Offline Mode makes it easy to download music, videos, and more to listen to your favorite media.

In fact, you can even download podcasts or entire playlists for offline consumption. Then, you can head into the app even if you don't have access to a network connection and keep listening.

What limitations are there for Offline Mode?

There aren't many limitations to what you can download via the TIDAL app on your devices. However, the potential issues come in if you have a handful of devices at your disposal.

With Offline Mode, you can use up to five different smartphones or tablets at the same time. Plus, you will be able to use one device in the standard "online" mode. An example of this is listening to music on the computer while using five other devices on the account offline.

Can you adjust TIDAL's download quality?

Since the biggest benefit of TIDAL over the likes of Spotify or Apple Music is audio quality, you can adjust the quality of your downloads. With downloading music, you are provided with either "Normal" or "High" quality, while Video has a few different options. If you want to download videos for offline playback, you have the following choices:

  • Audio Only
  • Normal
  • High
  • HD

The most significant benefit to this is the fact that you can download the audio for a music video that doesn't have a regular soundtrack just yet. Or maybe you want to listen to some commentary for a new album that just dropped and you don't want to get "stuck" watching the video all the time.

How to download content in TIDAL's Offline Mode

  1. Open the TIDAL app.
  2. Tap My Collection in the bottom toolbar.
  3. Locate the songs or playlists you wish to download.
  4. Tap the three dots to the right of the title.
  5. Scroll down and click Download .

How to enable offline mode on your device

  1. Open the TIDAL app.
  2. Tap My Collection in the bottom toolbar.
  3. Tap the Settings gear icon in the top right-hand corner.
  4. Toggle Offline Mode to the On position.