Tidal has joined Spotify and Deezer by bringing offline playback to a new Apple Watch app, which has several features for listening independently from an iPhone.
The streaming service, which is about to come under attack from Apple Music’s lossless tier that costs half the price of Tidal’s, has now announced its Apple Watch app.
Tidal subscribers will be able to download their favourite albums and playlists directly to the watch to play when they’re out of the range of a W-Fi or data connection.
“Download all your favourite playlists and listen offline from anywhere without internet connectivity,” Tidal says in an announcement on its website.
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When you are in range you’ll be able to listen untethered from the iPhone, streaming and controlling music directly from the Apple Watch and a pair of connected Bluetooth headphones.
Tidal doesn’t have a free tier so paying customers will still be able to benefit from ad-free listening on the wearable. However, if they’re paying extra for the Tidal Hi-Fi, they won’t get to experience the full quality. Playback will be limited to 96Kbps.
In order to get started, users must download the Tidal app to their Apple Watch, head to link.tidal.com on their phone and then enter the on-screen code.
Tidal’s new Apple Watch app comes after Spotify confirmed it was bringing offline playback to the watchOS device as well as devices running Google’s WearOS platform.
Here’s how to enable it for the Spotify/Apple Watch combo:
- Open Spotify on your Apple Watch, locate and select the music or podcast you want to download
- Tap the three dots (…) icon, and then tap ‘Download to Apple Watch’
- The download will be complete when a green arrow appears next to your chosen content
- Wirelessly connect a pair of Bluetooth earbuds or headphones, and enjoy!
Which music service are you pairing with the best smartwatch? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
