If you still have old iOS devices like an iPhone 4 in use, as a backup device for entertainment such as streaming
music, you may discover that many popular music streaming apps like Spotify are not compatible with processing the
installation any more.
In this article, let's mainly focus on why it will fail to install Spotify on iPhone 4 and all the ways to listen to Spotify music on iPhone 4 successfully. As the problem may also exist on other devices but not iPhone 4 only, you can use this experience as a reference while trying to download music from Spotify to iPhone. Now, let's have a look.
Related Reading: [Solved] Spotify Not Working on iPhone – 7 Fixes
Why Can't You Get Spotify on iPhone 4?
It is noted that Spotify regularly updates its apps and software in order to maintain the best music streaming to users. As old versions are less compatible with many of the latest device models and systems today, with more frequent bugs occurring, Spotify has deprecated its app versions since 2016, supporting devices of the following systems:
- iOS: systems later than iOS 14
- Android: Android OS 7.0 or higher
- Mac: OS X 11.0 or higher
- Windows: Windows 10 (64-bit), Windows 11 or later
iPhone 4 can only update its systems to the highest iOS 14 (the newer system versions are no longer compatible with this device model). Meanwhile, when Spotify also gives up maintaining the services running in old systems, directly installing Spotify on iPhone 4 to access the streaming services seems no longer workable. Instead, you need an alternative way to access Spotify. Now, keep on reading and the following part will guide you on how.
Way 1. Use Spotify Web Player on iPhone 4
Except for the desktop software and mobile apps, Spotify also provides a web player version that can let you directly log in to the music player without installing any third-party app at all. So to play Spotify on iPhone 4, you can choose to directly use the web player! Here are the steps guiding you on how to do it:
Step 1. Open an installed web browser (or the default Safari) on your iPhone. Then go to Spotify web player.
Step 2. In the platform, go to Spotify web player and log in with your account (you need to create one in order to access the streaming service).
Step 3. Once the login is complete, start using the streaming services in the web player on your iPhone 4 even without installing the Spotify app.
Way 2. Install the Spotify App from a Newer iOS System
As Spotify is not supported on iPhone 4 with iOS 14 or earlier systems, you can switch to get the app installed on a newer model first, and then use the Apple App Store to get it downloaded and installed on iPhone 4. This won't require device rooting at all. In the following, simply follow the steps to do it properly:
Step 1. Use a newer device that can support installing Spotify. Log in to your Apple ID and get it installed on this device first.
Step 2. On your iPhone 4, go to the App Store and turn to "Updates". Find Spotify under "Purchases".
Step 3. There will be a cloud-symbol icon displayed next to the Spotify app icon. Tap it and Spotify will be installed on iPhone 4 immediately.
You need to make sure that you are using the same Apple ID on both devices in order to sync the Spotify app between them. After the installation is completed, you can directly use Spotify on iPhone 4 to stream music as usual!
Way 3. Download Spotify Songs as MP3 and Sync to iPhone 4
As the above methods may bring different problems, for example:
- Spotify web player can only be used for online streaming, without the download function equipped at all, making it much easier to meet streaming errors related to network conditions.
- Installing the Spotify app through a new device on iPhone 4 can still meet many problems caused by system incompatibility, like some hidden bugs or crash errors.
Therefore, if you want an ultimate solution to avoid all these problems and to play Spotify on your iPhone 4 smoothly, TuneFab Spotify Music Converter is definitely the one you are looking for.
This tool provides a powerful DRM removal function to get rid of the protection, and then download all Spotify playlists from its embedded web player to let you save the music downloads in common MP3 and other formats.
Once you have converted Spotify to MP3, you can directly transfer them to your iPhone 4 using iTunes, so that it is possible for you to play them offline with any installed media player without using the official Spotify app. TuneFab Spotify Music Converter can keep lossless music quality at up to 320Kbps, which can ensure the best performance while enjoying Spotify music playback offline on any device.
Key Features:
- Directly embeds Spotify web player and adds download function to instantly select as well as download music from the official
- Removes DRM protection from Spotify Music to make sure the downloaded songs can be played on all devices like your iPhone 4
- Supports common formats such as MP3, M4A, WAV, and more widely-supported options to download Spotify Music offline
- Keeps lossless 320Kbps to download Spotify songs without affecting the streaming experience offline
- Downloads Spotify playlists in batches without the need to process the manual download one by one
- Speeds up the downloading performance to 35X faster to save your time
In the following, simply check the tutorial and get TuneFab Spotify Music Converter to process Spotify download, and then transfer the downloaded music files to iPhone 4 for playback offline without the Spotify app at all:
Step 1. Install TuneFab Spotify Music Converter on computers and then open it to log in via your Spotify account.
Step 2. When you access the Spotify Web Player, search for your favorite Spotify songs, playlists, or albums. Drag them to the "+" button and they can be added to the conversion list.
Step 3. Now, you can adjust the output format and quality to download Spotify songs offline. Simply go to the "Converting" window, then you can choose MP3 or AAC formats (which are supported on iPhone 4) as the output format from the top-right "Convert all files to" list.
Step 4. Finally, just press the "Convert All" button and TuneFab Spotify Music Converter will batch download Spotify playlists for you. You can access the downloaded Spotify songs in the "Finished" section and transfer them to iPhone 4 immediately.
Step 5. Connect your iPhone 4 to the computer and select the "Music" tab. Here, add the downloaded Spotify songs to the iTunes Library, and then simply click "Sync" in the "Music" section to transfer all of them to iPhone 4 for playback offline later.
In Conclusion
Although it is a pity that Spotify can't be directly installed on iPhone 4, there are still other ways to play Spotify on iPhone 4.
For those who want to directly access Spotify, using the web player is more straightforward. But if you need to enjoy music playback when there is no network available, as Spotify Web Player lacks the download function, you are recommended to use TuneFab Spotify Music Converter to process music download for transferring to iPhone 4 for playback later. The software is free to install at any time, so you can get it right now!
