It rolled out an update that let them stream music from the Apple Watch without having their iPhone nearby so long as their Apple Watch was connected to Wi-Fi or LTE (the latter meaning they needed a cellular model). Spotify did make a small improvement for Apple Watch wearers last November. But without your iPhone nearby and tethered to your Apple Watch, it was basically useless. Previously, the Spotify app on your Apple Watch had been incredibly limited, allowing you to play/pause, switch songs and adjust the volume of tracks playing on your iPhone. ( If you subscribe to Deezer, you also recently gained the ability to download music to your Apple Watch.) It was a great selling point for runners, for example, because it allowed them to leave their iPhone at home and still listen to music via their Apple Watch and wireless earbuds. This is a huge deal because for years, you were only able to download music onto your Apple Watch for offline listening if you were an Apple Music subscriber. The Analog Origins of the Apple Watch's Crown