YouTube Music app allows users to play locally stored songs on their phone

Recently, YouTube unveiled ad-free YouTube Music and YouTube premium in India. Now, YouTube Music app allows users to play locally stored songs on their phone, similar to Google Play Music and JioSaavn. This way, YouTube Music gets something to differentiate itself from the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music etc. Google has already confirmed that YouTube Music will eventually replace Google Play Music and now that Google is actively building several of Google Play Music features into YouTube Music, that doesn't seem like a distant future.

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However, for Google, it is imperative that YouTube Music meets certain criteria to replace Google Play Music and establish its own identity. Allowing users to listen to locally stored songs happens to be one of the must-have features. This way, users can upload their own music to YouTube Music's online library. What's more, existing Google Play Music owners should easily port out of the app and transfer their library and preferences to YouTube Music. Now that YouTube Music allows users to stream locally stored songs and music files, we can expect many such interesting features to become a part of the YouTube Music app in the future.

How to access locally stored music using YouTube Music

In the event that you have all your offline songs stored on your device's storage, you can access such files using the File Explorer apps on your phone. All you need to do is locate your music file and use 'Open With' menu to play the song via YouTube Music app. Apparently, the feature is currently under development, and it will take some time for YouTube to roll out a fully-ready version of this feature. Right now, the graphical interface is visibly missing from YouTube Music app itself. Plus, there is no way one can add locally stored songs into the YouTube Music app.

1. Install File explorer app in case you don't have one.
2. Locate the locally stored music directory.
3. Locate the songs.
4. Make use of the 'Open With' menu.
5. Play locally-stored songs on YouTube Music.

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YouTube Music subscription starts at 99 per month in India. You can also subscribe to the YouTube Premium package for Rs 129 per month that includes access to ad-free YouTube viewing experience as well as YouTube Originals TV shows and movies.