Since the launch of the Spotify app for Apple Watch in 2018, smartwatches have been used primarily as a remote control for Spotify music playback on an iPhone or other Spotify Connect-enabled device.

Last Tuesday, Spotify confirmed to TechCrunch that it has launched support for offline music streaming on its Apple Watch app. This feature was noticed during its testing back in September this year. With support for offline streaming, smartwatch owners can listen to Spotify music or podcasts over a Wi-Fi or cellular network without having to connect to an iPhone.

The lack of support for offline streaming has been a long-standing problem for Spotify’s core customer group. This is also a serious problem for those who do not want to take their iPhone with them to work out, for example, when they go out for a run, as well as in the case when taking a smartphone with them can be inconvenient.

However, with support for offline streaming, Spotify users will now be able to stream music from their Apple Watch to AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones.