iPhone, iTunes and Missing Music and Playlists

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iPhone, iTunes and Missing Music and Playlists

Upgraded from an iPhone 11 to an iPhone 16. Music was not transferred but all apps were. Tried to add music back to iPhone with no success. Also unable to import iTunes playlist files to iTunes.

Phone does play music if I shuffle songs but when I plug it in and bring up iTunes there is no music listed under "Music" on the phone.

I have been working on this issue for about four months without any progress. I have tried syncing various times, signing in and out of iTunes, updating iTunes, re-creating playlists, and turning on and off iCloud library settings.

I would love to learn there is a simple solution but I am asking for some guidance. I can post screenshots of my phone and iTunes.

P.S. I do not have Apple Music on my Windows computer as it is a work computer which restricts access to the MS store.

Thank you.

iPhone 16, iOS 18

Posted on Oct 31, 2025 8:32 AM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

277,937 points

Oct 31, 2025 2:46 PM in response to cthulhurules1

Do you still have the iPhone 11? Or the iTunes library that you originally used to load music onto it?

See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community. The easiest method may be a temporary subscription to the Apple Music service, merging the music on the older device into an iCloud Music Library which you then download to a computer and backup for security, as well as accessing it on your new phone.

Avoid Apple Music/Devices/TV for Windows, they are incompatible with iTunes and make any already tricky recovery process even less likely to succeed.

tt2

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