Continued issues syncing Apple Music on iPhone and iMac

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Continued issues syncing Apple Music on iPhone and iMac

When trying to sync Apple Music on my iPhone and iMac, I always get duplicate playlists, and all the playlists end up with missing music that I have to re-download. I usually download music on to my iPhone, but sometimes I do use the iMac. I thought "syncing" meant actual syncing, i.e., updates on one device will show up on the other device.

(Also, some of my music came from CD's, but are now showing up as dotted cloud symbols. How?)

Tried several offered solutions, but none have worked. Help?

iMac, OS X 10.11

Posted on Nov 27, 2022 3:19 PM

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Answer 1

Bill_T1

Community Specialist

Nov 29, 2022 2:07 PM in response to DrNuke98

Hi DrNuke98,

The first step to understanding what may be going on is to note the difference between Apple Music and your Music Library. Tracks added to your Apple Music library from the Apple Music service will be synced across all of your devices that use the same Apple ID to access the service.

If you use the Sync Library feature described at Use Sync Library to access your music library across your devices then tracks from sources other than Apple Music can also be synced across your devices automatically. This feature must be enabled on all devices used with the same Apple ID to impact them. If this is enabled it would not be necessary to use traditional syncing methods such as those outlined in Sync music between your Mac and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

When using the Sync Library service, If songs are missing from your music library after you turn on Sync Library can be helpful to identify the status of tracks that are missing or won't play.

Regards.

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Answer 2

DrNuke98 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 1, 2022 3:56 PM in response to Bill_T1

Thanks!

Quick question:

If I updated my library on my iPhone, and I sync across devices as you explained, will it merge the iPhone library and iMac library, or will it take the changes I made on the iPhone and sync it to the iMac?

(I'm worried that it will merge and mess up the cleaning I did on my iPhone.)

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Answer 3

Dec 1, 2022 4:29 PM in response to DrNuke98

DrNuke98,

If you sync using Apple Music's Sync Library, it will attempt to sync the changes you made from your iPhone to your iMac. For example, if you delete a playlist or add one, it would then sync those changes like you described.

If you are still having issues with missing music, let us know.

Take care.

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Continued issues syncing Apple Music on iPhone and iMac

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