Missing Music in Playlists

Randomly, about half the songs in only two of my playlists have gone missing. It was there in the morning when I went to school but after school ended I checked and half of the songs in only two of my playlists had suddenly gone missing. No other playlist was affected. Both the two playlists affected were downloaded to my phone. I've tried to update my iCloud Library, turned off Sync Library in settings, and turned it back on, but the songs are still missing. Both of these playlists took months of time to create and I'm wondering if there is any other way to get the songs back without having to hunt down all the songs again.

iPhone XR

Posted on Mar 14, 2023 09:27 PM

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Posted on Mar 15, 2023 11:26 PM

Optimize Storage is not turned on for me and the songs were not in my library. However, I found most of the songs were still in my Downloaded Music (Settings > Music > Downloaded Music). But, they are mixed in with songs from my other playlists so I still have to weed them out to recreate my two playlists. Still weird that this happened and only to specific playlists. Is there any way I can prevent this from happening again in the future?

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Mar 15, 2023 11:26 PM in response to Eric--F

Optimize Storage is not turned on for me and the songs were not in my library. However, I found most of the songs were still in my Downloaded Music (Settings > Music > Downloaded Music). But, they are mixed in with songs from my other playlists so I still have to weed them out to recreate my two playlists. Still weird that this happened and only to specific playlists. Is there any way I can prevent this from happening again in the future?

Mar 15, 2023 04:02 PM in response to plutodust

Hi plutodust,


Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities.


We understand that your music is missing from your playlists. Is the music missing from your library? Search in your music library to see whether it has been completely removed. Make sure that you have sufficient storage available on iPhone. If you need, back up iPhone and remove any content that is not needed to keep.


How to check the storage on your iPhone and iPad - Apple Support


Next, check if your have Optimize Storage enabled:


Add music to iPhone and listen offline - Apple Support


"Free up music storage: If iPhone is low on storage space, you can automatically remove downloaded music that you haven’t played in a while. Go to Settings  > Music > Optimize Storage."


If the songs were deleted for optimize storage, redownload them.


Regards.

Mar 16, 2023 07:34 AM in response to plutodust

Hey plutodust,


While we cannot say definitively why this happened, depending how large the playlist is and how long you have had it may encounter issues. If you have multiple similar playlists, if something happens to one you can have a backup. Also, you can isolate the issue or cause doing this. This article has more information about making playlists in Apple Music.


How to make a playlist in the Apple Music app - Apple Support


Please don't hesitate to let us know if you need additional assistance.


Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Have a good one.

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Missing Music in Playlists

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