Sync Library not working for iTunes Match music on Apple devices

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Level 1

4 points

Sync Library not working for iTunes Match music on Apple devices

I have a Macbook Air M4, iphone 15 pro, ipad and a PC. I have downloaded music for 20+ years, and around 30% of my library is NOT available on Apple Music, so I have an iTunes Match to share my music between devices; I also have 2TB on iCloud. All the music files live on my PC. The thing is that when I click on my apple music app to "Sync Library" nothing happens. On my songs list, the field "Cloud Status" just stays in "Cloud Off" and whenever I go to the Setting window, the Sync Library button is always OFF.

I had it working the first time (on my PC I could see different Cloud Status of "Matched", "Uploaded", etc) but I could not see all my music on my iphone nor mac, so I switched it OFF and ON, and now there is no way to turn it back ON.

All my devices share the same apple id. I tried signing out/in, tried syncing via iTunes (shows an error to turn Sync Library ON, just when I just clicked to activate iCloud). I have read that you can force your library to sync (that button does not appear).

My music just doesn't sync and apparently it is not even trying. I cannot see any process trying to upload or match my music.

What can I do?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Sync Library does nothing

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Sep 2, 2025 10:15 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

277,705 points

Sep 2, 2025 11:00 AM in response to BenjaminGlz

See Use Sync Library with your Apple Music subscription - Apple Support. The process is the same for an iTunes Match subscription. Sync Library should be on on your computer for the local content to be matched or uploaded to the cloud. There is a hard limit of 100,000 tracks, that excludes any iTunes Store purchases you may have. The 2TB iCloud storage you have has no impact on your Cloud Music Library. To activate Sync Library you need to be signed into your Apple Account, and the computer also needs to be authorized for the account.

You might try closing Music, then holding down option+cmd as you reopen, which opens Music in its safe mode. This can sometimes fix odd internal issues with the library. Cloud Music Library relies on the Genius feature of Music/iTunes. This can sometimes be stuck with a bad copy of the Genius data for your library. On a Mac you might delete the Genius component found inside the Music Library.musiclibrary package, while Music is closed, and then delete that from the trash before launching Music again. This will force Music to rebuild the Genius index of your library.

tt2

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