Apple Music/iTunes on macOS 26 MP3 files/library won’t sync to iPhone 16 IOS 26

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Apple Music/iTunes on macOS 26 MP3 files/library won’t sync to iPhone 16 IOS 26

Ever since I upgraded my MacBook Pro M4 to macOS 26, I haven’t been able to sync my music files/library to my iPhone 16 running iOS 26. I had no issues with this process on macOS 18 and iOS 18. In the Apple Music app on macOS 26, the Sync button is completely unresponsive. It can’t be clicked at all. I’ve tried both wired and wireless connections, but nothing works.

Is Apple aware of this issue, and is there a fix planned?

[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 14″

Posted on Oct 12, 2025 9:08 AM

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Answer 1

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Michael Josephs

Level 1

10 points

Oct 15, 2025 3:13 PM in response to drew.mun

So I had this same exact issue in my iPad when I upgraded (foolishly, and the suggestion of Apple) all my devices (iMac, iPhone, iPad and Powerbook) to 26.0.1. I got on multiple calls with Apple support about this, and the solve for me was in a weird place. In a screen share, we navigated to my apple account (top left of settings), then to iCloud, the See All, then scrolled to Health (really the Health data) and Sync this iPad was not enabled. Once we enabled it, all of a sudden why music library started synching.

The only explanation the rep (who was great, super patient, and learning as he went) had was that there was a data encryption issue that was unlocked by enabling Health data to synch to/from the iPad. That fixed it. Go figure

MJ

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