Purchased iTunes music plays on iMac but is unavailable on new iPhone (region error?)

Question

Purchased iTunes music plays on iMac but is unavailable on new iPhone (region error?)

Hello everyone,

I hope someone here recognizes this issue or has found a solution, because Apple Support has unfortunately been unable to help me so far.

I have been an Apple user for over 40 years and have purchased music legally through iTunes for many years. I live in Norway and for the past ~19 years all purchases have been made using my Norwegian Apple ID, billed in NOK, through the Norwegian iTunes Store. I do not have an Apple Music subscription — all music was purchased outright.

The problem

After upgrading from an iPhone 14 Pro Max to an iPhone 17 Pro Max, approximately 75% of my purchased music became unavailable on the new device.

• The tracks appear greyed out in my playlists on the iPhone

• When I try to play or re-download them, I get a message saying the item is not available in my region

• My Apple ID region is correctly set to Norway

• The same songs are still available for purchase in the Norwegian iTunes Store

• Important: all of this purchased music plays without any issue on my iMac using the same Apple ID

• The problem only occurs when the music is synced or accessed on the iPhone

This affects music that was purchased recently (this year) as well as older purchases. All the music bought after I got my new iPhone 17 plays without any issues. My iPhone is at the current iOS 26.2

What I have already checked / tried

• Verified Apple ID region (Norway)

• Logged out and back in to Media & Purchases

• Toggled “Sync Library” off and on

• Confirmed purchases appear in my purchase history

• No Apple Music subscription involved

• Multiple calls with Apple Support

Apple Support experience

Apple Support suggested that the issue might be related to not having an Apple Music subscription, and stated that there is no solution.

When I asked for escalation to iTunes / Media Services, I was told this was not possible and no further contact options were available. The call was then ended.

My questions to the community

• Has anyone experienced purchased iTunes music working on a Mac but not on an iPhone?

• Could this be a corrupted entitlement or DRM authorization issue specific to iOS?

• Is there any way to force a re-authorization or refresh of purchased media rights for an iPhone?

• Has anyone successfully resolved this without deleting all data or losing content?

Any insight, shared experience, or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.

Best regards,

Ewout

Norway

Posted on Dec 19, 2025 9:21 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Dec 19, 2025 1:16 PM in response to turingtest2

Thank you Turingtest2, Although I have, the evening I got my new iPhone, already did a factory reset on my iPhone, I'm certainly willing to try it again. Tomorrow I will make a Full backup with iTunes/Music and the normal backups trough iCloud will also run as usual. The only thing I'm worried about is a few very special apps that might not work after a backup/restore.

I'm glad there is a topic about it, as I got the impression from the senior people I Apple Support that this was an isolated issue.

If You notice a degradation in my English, you are correct. I got help from ChatGPT. It was very important to me that my start post was complete and good written.

Ewout

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Answer 2

Dec 20, 2025 11:05 AM in response to turingtest2

Update:

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the suggestions so far. I wanted to provide an update and clarify where things stand now.

Following the advice given here, I have now fully erased my iPhone, restored it from an iCloud backup, and allowed the music library to completely resync. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the issue. If anything, it appears that even fewer purchased tracks are now available on the device.

To be clear:

All purchased music continues to play normally on my iMac using the same Apple ID
The Apple ID region is still correctly set to Norway
The issue only occurs on the iPhone, where purchased tracks remain greyed out and show “not available”

This confirms that the problem is not caused by local device data or a failed restore, but appears to be a server-side or entitlement-related issue affecting iOS devices.

I have contacted AppleCare multiple times. I was informed that there is no available solution and that escalation was not possible. I was also told there is no further contact channel beyond AppleCare, after which the call was ended.

At this point, I’m not trying to escalate emotionally — I’m simply trying to find the correct path to have this reviewed by the appropriate Apple team (for example Media Services / iTunes Store), as this concerns access to content that was legally purchased and still exists in the Store.

My question to the community:

Does anyone here know of a way to contact Apple regarding iTunes purchase entitlements outside the standard AppleCare support flow?

Or has anyone successfully had a similar issue reviewed by Apple beyond first-line support?

Any guidance or shared experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for your time and input.

Reply

Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

278,179 points

Dec 19, 2025 10:23 AM in response to ewoutschalkwijk

See If you have music that won't play on your device - Apple Community.

tt2

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