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kyussmondo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 7, 2010
105
40
UK
This past day I have had problems with my Apple Music and iCloud Music Library staying in sync.

So if I create a new playlist, edit a playlist, add a song to my library, then my iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Windows PC within a few seconds will update on all devices. Unfortunately, now to get the changes to take effect, I have to close iTunes on Windows and Music app on Mac and reopen, which will get it to pick up the changes. On iOS, I have to create a new playlist or add a new song to my library, and this will force the iOS and iPadOS app to sync.

I have tried all the usual fixes. I have toggled iCloud Music Library sync on all the devices. I have rebooted all devices. I have signed out of my account and signed back in again on all my devices. I thought it might be an account problem. I have a different account for iTunes and App Store and iCloud, so I signed out of my iTunes and App Store account and used my iCloud Apple ID with the free trial and same issue, so I am starting to think it is an issue on Apple's end, whether there is an Apple Music library issue or whether the latest macOS and iOS updates have broken syncing.

It is quite annoying. I regularly make playlists on my Mac and then just expect them to be there when I use my iPad, iPhone, or Windows PC.

Is anyone else having this problem, or is it just me?

EDIT: So looking on the Apple Music sub-Reddit, it seems like others are experiencing the same issue, so I think it is a server-side issue or a bug Apple introduced in iOS 13.5.1 and the macOS and iTunes equivalents.

I have taken another look at Spotify, but the lack of an iCloud Music Library equivalent (uploading or matching local music to the cloud), not being able to add individual songs to the library (only albums), being unable to edit the tags, and general cluttered interface. At least Spotify has removed the ridiculous 10,000 song library limit, which only took several years to change, so I am not confident Spotify will fix any of my above concerns in the next couple of years. Also, some tracks/albums are available on Apple Music, which I just cannot find on Spotify.

For all Apple Music's shortcomings, no collaborative playlists, it doesn't work with Alexa and Google Home, and the Spotify algorithms are still better at recommendations. However, Apple is catching up fast, adding dark mode, increasing supported device, web app etc.

Anyway, I am rambling a bit. My point is, I hope this issue will have a fix soon because I don't want to move to Spotify.
 
Last edited:

revox12

macrumors newbie
Sep 1, 2015
28
14
Happening to me too! wiped and reset my phone and iPad and it didn’t fix it. Definitely server side. :(
 

ian2000

macrumors newbie
Aug 6, 2010
27
0
Same here (stopped working 3 days ago). I've tried resetting absolutely everything (including removing all music) without success. This works fine on my partner's devices with another account so it's not a problem with my home network. I had a long chat with Apple Support today who say they'll contact engineering to have a look at this. I'll report back with any updates.
 

swandy

macrumors 6502a
Oct 27, 2012
991
323
I just noticed this on my iPhone 11 after adding an album to the Music app on my iMac and redoing a playlist. However, the changes - including the newly added album - all showed up on both my Apple Watches (a Series 4 Cellular and Series 5 GPS) my iPad Mini 5 and iTunes on the Windows bootcamp side of my iMac. Only my iPhone - even after resetting it - does not show the changes. Would have assumed the issue - whatever it is - would effect all the devices.
 

chris4565

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2018
1,060
499
Just added some songs on Apple Music on my MacBook Pro. They show up on my iPad but not on my iPhone. Never had this issue before. It’s quite annoying. Force quitting the app and restarting the phone didn’t help.

Edit: Until yesterday it worked fine.

Edit 2: The songs just magically appeared ?
 
Last edited:

boo98

macrumors member
Nov 16, 2014
32
0
Glad I found this thread! I'm having the same issue as well. I would edit my playlists on my Mac but they don't update on my iPhone/iPad. It's very frustrating as I keep deleting songs and adding songs to my playlists and once it's "updated", it goes back to how it was on my iPhone so all the changes disappeared.

Is there a solution other than closing and reopening the app on Mac?
 

mrsmith1

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2017
720
1,982
Nottingham, England
I've just started a similar thread when I noticed this thread. Aplogies. So when I add music on my iPhone or iPad, my Mac has stopped updating the music, which it did automatically before.
 
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