Sync just deleted all my Music on both Devices!

[phl92]

Today my Macbook Air M1 finall arrived and after setting up everything and using it for 2 hours I was happy. But then I had the terrible idea to synchronize my Apple Music Library from my iPhone to my Mac so that I can listen to my own music offline when working in planes, trains etc on my Mac (my god what a wish)
So I have around 15 GB of own music in my Apple Music library (not Apple music but my own music!) and I connected via cable iPhone and Macbook.
So since nothing was syncronizing automatically I was clicking on make a full backup of iPhone on this Mac. well this took a while and then the Music was appearing on my Mac in Apple Music App but I couldnt play it. I disconnected my iPhone and to my shock also on my iPhone all my Music was disappeared. In settings I turned off and on ,Sync Library, which made the Music appear again on my Phone but I cannot play it!!! (Like on the mac) also in the storage plan my Music definitely got deleted showing instead of 15GB only 1,9GB (I also bought once a bit of Apple Music?!)

My god, 15 years later and I still struggle with such things with Apple. I remember now exactly why I avoided this company for so long time.

Can someone help me? I still have a backup on my iTunes on my old Windows Laptop, but oh boy I wont connect any device to it until I know whats going on!

 

[MN7119]

Today my Macbook Air M1 finall arrived and after setting up everything and using it for 2 hours I was happy. But then I had the terrible idea to synchronize my Apple Music Library from my iPhone to my Mac so that I can listen to my own music offline when working in planes, trains etc on my Mac (my god what a wish)
So I have around 15 GB of own music in my Apple Music library (not Apple music but my own music!) and I connected via cable iPhone and Macbook.
So since nothing was syncronizing automatically I was clicking on make a full backup of iPhone on this Mac. well this took a while and then the Music was appearing on my Mac in Apple Music App but I couldnt play it. I disconnected my iPhone and to my shock also on my iPhone all my Music was disappeared. In settings I turned off and on ,Sync Library, which made the Music appear again on my Phone but I cannot play it!!! (Like on the mac) also in the storage plan my Music definitely got deleted showing instead of 15GB only 1,9GB (I also bought once a bit of Apple Music?!)

My god, 15 years later and I still struggle with such things with Apple. I remember now exactly why I avoided this company for so long time.

Can someone help me? I still have a backup on my iTunes on my old Windows Laptop, but oh boy I wont connect any device to it until I know whats going on!

A very similar situation happened to me when I upgrade my iPhone. I had my own music stored on my old iPhone and 90% of the songs are gone and I have no idea how to bring them back.

 

[phl92]

Lol I had this once 15 years ago with my iPod. I thought back then Apple is just not developed enough but seems they still aren’t

 

[phl92]

So I really would like to know how to proceed, but it seems hard to get some valid information. Most threads and tutorials about it are years ago and somethings have changed.
I guess the "mistake" was to think, that you can Sync a full iPhone to an empty Mac, but its working with Apple just the other way round, like the big and strong can share things with the small and leightweights...

First of all I will try to make a backup on a USB stick of my Music on the WIndows Laptop (from iTunes)
Then I will try to connect my iPhone with my Windows Laptop where Music is still in my iTunes.
Then I will try to bring the Music via USb stick to my Mac..

Oh gosh, if Apple just knew how easy this is on all other OS... crazy

 

[mrochester]

I don’t think it’s ever been possible to sync the music from an iPhone back to a PC. It’s a one way sync from your PC music library to the phone. The PC is the master device, the phone is the slave.

Syncing with a Mac with no music is essentially telling the phone to wipe all music and sync with nothing.

What you need to do is add your music files to your music library on the Mac, then sync with your phone.

 

[phl92]

I don’t think it’s ever been possible to sync the music from an iPhone back to a PC. It’s a one way sync from your PC music library to the phone. The PC is the master device, the phone is the slave.

Syncing with a Mac with no music is essentially telling the phone to wipe all music and sync with nothing.

What you need to do is add your music files to your music library on the Mac, then sync with your phone.

Yes, I forgot I am back as a Slave (customer) in the Apple world where hierarchies are strict made up for you

Ok. Can you confirm that my approach is best to proceed:
First of all I will try to make a backup on a USB stick of my Music on the WIndows Laptop (from iTunes)
Then I will try to connect my iPhone with my Windows Laptop where Music is still in my iTunes.
Then I will try to bring the Music via USb stick to my Mac.. (because I don't even want to know what happens when you try to Sync a Laptop with a Laptop. Since its a Windows Laptop I am sure Apple sees this device at the bottom of its hierarchy, and will probably delete the whole Windows Laptop - honestly I would not be surprised)

What I am unsure about, should I do something on my iPhone before continuing? I mean it shows all my Songs listed, but just in a grey color and I cannot play them. Should I delete them completely ?
The other things I never understand is if Sync Library should be on in the devices or not? I guess not, right?

 

[mrochester]

Yes, I forgot I am back as a Slave (customer) in the Apple world where hierarchies are strict made up for you

Ok. Can you confirm that my approach is best to proceed:
First of all I will try to make a backup on a USB stick of my Music on the WIndows Laptop (from iTunes)
Then I will try to connect my iPhone with my Windows Laptop where Music is still in my iTunes.
Then I will try to bring the Music via USb stick to my Mac.. (because I don't even want to know what happens when you try to Sync a Laptop with a Laptop. Since its a Windows Laptop I am sure Apple sees this device at the bottom of its hierarchy, and will probably delete the whole Windows Laptop - honestly I would not be surprised)

What I am unsure about, should I do something on my iPhone before continuing? I mean it shows all my Songs listed, but just in a grey color and I cannot play them. Should I delete them completely ?
The other things I never understand is if Sync Library should be on in the devices or not? I guess not, right?

If all you want to achieve is to get your music on your phone then sync with your existing music library on your windows PC.

If you want to move your library to your Mac simply copy the music files from your windows PC to your Mac then point the music app on the Mac to the folder that contains your music. It will add all of the songs to the music library on your Mac. Then you can sync your phone with your Mac.

EDIT - this is a good reminder why Apple doesn’t really do file systems on iOS devices as people can’t easily get their heads around it.