Level 1 (4 points)

Mac Studio music library not syncing to iPhone

My music library is not syncing from my Mac to my iPhone. Mac Studio running 27.0.1, iPhone 16 running 27.2. I have Sync Library turned off in iPhone Apps/Music. I selected Entire music library on my Mac. It does a backup and does not move any music. I restarted both Mac and iPhone, put my music library back on the Mac hard drive. So what gives? I tried manually moving and that isn't working either. Mac really is getting to be crappy.

Posted on Nov 7, 2026 9:12 AM

2 replies

WheelieNick

Level 9 (74,110 points)

Nov 7, 2026 1:08 PM in response to twstringer

Hi there

Please try this

- On iPhone: Go to Settings > Apps > Music and make sure Sync Library is toggled OFF.
- On Mac: Open the Music app, go to Music > Settings (or Preferences) > General, and make sure Sync Library is UNCHECKED, then click OK.

Connect via USB: Plug your iPhone into your Mac using a reliable USB-C cable.
Open Finder:

- Open a Finder window and select your iPhone from the sidebar under "Locations".

Configure Music Syncing:

- Click on the Music tab across the top of the iPhone management window in Finder.
- Check the box for Sync music onto [Your iPhone's Name].
- Choose either Entire music library or Selected artists, albums, genres, and playlists.
- Make sure checkboxes for playlists or albums you actually want are ticked if you chose the selective option.
- Click sync to complete the procedure

twstringer Author

Level 1 (4 points)

Nov 7, 2026 7:14 PM in response to WheelieNick

Thank you. It still took a couple attempts, and I had re-import my library, but I did get it to sync from my Mac to my iPhone. I don't know if anyone from Apple development ever reads these, but if they are not, they should. It should not be this difficult.

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256390360