iOS 13 Music App album art is incorrect.

Hi all,

I'm not sure if the following has already been discussed, but here's a solution that works for me. It's somewhat time-consuming, especially if you have thousands of files in your iTunes library. As an indicator, I have around 4,000 files and the following takes about 45 minutes to complete. :-(

Before you begin, understand that your iPhone's music library will be erased if you proceed. So please take this precaution: ensure that the iTunes library on your computer contains everything you want on your phone: songs, playlists and cover art.

1. Disconnect your iPhone from your computer
2. On your computer, open iTunes
3. Navigate to: iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
4. Ensure Keep iTunes Media folder organised is deselected
5. OK
6. iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
7. Ensure that Keep iTunes Media folder organised is selected
8. OK.

This forces iTunes to re-read its library and rebuild links between files and their metadata.

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer via the cable
2. Click the phone's icon, found immediately beneath the iTunes menu bar

** WARNING: HERE COMES THE RISKY AND TIME-CONSUMING PART **

1. In the left panel: Settings > Music
2. In the right panel: ensure that Entire music library is selected > deselect Sync Music
3. Accept the warning, then click Sync. Your phone's music library will now be ERASED. Wait until this process is complete before proceeding.
4. In the right panel: select Sync Music > apply. Your library will now be transferred from your computer to your iPhone, including cover art and playlists.
5. Allow this process to complete, then confirm that your phone's music library looks as you'd expect.

You might be thinking, "Why do I have to blow away my phone's entire music library? Can't I just do a differential sync, and the errors that were corrected when iTunes re-read its library will be fixed on phone too?". I thought the same thing... but, sadly, it didn't work. Only a complete wipe/restore of the phone's library worked for me.

In case you're wondering, here's what caused my iPhone's cover art to go screwy in the first place:

1. My phone was disconnected from the computer
2. In iTunes I selected a playlist > clicked its cover art > selected a new JPG image when prompted
3. I connected the phone to the computer via cable
4. I initiated a library sync in iTunes.

Once the sync was complete I checked the playlists on the phone: the recently-tweaked playlist was showing the wrong cover art, as were several other items. Lesson learned: if changing a playlist's cover art, do it on the phone, not in iTunes.

Kind regards,

Jason Paris

EltonOutOfTheCloset.com

Hi all,

I've just had reason to repair my iPhone's music library yet again... and my previous solution didn't work! :-( I rearranged the steps and had another try; this time it worked. So, if my previous solution doesn't work for you, please try the following.

Before you begin, understand that your iPhone's music library will be erased if you proceed. So please take this precaution: ensure that the iTunes library on your computer contains everything you want on your phone: songs, playlists and cover art.

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer via the cable
2. Open iTunes on your computer
3. In iTunes, click the phone icon, found immediately beneath the iTunes menu bar.

** WARNING: HERE COMES THE RISKY PART **

1. In the left panel: Settings > Music
2. In the right panel: ensure that Entire music library is selected > deselect Sync Music
3. Accept the warning, then click Sync. Your phone's music library will now be ERASED. Wait until this process is complete before proceeding.

1. Navigate to: iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
2. Ensure Keep iTunes Media folder organised is deselected
3. OK
4. iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
5. Ensure that Keep iTunes Media folder organised is selected
6. OK.

This forces iTunes to re-read its library and rebuild links between files and their metadata.

** WARNING: HERE COMES THE TIME-CONSUMING PART

[approximately 1 minute for every 100 files in your library] **

1. In iTunes, click the phone icon, found immediately beneath the iTunes menu bar
2. In the left panel: Settings > Music
3. In the right panel: select Sync Music > Apply. Your library will now be transferred from your computer to your iPhone, including cover art and playlists.
4. Allow this long process to complete, then confirm that your phone's music library looks as you'd expect.

Kind regards,

Jason Paris

EltonOutOfTheCloset.com

Hi all,

I thought it'd be helpful to summarise my previous messages, and make it easier for everyone grappling with this issue.

The Underlying Problem

From what I can tell, the issue is caused because the iTunes GUI does not automatically write metadata changes back to its underlying files. For example, if you're in iTunes on your computer and change the artwork for an album, you'll see the change in the GUI. But the change won't necessarily be reflected in the underlying files. So when you sync with your iPhone, the artwork for this album (and other items) is likely to be wrong.

To Prevent The Problem

After each and every change in the iTunes GUI - and immediately before syncing - do the following:

1. iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
2. Keep iTunes Media folder organised: DESELECT
3. OK
4. iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
5. Keep iTunes Media folder organised: SELECT
6. OK
7. Wait for this (short) process to complete, then begin the sync.

This manually forces the iTunes GUI to write your metadata changes to the underlying files.

To Fix The Problem

If your cover art has already become screwy on your iPhone, the following will fix it. But please note: this process is lengthy (approximately 90 seconds for every 100 files in your library), and will erase the entire music library from your iPhone. Before continuing, please ensure that your computer's iTunes' library has everything you want in your phone's Music app.

1. With the cable, connect your phone and computer
2. Open iTunes on your computer. If it opened automatically and started a sync, cancel it.
3. In iTunes, select your iPhone (the icon immediately below the menu bar)
4. In the left pane: Settings > Music
5. In the right pane: ensure Entire Music Library is selected
6. Deselect Sync Music > respond to the warning > Sync

Your iPhone's music library will now be erased; please wait until this process finishes.

1. iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
2. Keep iTunes Media folder organised: DESELECT
3. OK
4. iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
5. Keep iTunes Media folder organised: SELECT
6. OK
7. Wait for this (short) process to complete.

The iTunes GUI and its underlying files are now synchronised. Now, let's transfer the entire music library to your iPhone (this is the time-consuming part!):

1. In iTunes, select your iPhone (the icon immediately below the menu bar)
2. In the left pane: Settings > Music
3. In the right pane: select Sync Music > Apply.

Allow the sync to complete. Then, check the Music app on your iPhone and confirm that everything looks as it should.

I'd love to know if this work for you or not. :-)

Kind regards,

Jason Paris

EltonOutOfTheCloset.com

I found a workaround that did the trick for me. Assign each playlist it's own image. Tap the playlist image and replace with an image of your choice. I used album covers I found on Google Images. I changed the playlist images on Itunes in my computer, synced with my phone, and no more incorrect, shifting images.

I have iPhone SE with iOS 13, and ITunes on Windows 10, but I create/edit playlists in ITunes, then sync my phone. Changing the playlist thumbnail in ITunes on the PC, then syncing fixed the problem for me. However, before syncing, I noticed that the playlists in my phone had the option to upload a different thumbnail by tapping the existing thumbnail, so that's probably another thing to try. As you mentioned, a bug fix will probably take care of the whole issue on the 24th.

I found the same problem after upgrading my iPhone XR to IOS 13.1

I have been testing and looking at the results with both the Apple Music app and a third party app: the CS Music Player app from the Apple App Store on the same iPhone.

The results were interesting as well as surprising:

There is a definite artwork disconnect in playlists when using the Apple Music app.

There is NO PLAYLIST/ARTWORK DISCONNECT WHATSOEVER when using the CS Music Player app on the same iPhone!!

To me this means that playing around with the music library on my iPhone would be a total waste of time. The problem is not a library or database problem: The problem is with the IOS 13 version of the Apple Music app. I am sure Apple with look at these posts and eventually fix the problem. Since this is probably not a priority for Apple, I would suggest using the CS Music Player app from the App Store. (I purchased this years ago when the Apple Music app had a different problem that Apple was slow to fix, so I don't remember exactly how much it costs but I am pretty sure it was under $3, and it is VERY much worth the money!! ) I think that the CS Music Player has a nicer front end anyway for my music library.

End result: For now, I am using the CS Music Player app instead of the Apple Music app for my music enjoyment. (at least until Apple gets their stuff together)

This appears to be fixed for me now. Change appears to be having upgraded my Macbook to Catalina, because nothing has worked since this started with the rollout of iOS 13

1. Upgraded Macbook Pro to macOS Catalina 10.15 last evening
2. Iphone is at 13.1.2

I removed all the music from my phone, rebooted, reconnected and resynched all of my playlists this morning. Playlist artwork on the iPhone is good now. After repeatedly scrolling up and down the playlists, the correct album cover(s) are showing by the applicable playlist.

I don't have a Windows machine so I cannot test anything in that environment.

thanks-

I found the same problem after upgrading my iPhone XR to IOS 13.1

I have been testing and looking at the results with both the Apple Music app and CS Music Player app on the same iPhone.

The results were interesting as well as surprising:

There is a definite artwork disconnect in playlists when using the Apple Music app.

There is NO PLAYLIST/ARTWORK DISCONNECT WHATSOEVER when using the CS Music Player app on the same iPhone!!

To me this means that playing around with the music library on my iPhone would be a total waste of time. The problem is not a library or database problem: The problem is with the IOS 13 version of the Apple Music app. I am sure Apple with look at these posts and eventually fix the problem. Since this is probably not a priority for Apple, I would suggest using the CS Music Player app from the App Store. (I purchased this years ago when the Apple Music app had a different problem that Apple was slow to fix, so I don't remember how much it costs but I am pretty sure it was under $5)

I've posted in this thread a few times about this issue and for the record still having it just slightly different than before.

Someone suggested putting the phone in airplane mode so I did that AND disconnected my Windows PC from the internet. Opened iTunes on my Windows PC and unchecked the sync for my music to remove it from my phone. After confirming all the music was removed from my iPhone 11 Pro I put the check back in sync music. My album art is now correct on my albums. HOWEVER, now I have the problem other people mention where the Playlist cover art doesn't match anything on the playlist list... I shouldn't have to but I can live with this. Someone else also mentioned you can select your own album art/picture for your Playlists so that is what I've started doing so that I can quickly identify the theme of the playlist.

So thanks to everyone who mentioned the suggestions above I wish I could remember who mentioned them so I could give you proper credit!

This is still obviously not an acceptable solution but it at least it's a step in the right direction for me.

Yep. I can confirm that upgrading to Mac OS Catalina, then syncing my iPhone has solved this problem for me also.

But I didn't have to remove any of my music from the phone, I just synced it and everything was fine.

I experienced the same issue. What I did is that I deleted all playlists in iTunes, cleared out library. Re added albums, it's fine now. If you have a large library, this might not be an ideal solution for you. But it works. iOS 13.2.2

Something that may work, but advise to back up device first. This step will also delete any music that may have came from CDs or manually transferred from iTunes. Deleting the Music app is an option. Once deleted, power cycle phone and re-download the app. Once the app is downloaded, head to iTunes app (if you have music purchased from there) and download the music again. After this I was able to get album covers to sync properly. Give it a shot.

It occurred to me using Mojave and iTunes, where I got a new phone, used an old phone backup to update it and the cover art was fine until I updated the playlist of music on it. (I wondered if Catalina/Music would solve it but I'm not upgrading my Mac yet because of 32-bit apps.)

Deleting the Music app an all the music off the phone, restarting it and redownloading the Music app and resynching the playlist from my Mac fixed the issue for now, but I haven't tried updating the playlist to see if it's a permanent fix.

Nope it's iTunes. Been an ongoing issue for years. I've had it happen on every Apple device I've owned. Only thing that seems to work is removing all your music from your phone then close itunes. After that open iTunes, re/sync your phone and try adding music to it. Btw seems to be a more frequent issue using Windows vs IOS. Good luck!

This playlist album art incorrect problem was fixed for me with iOS 13.3.1 update released today 1/28/2020