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