Level 1

42 points

iOS 13 Music App album art is incorrect.

I've got an iPhone XR and just upgraded to iOS 13. I go to the Music App and the album art is associated with the wrong playlists for about 1/3 of the library - and when I close and reopen the app, the incorrect pairings of image to file has shifted (example: the album cover for a U2 album was showing for a YES album the first time, now the U2 album has the correct cover, but a Talking Heads album has the art work for a Dave Brubeck album...etc.)

I have rebooted the phone, re-synced the music library on the phone, even removed all of the playlists, etc. and re loaded them and the issue remains.

iPhone XR

Posted on Sep 19, 2019 7:35 PM

Top-ranking reply

JasonParis69

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Aug 12, 2020 4:06 AM

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.

Disconnect your iPhone from your computer
On your computer, open iTunes
Navigate to: iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
Ensure Keep iTunes Media folder organised is deselected
OK
iTunes > Edit > Preferences > Advanced
Ensure that Keep iTunes Media folder organised is selected
OK.

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

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

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

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

My phone was disconnected from the computer
In iTunes I selected a playlist > clicked its cover art > selected a new JPG image when prompted
I connected the phone to the computer via cable
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

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192 replies

StuartDMT Author

Level 1

42 points

Sep 27, 2019 11:02 AM in response to spridel

Yes. It is happening with MacOS. I've got an older Macbook Pro, but still running the latest OS. This hardware will probably not be able to handle the next desktop OS update, but that should not be required to fix the problem. iOS 13 just seemed less than half baked in several ways.

Oct 4, 2019 3:43 AM in response to StuartDMT

I am experiencing this issue, too. IOS 13.1.2 on iPhone 11 Pro. Artwork in Music App on iPhone is incorrect. I am syncing my music using iTunes 12.10.0.7. So, everything I am using is up to date. This is not acceptable, Apple.

Oct 4, 2019 4:10 AM in response to StuartDMT

IOS 13 has nearly bricked both my iphone & my ipad. Album art is completely wrong on the phone and there is nothing but a dead frozen itunes on my ipad. Not to mention all the other issues this terribly buggy OS had presented me with. I'm beyond disappointed with the readiness of this "update" what if I needed these units for work or family related needs... Apple, you're slipping.

Jangyit

Level 1

8 points

Oct 4, 2019 5:18 AM in response to StuartDMT

So glad to have found this thread. I'm still an iPhone 7+ user and I have the same problem with the new IOS messing up my playlist album art. I hope this is resolved soon. I have way too many playlists to do a manual deletion and recreation which I see some forums are advising.

Shaft80

Level 1

18 points

Oct 7, 2019 2:26 AM in response to StuartDMT

I have this issue too... in addition, my photo albums from my Photos app on my Mac are copying over to my iPhone and iPad Pro all mixed up too. I think this is an IOS issue as someone else has commented.

Oct 7, 2019 11:37 AM in response to StuartDMT

I also have my music app album art work on the wrong song group for half my play list and I have a iPhone 11 pro max and have ver 13.1.2 It seem to happen after I activated my iPhone. I did clear my music list on my iPhone and connected the phone to my MacBook pro and sync it back up and reinstalled the selected songs and album and still same problem.

Oct 7, 2019 11:59 AM in response to StuartDMT

So glad I found this thread. It's irritating to have the wrong playlist displayed visually. I teach a fitness class and use my playlist daily. I would love to get an answer to this. I would not have upgraded if I had known this would be an issue.

Oct 7, 2019 3:12 PM in response to CiscoSanJose

I have a feeling Apple is focusing on the launch of the "Music" app and not too concerned with iTunes at this point, since its getting phased out. Maybe the Artwork playlist issue will get fixed in the new app. A deeper concern for me will be the switch from iTunes to "Music" and how that will effect my playlists and iTunes library. I've been curating my library for over 15 years, adding art work to imported on music transferred from vinyl or cd's, etc. It's been a lot of work through out the years and I cant help to feel anxious about these upcoming changes.

Richie_M

Level 1

22 points

Oct 11, 2019 2:13 PM in response to Smooze

Hello,

I opened a case on 9/20/2019 about this issue.

However after speaking to them & even sending them screen shots, as well as iTunes Diagnostic files back on 9/24/2019, they have yet to get back to me...

Richie...

Oct 15, 2019 6:14 AM in response to StuartDMT

Same problem here-its existed for a while.I cant believe Apple dont seem to care about this. When i plugged in my iphone XR tonight after iTunes update-it then said removing iTunes-then came back up and couldnt connect to my iphone with this strange new error.(Error 0xe80000a)

Had to delete a folder in settings (Lockdown folder) to get it to recognise the phone.However before this i had taken Apples advise and removed iTunes from my phone.Reinstalled and of course whole library is gone. So plug in to sync and watch it download 4200 songs to my phone again-still with wrong Playlist album art but album art correct on all songs. How about fixing this Apple? -not like you're short of money or anything.Cant believe you can take a working product and stuff it this badly.However they do have a history of doing this. Listen to your forums and fix it!!!!

neil51

Level 1

4 points

Oct 24, 2019 7:41 PM in response to cmoore55

Same here, artwork for playlists is broken. Even if I make a playlist of an album and rearrange the track order, that playlist artwork has another piece of artwork. All artwork seems to be from 'A' artists and repeats ono other playlists.

Jangyit

Level 1

8 points

Oct 24, 2019 8:21 PM in response to neil51

The new music app that replaced iTunes not only messed up more of the artwork, it also messed up the play order sequence of my existing smart playlists. Tried everything - even selecting the “copy by play order” option as some helpful posts suggested.

I sincerely hope this is not to get users so frustrated that they abandon their stored music libraries and cave in to hop over to the paid subscription service.

Oct 30, 2019 11:06 PM in response to StuartDMT

I too have this jumbled music issue & none of the updates to date have addressed this issue . I spent an hour on the phone with Apple care to be told it was a copyright issue & therefore my problem.

unfortunately I’m not at all savvy with tec & needed AppleCare to care I mean really how hard can it be to apologise & say the bugs are still being sorted.....well I expect they are being sorted as well as the emails doubling up.

Bob Foss

Level 1

51 points

Oct 31, 2019 10:07 AM in response to spridel

Still using iTunes as I have not updated to Catalina because of the album art issues. I am low-tech, a senior, don't have a smartphone, just an iPod Touch, but am able to get high-def artwork when Apple boxsets mixup my artwork, which is what often happens when you synch over WiFi with Apple Music or iTunes. I was really upset when they changed one-third of my album artwork. Now that I got it all sorted out, I'm reluctant to move to Catalina. iTunes will be with us for quite awhile as Apple is leaving is for PCs. Thanks.

Nov 3, 2019 10:21 AM in response to StuartDMT

IOS 13.2 now installed on my iPhone 6plus and 7plus but the album art is just missing for so many of my songs. In fact i sync only playlists as i have limited memory on my phones for music and even the playlists are not appearing the same on the MacBook and on the phone. It is really quite horrible having to face these issues.

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iOS 13 Music App album art is incorrect.