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

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

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.


  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

192 replies

Dec 16, 2019 12:15 PM in response to unrealprox

Honestly guys the best will be for Apple to fix this issue. BecauE we are loosing to much energy and time to try to fix a bug that comes probably from the software.

usually Apple is kind of listening what we are feebacking them.

However if they take to long some of us might really get mad and get rid of their Apple profucts.

is there any Apple staff that can provide an answer ?

Even a «  we are aware of this issue we are working on it ... » will do.

Jan 5, 2020 8:14 PM in response to StuartDMT

I have encountered this same problem now on both my iPhone XR and my new iPad 128 6th gen. The music is correct in all the playlists, but as one writer said, about one-third of the albums/playlists have the incorrect artwork. I’ve tried all the corrections mentioned on the internet to no avail. Come on Apple! Ever since you caved to the Russians on the Crimea in Maps, you have dropped the ball. We all expect a quick fix. It was so bad, that in trying to fix these problems, I connected the devices to my iMac, only to discover that iTunes help was in the Russian language. What’s going on at Apple? Tim

Jan 22, 2020 1:03 PM in response to StuartDMT

Following up on my post from November. I'm pretty upset that this hasn't been resolved yet- I work in tech (Palo Alto) so I fully understand that regressions can and will happen. However, this bug was introduced in iOS13, and we are now on iOS 13.3 (4 months later) without a fix. How can we escalate this? I feel like the least I can do is post again and show that there are a good number of loyal iTunes / Apple Music customers who are genuinely upset that A) we saw a regression, but more so B) the regression hasn't been fixed 1/3 of a calendar year later. I currently feel like Apple's b*st*rd child despite all these years of loyalty :(

Jan 22, 2020 1:27 PM in response to aclaiborne19

I’m so disappointed as well, so much so I’m considering another brand. I’m wondering if it has something to do with the new Apple Music as it looks like to me, we are being encouraged onto that & ergo, we have to start paying for our own music per month. Maybe then our music would not be jumbled. I’m not tec savvy but very cynical. I was treated appallingly by two ‘Apple care’ staff on the phone about this situation...they blamed me! (Previous post awhile ago) I think we are being arrogantly ignored. I won’t be updating my iPhone until this is fixed.

Jan 22, 2020 2:05 PM in response to roslyn227

I am writing again about the jumbled album art as a result of IOS 13. I agree with the two previous posts that it seems as if Apple almost abandoned us with our jumbled iTunes mess. iTunes was once the industry leader in music organization and innovation, but now it seems it has become too much of a bother for Apple to be worried about those of us who are NOT subscribers to Apple Music. It’s bad for business to leave this gaping flaw go unfixed for so long. Attention and care has always been Apples key to the market. Now it appears that Apple has shifted its priorities to some other endeavors. I have been an Apple guy since my first Apple IIe. I still am but the luster has worn off. I’m starting to think that future purchases will include consideration of other product lines due to Apples lack of due diligence and response with this IOS ITunes issue along with other signs of Apples lack of responsiveness to its loyal customers. Please Apple, get back on track. This shabby lack of service on this issue is making you look bad to loyal consumers.

Feb 14, 2020 9:12 AM in response to StuartDMT

Apple come on give this some priority already! Really stinks to buy a brand new iphone 11 and while it corrected some issues I had with my iphone 7 which you never fixed, it completely obliterated my album art, as far as the folders are concerned. It makes it hard to find albums I want to listen to when all the art is mixed up from playlist to playlist. Come on have a heart! This is probably some minor bungle on your part, and could be fixed relatively easy if you'd just spend 5 minutes on it. I guess you have bigger fish to fry by adding more bells and whistles to apps that know one cares about. Come on and fix it already! My organizational efforts in Itunes over the years of my massive collection of mp3's is the only reason why I still buy your phone. I admit I'm lazy and don't want to put the effort in on rebuilding my playlists for Android, and your product is supposed to just work! hahaha we all know that's a lie. I'm getting to the point where I might just deal with android if you can't fix minor problems like this or don't care any more. Peace out!

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iOS 13 Music App album art is incorrect.

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