I have an iphone with 256 GB of storage but I cannot use it for downloaded music. Why not?

Why can I not use my 256 GB of storage in my iphone 11 Pro for downloaded music?

iPhone 11 Pro

Posted on Jul 3, 2020 9:15 AM

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Posted on Jul 3, 2020 10:13 AM

so you are downloading music from the music app or previously purchased music with the iTunes app?

you don't allocate memory specifically for music. if space is available, it can be used for music.

if you go to settings, general, iPhone storage you can see what you have available on your phone and it will categorize all your storage. You can also see how much space each app is taking up.

if downloading is hung, make sure you are connected to wifi.. maybe do a hard restart on your phone

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/force-restart-iphone-iph8903c3ee6/ios


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 3, 2020 10:13 AM in response to motoboy11

so you are downloading music from the music app or previously purchased music with the iTunes app?

you don't allocate memory specifically for music. if space is available, it can be used for music.

if you go to settings, general, iPhone storage you can see what you have available on your phone and it will categorize all your storage. You can also see how much space each app is taking up.

if downloading is hung, make sure you are connected to wifi.. maybe do a hard restart on your phone

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/force-restart-iphone-iph8903c3ee6/ios


Jul 3, 2020 11:46 AM in response to motoboy11

no, you don't have to have an Apple Music subscription to download music you already purchased.. I was just responding to the question you asked about how/where to see the 'optimize storage' option.

I would suggest again (not sure if you tried it after I originally suggested) to try a hard reboot of your phone.

Then if you think this is related to storage space, go to settings, iPhone storage.. give it a minute to load everything up. Does your phone show plenty of available space?

Are you connected to a good wifi signal? You may have to change something in settings if you are trying to download over cellular data.

Now that the phone has been rebooted and you're on wifi.. can you try the download again?

Also curious, are you attempting to download from the iTunes app or from the Music app? I subscribe to Apple Music so I can download from either place..


Jul 3, 2020 11:25 AM in response to Chris0107

Do I now have to have an Apple Music subscription?? All of my music library was purchased from iTunes. I could download it onto my previous iphones 5 and 6. I cannot find an Icloud Music Library switch. One article I found says this:

This wikiHow teaches you how to disable your iCloud Music Library on an iPhone, iPad, or computer. iCloud Music Library is only available if you have an Apple Music subscription, and turning it off will remove any downloaded Apple Music songs from your current item (e.g., your iPhone).


I have downloaded about 50 of my songs to local storage in my new 11 Pro, but it won't allow me to download any more, and it gives me no messages as to why.

Jul 3, 2020 10:02 AM in response to kb1951

I have downloaded about 50 songs from my library to local storage in my new 256 GB iphone 11 Pro and it has just stopped downloading. It just sits there with the little circle spinning around. I cannot tell how much storage I should have available for music. I cannot find a place to adjust such storage. And I cannot find a place to choose Optimize Storage, which, if I could find it, might give me options.

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I have an iphone with 256 GB of storage but I cannot use it for downloaded music. Why not?

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