iphone playlists not displayed in Music on macbook pro

Question

iphone playlists not displayed in Music on macbook pro

I'm puzzled why I am unable to see playlists from within Music as they're set up on my iphone when it's connected by cable to my macbook and I'm manually managing my music. When I select the iphone from within the Music app, I see the SONGS on the phone in one big alphabetical list but I do not see the PLAYLISTS as I've organized them. If I drop a playlist from my macbook onto this same phone, it loads the songs, but it does not show them organized by playlist.

So, huh? This has to be a display setting, somewhere, right? I can't believe the Music app didn't follow through with the iTunes paradigm of organizing by playlist. If this is just "now the way it is" I'm just dumbfounded how music management in the Apple environment has become less and less intuitive and useful. Hopefully I'm just missing a preferences setting that I just can't find...

I have a macbook pro 16" 2019 running OS Big Sur 11.1 and an iphone 12 running OS 14.2.1. Music 1.1.2.28.

iphone is selected. Playlists on the left are those on the macbook. But right view, of the iphone, only shows alphabetical listing of songs... cannot be set up to show playlists on the iphone. Is this really the new music management paradigm?

MacBook

Posted on Dec 24, 2020 6:01 PM

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Answer 1

bailier

Community Specialist

Dec 27, 2020 10:48 AM in response to Stephen Guimond

Stephen,

Thank you for clarifying that for us. This would be expected behavior. Selecting your iPhone under the device list in Music will show the list by songs and not by playlist. You can submit feedback regarding this here: Product Feedback.

Take care!

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Answer 2

Dec 26, 2020 3:58 PM in response to Stephen Guimond

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. Sounds like the playlist may be hidden in the Music app on your iPhone. In the Music app > Library, if you select Edit at the top right, do you see the option to unhide Playlist?

Check out the User Guide here: View albums, playlists, and more in Music on iPhone for some visuals on what you should see and the steps on how to choose the categories you see in Apple Music.

Hope that helps!

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Answer 3

Dec 26, 2020 4:19 PM in response to Nicholas_B2

Thanks for the quick response.

Playlists are not hidden on my phone. Music app on my phone shows this:

But the Music app on my MacBook Pro with the iPhone connected by cable does not show these same playlists on my phone.

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Answer 4

Mar 14, 2021 11:37 AM in response to Stephen Guimond

Hello Stephen, I have this same problem since today after I upgraded to Big Sur. My iPhone playlists don't show on Apple Music on my Macbook Pro. Did you find a solution to fix this problem? I regret upgrading to Big Sur and think downgrading to Mojave might be the only solution to fix this problem.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

272,905 points

Mar 14, 2021 3:08 PM in response to Gatafreak

Music and Finder are less suited to manual management than iTunes before them. If you sync with selected playlists you move all the control into the library, then connect the device to update it with changes when you're ready. Granular control is exactly the same, and it is easier to rebuild your selection on the device if it ever needs to be restored or replaced.

tt2

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Answer 6

Jan 31, 2021 6:45 AM in response to bailier

I have this same problem and CANNOT BELIEVE that there is no solution to this. Apple Music is the very worst.

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iphone playlists not displayed in Music on macbook pro

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