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Editing iPhone playlists on a Mac

I have several playlists on my iPhone. In the past, if you connect the iPhone to the Mac and open iTunes, you could "see" the playlists and edit them. Now, using Music (after first going to a Finder window and "Trusting" the device), the playlists don't show up. There's no way to edit them or even see them. I'm reading that I need to turn on iCloud to access my playlists? But I don't use iCloud. I own all my music and it is stored on my Mac. What is the deal?


Posted on Mar 31, 2021 7:25 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 1, 2021 7:53 AM

Hi George Hulseman,


We're glad you've reached out for help with this issue editing your playlists using the Music app. We're glad to help in any way we can!


Rest assured, it remains possible to view and edit your playlists in Music on Mac, then sync with your iPhone. We've got a great resource to share with you that goes over all options. Let us know if you've got any questions:


Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod using your computer - Apple Support


Have a great day!

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3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 1, 2021 7:53 AM in response to George Hulseman

Hi George Hulseman,


We're glad you've reached out for help with this issue editing your playlists using the Music app. We're glad to help in any way we can!


Rest assured, it remains possible to view and edit your playlists in Music on Mac, then sync with your iPhone. We've got a great resource to share with you that goes over all options. Let us know if you've got any questions:


Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod using your computer - Apple Support


Have a great day!

Apr 2, 2021 3:25 PM in response to turingtest2

Apparently, I have two strikes against me. 1) I still connect my various iPhones and iPods to my Mac using a USB cable and 2) I own my own music, which means I have no reason ever to connect to the iCloud. I'm still operating by Apple's original strategy to use the Mac as the mother ship to connect to various devices. But this is increasingly difficult. I


As you say, Apple's changes to iTunes (now Music) make it more challenging—if not impossible—to "manually manage" content. There is still a "manually manage" option, but I don't think it does anything. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


After much trial and error, I settled on the following solution. Select "Sync Music to UserName's iPhone" with the "Selected Artists, Albums, Genres, Playlists" option. This of course erases all content on the device. You then can go into the Music app on the Mac and copy your music to the device. You can also create playlists and sync them. This is not a bad approach, per se, though not intuitive. This approach requires you to use Music and the Finder, whereas before you could manage content on your device using iTunes alone. Also, as far as I can tell, you can never "see" playlists on your iPhone or iPod through the Mac.


It's a strange new world and I'm just a dinosaur. I still think the iPod was one of Apple's most amazing inventions ever. I still own a classic iPod and an iPod Shuffle. But most people don't use iPods any more. They stream content from their iPhones.


Editing iPhone playlists on a Mac

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