iPhone keeps syncing same songs

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Level 1

9 points

iPhone keeps syncing same songs

Hi,

I regularly remove songs from my iPhone 6s (running iOS 14.4), mostly because I don't have enough room on there to cater for the various albums I want to listen to over time. In the past, once in a while I'd add a new album to it and it would sync every single album I've ever had on it in the past. This was pretty tedious as I'd then have to go on and manually remove them all. However, it's now gone past tedious to the stage of unusability, firstly because it does this every time I add music to my phone, and secondly because I've now added more music than my phone's capacity, therefore it fills up and tells me it can't add any more (usually before the new album I've added has completed).

I've uninstalled and reinstalled Music on my iMac to no success. Is there anything I can do to stop it syncing the 1000+ songs I've had on there before every time I want to add any new music? I've also tried doing it through Finder, and the same thing happens every time too. Now basically at the point where I can't actually add new music to my phone.

All the songs are still visible when I click on my iPhone in the Music app on my Mac, which basically makes it look like my Mac thinks they're still on it. Ctrl click doesn't give me an option to remove them or anything.

I really, really don't want to restore my phone to factory because I have a number of apps which will be a pain in the arse to get reinstalled (banking, crypto wallets, etc.). Hoping there's actually a way of sorting this out that's simple!

Thanks

edit: I've just taken a peek at some other threads using a Google search and it seems like numerous other people have been having this problem for years now! How on Earth has a simple error like this not been ironed out by this point?!

Posted on May 29, 2021 5:12 AM

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Answer 1

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

May 30, 2021 9:15 AM in response to enofa

Hi enofa,

Thanks for reaching out about syncing music from your Mac to your iPhone. We can help with this. In order to choose which music to sync to your iPhone, you'll need to make the right selection in Finder.

Follow these steps (especially number 4-8) in this article:

"Sync music between your Mac and iPhone or iPad

4 Select the “Sync music onto [device name]” checkbox to turn on syncing of your music.

With the checkbox selected, syncing is set to transfer all your music to your device.

5 To sync a selection of music, click “Selected playlist, artists, albums, and genres.”

6 Select the checkbox for the individual items you want to sync in the music list. Deselect the checkbox for any item you don’t want to sync.

7 Click Artists, Albums, Genres, or Playlists to see your content organized by that category.

Select syncing options:

Select the “Include videos” checkbox to include videos when syncing.

Select the “Include voice memos” checkbox to include voice memos when syncing

Select the “Automatically fill free space with songs” checkbox to have your Mac fill the free space on your device with songs when syncing. Use this option if you have a large music library on your Mac but don’t have room to sync all of your music to your device. This option syncs as many songs as possible.

8 When you’re ready to sync, click Apply."

Take Care.

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Answer 2

mingoslkd

Community Specialist

Jun 20, 2021 7:24 AM in response to enofa

Hi,

The Other category is managed by the system and will be deleted as space is needed. There isn't a way to manually delete what is stored there. If it's working to sync the music, we recommend using this method.

You can also subscribe to Apple Music and your music will sync via Wi-Fi and you won't need to sync with your computer any longer.

Turn on Sync Library with Apple Music

Cheers.

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Answer 3

enofa Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 15, 2021 4:05 AM in response to Leanne_68

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. I've tried this and found it partially useful, as most of the time it works. However, sometimes when I uncheck an album or artist to remove it from my phone on next Sync, I notice the storage bar simply changes: the amount of data in Audio goes down, and the amount of data in Other goes up, meaning the files are not being deleted, but simply moved to Other. I now have 7GB of Other data - a lot of which appears to be this moved music data - meaning I can add even less music than before to my phone.

If you have any solutions on how to resolve this please let me know!

Ross

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Answer 4

enofa Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 20, 2021 7:37 AM in response to mingoslkd

Mine doesn't seem to be deleting space 'as needed' - I can now only add three or four albums to my phone before it says it's full, despite the fact that I'm constantly removing photos and web data regularly - and the only time the other category seems to grow is when I remove music.

When you say subscribe to Apple Music, are you suggesting I pay a monthly fee as a solution to my phone not working efficiently?? Or have I misunderstood?

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Answer 5

1ssmith

Community Specialist

Jun 20, 2021 8:08 AM in response to enofa

Hi,

Since iPhones have a limited amount of storage space, it's expected that the storage will fill up over time. Files will move to the Other category when necessary by the system. This is also expected behavior.

As a different solution to this particular issue, a subscription to Apple Music could help free up space. It's not necessary to get this subscription, but may help.

If you still need help, you may want to Contact Apple Support.

Take care.

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iPhone keeps syncing same songs

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