Remove songs from playlist but not library

I have yet to figure out how to do it from my PC but on an iPhone do this:

• open your Playlist
• select the 3 dots upper right
• select Edit
• scroll down to song you wish to delete
• select the minus sign on left side
• select Delete - this removes song from Playlist only (not Library)

Hi reid172,

Thank you for posting in Apple Support Communities. From our understanding, when you attempt to remove a song from a specific playlist it remove the song from your library completely, is that correct? How are you deleting it? Are you selecting the 3 dots at the top right, selecting "Edit" and then selecting the minus sign next to the song instead of selecting the song and selecting "Delete From Library"?

Check out the steps in the user guide under the section titled " Edit a playlist you created on iPhone": Create playlists on iPhone.

Hope that helps!

Hi! I had the same problem. iPhone 12, latest software update, and Apple Music subscription. I couldn’t remove songs from my playlist without it deleting, but I found a solution. Hit “edit” under the menu in the top right corner and then you can use the red circle or swipe left to remove a song from your playlist without removing it from your library. Hope this helps!

I have the same understanding. Apple removed functionality on mobile to remove specific songs from playlists without removing them from the library. This was previously possible mobile. Now it's not and what looks like the same feature achieves what it is I'm trying to avoid: remove song from library.

I did this and then had to spend a few hours recovering music as normac0_0 describes below.

Would be great if this capability could be added back to mobile. Having to manage playlists on desktop devices only is a step backwards for the service.

I’m so glad I found this post after deleting a bunch of my music. I found the answer, although I can only figure out how to solve it in a computer. You have to UNHIDE the music.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208167#unhide

Okay, on iOS you can go to the iTunes Store app. Scroll way down to the bottom and click on your Apple ID. Then once you authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID you will see a menu. One of the options is “Hidden Purchases” and under that menu you will see all of the music you purchased that is not visible in your library. You can unhide them by clicking the cloud download icon or just click “Unhide All.” Hope it works for you!

I had the same problem and I had been changing things around in my playlists without realising I was completely deleting songs. I have no way of getting them back but I have worked out how to at least fix it.

Just pressing the 3 dots doesn’t work neither does holding the folder down. I created a Profile and just didn’t make it public and it gave me back the option to remove from just the playlist and the option to send playlists to people as mine was missing. (I also got the latest software update which I don’t know if that has anything to do with it)

Hope this helps :)

I had this problem too for like 5 months and then I was told they released the new update. Download that and things should be back to normal.

I agree though, not sure why they would mess with that feature in the first place.

I understand that clicking the three dots and editing the playlist will remove songs from specific playlists; however swiping left on songs within playlists BEFORE the update would do this more efficiently. Now that they replaced the word ‘Delete’ with the trash bin icon, I assumed it would be the same effect but NO! I went through a couple of weeks before realising I was deleting songs from my library !!

Why would they remove such an efficient feature?? Who in their right mind would think that people would want to remove songs entirely from one specific playlist!

Exactly - removing a song from my library altogether is a significant action and should be harder to do. Make me tap through the three dots menu for that. Simply removing a song from a playlist isn’t near as extreme, so the input should be simpler, a simple swipe (like it used to be before the update).

I have no idea how to get these songs back now. When I go into the iTunes Store the affected songs show as “purchased” if I search for them in the store, but they don’t show under my purchased song list in the “more” section. I have no idea how to get these songs back or even begin to identify which songs were deleted. Infuriating. Anyone have any idea?

Hey all! I had the same experience - here's what I did to re-download the songs:

First I figured out which songs I had deleted by noticing certain albums were missing tracks. I also tried to think about which playlists I edit a lot and what would be on them...

To re-download them, I had to search for the songs individually in the ITunes Store app on my phone. Once they showed up in search , I clicked the little price and authorized payment. Then I got a "you already bought this, click here to download again" message and downloaded from there!

Note that I could NOT re-download them from my purchases list or from finding the whole album in the ITunes Store! Only via searching for individual songs in the ITunes Store 😵‍💫😵‍💫 definitely some BS.

Anyways I hope this helps!

Sorry you didn’t have any luck trying that. I would message Apple Support at this point because I’m out of solutions. They’ve helped me with Apple Music problems before. Sorry I couldn’t be more help!

Because they don't care what we as customers want.

Frustrating!! I’d definitely contact them over the phone and try and get your money back !!