Has this issue really not been resolved? I have only ever created playlists manually and dragged music from my computer to the phone… I change music very often and do not use the music/itunes app on the computer at all -- and I do not want to be forced to, to use music on my phone...
Hello?
I have been using iTunes all along… I only very recently updated to Big Sur.
I never checked the automatically sync box for music. As I recall, my process instead was to create a new playlist, into which I would drag my audio files.
Ah HA! I've identified my mistake… In discovering how to use the Finder now as the way to sync/back up my iPhone, I was somehow assuming that I should be able to sync my music from within that same "backup environment," and I got frustrated when pressing the Music tab and not being able to add music there.
Never having used the Music app before on my computer, it didn't cross my mind that that was the place to do it...
I'm an idiot. But I did figure it out! ;-)
The only way I know of is this:
Use the Finder to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with your computer - Apple Support
How have you been doing it?
Hello, JRBeall.
Thank you for contributing to Apple Support Communities. We want to help you manage the music on your devices the way that works the best for you! You mentioned that you don't want to use the Music app or iTunes on your computer to manage the music on your iPhone, but you would prefer to continue dragging your music from your computer to the iPhone.
Apple has always supported using Music or iTunes to manage the music on your iOS/iPadOS devices as outlined in the "Add items to iPhone, iPad, or iPod" section here: iTunes User Guide for PC - Apple Support
If you're not using iTunes or Music, how have you been dragging music to your iPhone in the past?
Cheers.
JRBeall,
Thank you for clarifying and taking the time to let us know you found the resolution! Please don't hesitate to drop a line here in Apple Support Communities if you need help adjusting to the changes in the newer macOS version.
Warmest Regards.
Okay, I'm back… and confused again.
I'm digging a little deeper into trying to use the Music app on my computer to create and manage new playlists on my iPhone, but weirdly, all I see within the Music app is a long list of old playlists that have not been on my phone in years. To be clear, this is under the heading on the left that says Playlists. None of the (very few) current playlists actually ON my phone are amongst those listed.
When I click on my phone's name under Devices, just above Playlists on the left… then I am able to see all the individual song files that are in fact on my phone right now. And I am able to view them by Title, Artist, Album, etc… But I am NOT able to see any of my actual playlists when in this Device/phone access space...
Do I have to manually delete all the old and now meaningless playlist in the left column to get rid of them? And then, perhaps recreate new playlists there? (I've not tried that yet, but I'm guessing this may be the only place to do so)...
I seem to be being encouraged to use Autofill? I still see no naturally intuitive place to continue to create and maintain my playlists manually...
Help?
JRBeall,
You can sync content from your computer to your iPhone, but it doesn't reverse sync from your iPhone to your computer. It sounds like you may be seeing the playlists that you've created in your iTunes Music Library on your various computers throughout the years. If any of the playlists were modified on your computer after being synced to your iPhone (e.g. a name change, content added or removed, etc.) those changes wouldn't be reflected on your iPhone, so you may see some differences.
If you want to get rid of the old playlists you will need manually delete them, but make sure that the songs in the playlists are also showing in your library (the list of all songs) first. Generally, deleting a playlist doesn't delete the songs in the playlist from your library unless the playlist was added with the option to not add the included songs to your library.
Create, edit, and delete playlists in Music on Mac - Apple Support
You may find it helpful to reach out to Apple Support for more advanced help with managing your music library. If Apple Support has the ability to screen share with you, you may find it advantageous to reach out for more advanced support.
Good luck!
I am not trying to sync from my phone to the computer. Let me try to be more clear:
I am trying to create playlists for my phone. I've found that I CAN do this ON my phone, after transferring music to the phone via the new Music app in Big Sur… But this is much less convenient than the way I used to do it.
The way I used to do it was to create a playlist in iTunes, and then populate it by adding my desired songs, directly into said playlist in iTunes which then, automatically synced to my phone in just the way I had created them.
It is THAT sort of convenience and workflow that I'm trying to find. I hope that makes more sense… and I hope that a similarly way of working is still possible -- but if it is, I have yet to find it.
I want to sync music manually using Big Sur to my iPhone 12
