Why do all my songs have a download icon next to them now?

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Level 1

22 points

Why do all my songs have a download icon next to them now?

I have an iPhone 7 with iOS 15, and am thinking of getting an iPhone 13. I was checking to see how many gb my current phone has, and was surprised to see so much free space available, considering I like to store 1000s of my fave songs on my phone as a backup. Then I remembered that nowadays it seems like my songs are no longer on my phone, somehow, and have a download icon (down arrow) next to them instead. I can still play them, but I would like to either have them on my phone for backup like they used to be, or some assurance that they are possibly on the cloud now.

I do not subscribe to Apple Music, but I do subscribe to iCloud+ with 200 GB of Storage.

iPhone 7, iOS 15

Posted on Oct 16, 2021 4:16 PM

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Answer 1

Brian_P7

Community Specialist

Oct 17, 2021 4:15 PM in response to Andvari

Hi Andvari,

We understand you have some concerns about how your music is being stored as you're thinking of upgrading your iPhone. If you don't subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, then you won't be able to store your music using iCloud.

Depending on where you got your music will depend on how you may retrieve them again when you decide to transfer to a new iPhone.

If your songs were purchased from the iTunes Store, then they'll be able stored within your Apple ID and available to redownload from your purchase history here: Redownload music

If you have songs that were downloaded elsewhere via a computer, you'll need to sync any new iPhones with the same computer again to retrieve the songs as they aren't transferrable between iPhones.

In addition, if you see a download icon next to your songs, this would mean that you're streaming your music rather than having them downloaded onto your iPhone to listen offline.

We hope this helps. Cheers.

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Answer 2

tgok23

Community Specialist

Oct 21, 2021 10:46 AM in response to Andvari

Andvari,

Thanks for the screenshot! It helps us understand what you're seeing. You've been fantastic to try and narrow down the issue with your storage.

As a next step, you can contact Apple Support for further assistance here: Contact Apple Support. The reason why is because they can dig into this further with you to see why your storage total isn't matching the device total. Also, why if the music you've already downloaded shows as needing to be downloaded, if this is still the case. This will help you understand what you'd actually need for storage for your new iPhone too.

Take care.

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Answer 3

Andvari Author

Level 1

22 points

Oct 23, 2021 5:02 PM in response to tgok23

Hi tgok23,

I called Apple Support today and they couldn't really answer the question to my satisfaction either.

They said that the arrow means that I have the option to download the songs (I have 1000s so I am not likely to press this arrow 1000+ times to go through the trouble.) I told them I wanted to have my songs actually on my iPhone as a backup in case my Mac were to fail or get stolen, I have an extra copy of all the music I have paid for over the years (digitized CDs, etc).

They said the music is on my phone but not in the Music app. I guess? I'm thinking: either the music is on my phone or it isn't. If I were to press that down arrow, where is the music getting downloaded from and to? Why should I have to download it if it is already on my phone?

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Answer 4

Andvari Author

Level 1

22 points

Oct 17, 2021 7:21 PM in response to Brian_P7

Hi Brian_P7,

Thanks for your reply. Most of my songs are ones I either bought digitally from various sources (Amazon, bandcamp, etc) or ripped myself from my own CDs.

Since I do not subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match or any streaming service, I am not sure how I am streaming the music. The only thing I can think of is I may have accidentally started a free trial of Apple Music. Would do that cause all my songs to disappear off my phone and only allow me to stream them instead?

I understand that when I get a new phone, I would be synching my music again off my Mac/iTunes. That much is expected. But when I do so, I would like the songs to actually go onto my phone. I don't want to be streaming anything.

The whole reason I was looking at this in the first place is I was trying to decide how much phone storage I need for an iPhone 13. I currently have 128 on my iPhone 7 and was hoping to find out how much space all my songs were taking up, when I discovered all the songs were not actually on my phone anymore. :(

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Answer 5

judysings

Community Specialist

Oct 18, 2021 7:11 PM in response to Andvari

Hi Andvari,

Thanks for the additional information. If you don't purchase your music from the iTunes Store or subscribe to Apple's services, the download icon next to your songs may be an indication that they are already downloaded onto your iPhone. Since you don't subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, you wouldn't have the ability to stream your music. You can double check this by going into your Music app > Library > Downloaded, to view the songs that are downloaded to your iPhone.

For reference: View albums, playlists, and more in Music on iPhone

Cheers.

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Answer 6

Andvari Author

Level 1

22 points

Oct 18, 2021 7:23 PM in response to judysings

Hi judysings,

it does look like all my songs are in fact downloaded on my phone then. I am just surprised they only take up 34.92 GB, per the Music Settings on the phone.

When I go to the Music app on my Mac and go to Sync settings, it says iPhone 7 - 120.85 GB (133.47 GB Available) which doesn't really make any sense to me considering my phone has 128GB capacity. The picture next to the sync button of what is taking up the space makes it looks like I am capacity on the phone, so I am not sure how I could have 133.47 GB available on a phone with a 128 GB capacity. But perhaps that is a questions for a different forum?

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Why do all my songs have a download icon next to them now?

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