These are songs in my iTunes library that I did not sync with my iPhone. As far as I can tell they're in the cloud, so not taking up space. They are, however, cluttering the iPhone Music library — and I want them gone. Is there a way? I don't want iCloud syncing, just USB to my Mac's iTunes.
iPhone 13 Pro
Songs don’t sync to iCloud. Any songs you have bought from iTunes can be downloaded if you have deleted them. But only iTunes purchases, or, if you subscribe to Apple Music, songs you have listened to.
Thanks for that. But what I really want to know is how I remove these unwanted songs from my phone's Music library.
I've tried deleting the entire app and reinstalling it but that kills only the music which I actually want on the phone. My guess is Apple may see this a feature, i.e. if I want to play something I haven't pulled from iTunes I can download it again directly from Apple. If I did want to do that it would be convenient. But I don't, so it's an annoyance.
Again, is there a way to delete these unwanted songs from the iPhone's Music library?
Thanks again, Lawrence. I see a category Recently Added. I assume if I scroll down I should find Downloaded? But all I find is Recently Added, and everything is together there. The only difference is that the ones I bought from Apple have a down(load) arrow. There is the option under "…" to delete them but that comes with a warning that if I delete from the Library I'll be deleting them from all devices.
I'm obviously missing something.
Did you actually tap the Downloaded view that appears on the Library page after you checked Downloaded?
In the Music app tap Library, then Downloaded.
At the top of the Library screen tap Edit, then check Downloaded to add the category to the Library screen.
You are very patient, and I thank you gain. I've found and put a check mark next to Downloaded, and relaunched the app for good measure. No difference. All the unwanted stuff is still there.
No I didn't. I'm terrible with discoverability. Anyway it works and I thank you again.
You’re welcome; glad it worked out.
Unwanted songs in my iPhone's music app
