Cloud Library (Apple Music) not syncing properly from Mac to iOS/iPadOS devices

Me too. Issue appears to be fixed with MacOS 12.4.

Hooray.

Both star ratings & album artwork changed on my Mac are updating to iPadOS and iOS devices.

I have the exact problem as yours and I thought it was just me! I have a case opened with Apple for almost a month now. I started noticing the issue early this year (early Jan) and also noticed that it was fixed for a short time around late Jan but re-surfaced after that. The workaround - by restarting your Mac works for me. But imagine, early on I have edited thousands of my songs metadata only to be reverted after a cloud sync.

And also I noticed it's not just the song's metadata that is not being saved, but also the order of the songs in the playlist.

I updated to 12.4. As far as the music app.

Ratings now seem to stick. Addition and deletions to playlists seem to stick.

Also if I add metadata such as song "grouping" that seems to be okay.

Previously that information was likely to just revert back to information stored on the cloud.

However, items such as "last played" and the number of plays are still not updating. That bothers me because I like to see that information—and it suggests there still is some underlying problem.

I've been using iTunes as a workaround, and iTunes runs perfectly fine.

Thios was fixed in Monterey 12.2 ...so if not syncing I would make sure sync switched on and also try signing out and in again one by one

The upgrade to MacOs 12.4 seems to have solved the issue for me :-)

Try updating your Mac to Monterey version 12.2 that came out recently. Changes to star ratings and playlists on my Mac have been synching to my iPhone since upgrading.

Of course, it may have been just because the update forces a reboot. I'll try synching star ratings tomorrow and see if it really is fixed.

I have dealt with this issue for a few years now. Interestingly, in recent months I've anecdotally concluded that the issue is likely in the iTunes Library local to the machine - in my case, a 2017 MacBook Pro.

I have multiple Macs in my house, and I began using the Music app on my kids' 2021 iMac. When logged into my iTunes/iCloud account on their iMac, I can edit/make edits to my library - track metadata, playlists, etc., and the changes take effect in the cloud, immediately transferring to my iOS devices (iPhone 13 Pro).

I suspect there's a localized file on my workhorse, MacBook Pro that has aged, corrupted data - i.e., perhaps a plist or something of the sorts?

Full disclosure: I'm not a technical expert - just an enthusiast.

Any new theories based on my experience?

Oh my....I discovered thiis issue after upgrading to Monterey too approximately a month ago. Took a weekend to work out what was going on as was making multiple music changes that weekend.....Got onto Apple Support and filed the bug which took like forever

A few weeks back it seemed temporarily to get better but now back to square one. I've tried all the fixes. Like the itunes Match issue last year, once again we seem to need to wait for Apple to resolve it....what is is with Apple the cloud/iTunes match and the music app...problem after problem after problem over the years!!!!!!!!!

Essentially the issue is that nearly all changes you make to tracks synced to the cloud on the Mac are reverted at next sync unless it is the first sync. The only way you can make changes is on the phone/ipad side where they are lead, however you can't change ratings there and titles and so forth as everyone knows.

The only fix I've found is to delete the track on the phone side then again on the Mac, then re- import it to the Mac make all necessary changes then resync to the cloud i.e update cloud library and then it sticks as it is the first time...total pain in the ***.

Come on Apple sort it out soon please!!!

Here's something that works for me for a while. Instead of rebooting my iMac, I log out (Apple Menu > Log Out <username>...), then log back in. Star ratings changes in Mac Music show up right away on my iPhone after this.

I don't know how long this will stick. I'll try updating metadata again in the morning to see if syncing still works.

Restarting your computer in safe mode fixes this problem.

Hi danis039,

We understand you're experiencing an issue with Sync Library. We would recommend the steps in the following article that may help:

If songs are missing from your music library after you turn on Sync Library

After trying those steps, if the issue remains we recommend that you reach out to Apple Support directly. Please reach out here:

Get Support

Hope this helps!

Have a great day.

Yes we are not alone silvertruck - see also this thread of the same-

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253505541

and my history is almost identical to yours.

In summary once tracks have been uploaded to the cloyd i can only make any subsequent changes/additions on the iphone - ipad and not the Mac...it's a total ball ache as on the ipad-iphone only a few changes can be made.

The only work around is to delete said track from the library on the phone then edit the remaining local copy in the Music app on the Mac then re add to library!!!

I believe Monterey is to blame.

Same problem here fella, lost 6 hours of work!!!!!!

My current workaround is going online https://music.apple.com/ and making the needed changes.

HUGE TURNOFF APPLE! So close to switching!

Best from Germany

The RC for the next version of Monterey was made available yesterday to those people testing the unreleased versions of Monterey. Delighted to report that i am no longer experiecning the sync issue, looks like a solution to this issue is days away now