I have an iPhone XS Max, I create all my playlists on my phone. When I sync with iTunes my playlist's have songs removed from them. So a playlist with 200 songs will have 187 after sync. Why is this happening?
iPhone is up to date, as is iTunes
iPhone XS Max, iOS 15
Are the songs that get removed from the Playlist in your iTunes Library?
If you have songs on your phone that you purchased from the iTunes Store, directly on the phone, then your iTunes Library will need to be signed into the same account that you used to buy the music on the phone. You may need to tap a download option to add the songs to your Library, or iTunes may do it automatically. I rarely use the iTunes Store, which is why I'm not sure on this point.
If the missing songs came from somewhere else (other than the iTunes Store), a Sync between the phone and iTunes will not add them to the iTunes Library. Instead, you need to download the songs from your original source to your computer and then add them to your iTunes Library (using iTunes' command File/Add File (or Folder) to Library. Once you do that, at the next Sync, iTunes will effectively remove the copy from the phone but add the copy that's now in the Library. So same song, but a different copy. You will lose Play Counts, Last Played and song rating and of course, it will not be in the Playlist that you created until you add it to the Playlist.
Are the songs that get removed from the Playlist in your iTunes Library?
If you have songs on your phone that you purchased from the iTunes Store, directly on the phone, then your iTunes Library will need to be signed into the same account that you used to buy the music on the phone. You may need to tap a download option to add the songs to your Library, or iTunes may do it automatically. I rarely use the iTunes Store, which is why I'm not sure on this point.
If the missing songs came from somewhere else (other than the iTunes Store), a Sync between the phone and iTunes will not add them to the iTunes Library. Instead, you need to download the songs from your original source to your computer and then add them to your iTunes Library (using iTunes' command File/Add File (or Folder) to Library. Once you do that, at the next Sync, iTunes will effectively remove the copy from the phone but add the copy that's now in the Library. So same song, but a different copy. You will lose Play Counts, Last Played and song rating and of course, it will not be in the Playlist that you created until you add it to the Playlist.
Then I'm (almost) out of ideas, but the two suggestions below are both longshots.
First of all, there has been an issue for a while of erratic (or incomplete) syncing, but usually, the symptom is that songs are not copied from the iTunes Library to the device. But it may simply be that no one else has posted here, even though they experience the same symptoms as you. Check the reply that fellow user turingtest2 gave to someone, in which he brings up the matter of erratic syncing, to see if that helps you: I can transfer a playlist from iTunes to … - Apple Community
My only other idea concerns Smart Playlists:
As far as I'm aware, you can only create Regular Playlists on the phone, whereas in an iTunes Library, it's also possible to create Smart Playlists, which can automatically add and remove songs from the playlist, according to the rules of the list.
A Smart Playlist might explain the behaviour that you're experiencing, but as stated, I don't think it's possible to create them on a phone - unless it's a new feature with iOS 13 or later, which is why I mention all this.
To check: look at the Playlist in your iTunes Library and using the screenshot below as your guide, decide which type of icon is shown next to the Playlists in question.
It should be the Regular Playlist type. If it's a Smart Playlist (and I'll be very surprised if it is), post back for more assistance.
It's not ringing any obvious bells as something I've encountered, but I wonder if the issue is that some of the purchases already exist on the iPhone before you sync the playlist to it. If so the tracks from your library might not be synced, changing the makeup of the synced list, which might then copy back to the library in the amended form. Cleaning the purchases from the device before syncing the list from your library might just work.
tt2
Yes, all songs removed from playlist are still in library and can be added back to playlist after sync. All songs are purchased from iTunes store on phone. Also, songs removed are not all newly downloaded songs, some I have had in my library for years. and they all appear on both iPhone and PC library.
I appreciate your help. All my playlists are regular and not the smart playlists. I would try turingtest2 method, though this has been an issue for me for several years and multiple phones, so I don't know that a restore from backup will help.
Maybe, as I rarely use or even launch iTunes unless I want to add a song that isn’t available on iTunes for purchase. So I could see the song from the last 8 months not being downloaded on the PC end of things.
Okay, it was worth a shot.
Sorry that I couldn't be more help.
Playlist altered after sync
