iPhone no-longer syncs "Last played" data or "Plays" data from the phone to my Windows iTunes program.

JohnnyLynskey,

Thank you for clarifying.

First let's restart both devices, even though this is a simple step it may help:

How to restart your iPhone X, 11, 12, or 13

1. Press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power-off slider appears.
2. Drag the slider, then wait 30 seconds for your device to turn off. If your device is frozen or unresponsive, force restart your device.
3. To turn your device back on, press and hold the side button (on the right side of your iPhone) until you see the Apple logo.

As outlined here: Restart your iPhone

If the issue persists, can you provide a few more details? Are you an Apple Music subscriber? Does this happen while streaming songs, with downloaded songs, or both? Also, you mentioned this happened recently, was anything changed recently?

Cheers!

• Click on the phone icon at the top of the iTunes window once it is seen in iTunes:

• that will display the Device/Settings/Summary pane. Now select the Device/Settings/Music option (1.):

• tick (check) the Sync Music box (2.)
• in step 3, select either:
  • Sync entire music library - which will add all the ticked (checked) songs in your iTunes (note, you will not see section 4 if you choose this option)
  • Sync selected playlists, artists, albums and genres - which then displays everything in section 4, where you can choose which items to add to the phone
  • click on the Sync (or Apply) button in the lower right corner of the window (not shown in the screenshots)
  • safely disconnect the phone from iTunes (the eject icon, which replaces the double arrows (just above the battery icon) when the sync is complete

JohnnyLynskey wrote:

The library transferred ok but the problem persists.

Don't forget that when you connect the iPhone to the new computer you need to set up Sync options between iTunes and that specific device. If you don't, then Play Counts and Last Played are not synchronised to iTunes.

However, you also need to take into account that when you connect the iPhone to the new iTunes Library it will warn you that if you sync the phone with this new Library, all the media on the phone will be removed and the only thing to go back on it will be what is in the new library. Be aware of this because if you have media (music) on your phone that is not in the new library, you will lose it.

Of course, lost music should be recoverable:

• • from a backup, if you have one
  • purchases from the iTunes Store, sign into your account from the new iTunes and download old purchases from there
  • purchases from other online retailers, download them again from your account with that store
  • from CDs, re-rip from the CD again
  • other sources, go back to that source

Greetings JohnnyLynskey, 

Do you notice that the play count changes when you play the song on your computer? That would let us know whether the play count is updating at all. 

Do you notice this happens with all music as a whole from your iPhone or does it seem to matter how that music is played? For example, with headphones versus via CarPlay. 

Thanks. 

JohnnyLynskey wrote:

iTunes version is up to date (Version 12.10.11.2, which is the latest available for my Windows version)

iPhone version is up to date (iPhone 11 running on iOS 15.5)

Something isn't right there. I was under the impression that a device running iOS 15 cannot talk to iTunes 12.10.11.2. In fact, I believe that iOS 15 requires iTunes 12.12.0.6 or higher.

Therefore, if your computer is running iTunes 12.10.11.2 and the device is running iOS 15.5, you should consider yourself lucky that you are managing to achieve anything.

iTunes 12.10.11.2 is the last version of iTunes that works on Windows 7 (or Windows 8). Apple's message when you check for updates is misleading: instead of telling you that your iTunes is up to date, it should state that it is up to date for the version of Windows that you are using. I think though, that you are already aware of this because you mention "Version 12.10.11.2, which is the latest available for my Windows version".

To summarise; to use your iPhone with iOS 15 on it with iTunes, you have to use a later version of iTunes, which means using Windows 10.

JohnnyLynskey,

Thanks for the update. At this point, we suggest you contact Apple Support so that they can look into this with you further.

Thanks.

Not that I know of. If a Sync takes place, then both the Last Played and the number of plays should be copied back to iTunes.

JohnnyLynskey,

That is great that Apple Support was able to help you resolve your issue.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Community.

Best!