Songs without album cover art won't play on my iPhone 12 Pro

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Level 1

4 points

Songs without album cover art won't play on my iPhone 12 Pro

Hi everyone

Today I encountered a really weird problem on my iPhone 12 after I synced my music from my computer to my phone. I have done this procedure for 10+ years and I've never experienced this before. I buy 95 % of my music - the rest are unreleased bootlegs etc. from Soundcloud and sometimes these downloads come with no album cover art.

In the picture below you'll see my "Recently added (Sidst tilføjet)" playlist on my iPhone and you'll see, that the songs with no album cover art are greyed out and I am not able to play them on my iPhone. The four greyed out songs at the bottom were bought on either Beatport or BandCamp on the 13th of January 2023 and I have the files on my computer and can play them without a problem on my computer - which should mean, that the files aren't corrupted in any way.

If I press one of the greyed out songs it shows a message in Danish that says (translated): "This song is not available in your country or area at the moment".

VPN? Apple ID country? It is worth nothing, that I am NOT using a VPN and my country is indeed set to the same it has always been (Denmark) in my Apple Music / Apple ID (this shouldn't affect these songs either as I didn't buy any of the greyed out songs on iTunes Store, I bought them on other music sites).

System info: I am using iTunes (I guess it's called "Music" now) version 1.2.5.7 on my 2017 15" MacBook Pro and the OS is Monterey version 12.6.2. My iPhone 12 is using iOS 16.2.

A bit unrelated: In general I think the new iTunes/Music app on my MacBook Pro is horrible - the new search function is so bad and the integration between searching in either your own music library or iTunes Store without being able to quickly switch between these two swiftly is making my everyday usage in iTunes super clumsy. As a professional producer and DJ, this is a big downgrade in the usability in iTunes, in my opinion.

I hope you guys can help me out!

Thank you!

Kind regards,

Rasmus

iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Jan 20, 2023 8:02 AM

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Answer 1

ManJor

Community Specialist

Jan 22, 2023 4:44 PM in response to rasmusk

Hi rasmusk,

To get started, we'd recommend restarting your iPhone, along with ensuring that the iPhone itself has the latest iOS version, since updates contain bug and security fixes for your device and can often resolve abnormal behavior. You can complete those steps using the articles below:

If that doesn't help, to resolve the issue we'd recommend trying to sync the content again to the device. You can create the sync by completing the steps listed here: Use the Finder to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with your computer - Apple Support that are also below.

"Sync or remove content using the Finder

Open a Finder window and connect your device to your computer using a USB cable. Learn what to do if you don't see your device listed in Finder.
After your device appears in the sidebar of the Finder window, click the device to select it.
If prompted, trust your device. You might be asked to update to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
Select the type of content that you want to sync or remove from the horizontal list. To turn syncing on for a content type, select the checkbox next to “Sync [content] onto [user’s] iPhone.” More syncing options will now be available.
Select the checkbox next to each item that you want to sync.
Click the Apply button in the lower-right corner of the window. If syncing doesn't start automatically, click the Sync button. You may also be prompted to authorize your computer to complete the sync."

We'd also recommend that you provide feedback regarding how you use Apple Music, including the search function using: Product Feedback - Apple

Best regards.

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Answer 2

rasmusk Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 26, 2023 11:09 AM in response to rasmusk

After a week since this happened, I found a slow fix today - but ultimately found an easier fix:

FIRST FIX

1) I removed the affected songs in my "Recently Added" completely from my Music library

2) I loaded them again from my computer into my Music Library

3) I re-synced my iPhone with my Music/iTunes library

However this would take several weeks to first remove -> then reload into Music/iTunes library -> and then sync with iPhone, so I tried something else:

SECOND FIX (Easiest way)

1) I connected my iPhone to my MacBook Pro and un-checked ALL my playlists on my phone (I don't think you have to un-check all, I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss any songs)

2) I synced my iPhone so it didn't have ANY of my music or playlists on it

3) I re-synced all my playlists with my iPhone in Music/iTunes

This worked! All the songs I couldn't play earlier that were greyed out are now able to play from my iPhone like they always have. Happy ending after all :)

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Answer 3

rasmusk Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 24, 2023 7:02 AM in response to ManJor

Thanks ManJor!

I have tried both of the suggested steps, but nothing has helped so far. I also updated the iOS to 16.3 today and nothing solved this.

I have submitted a bug report to the Apple Music team, I'm hoping for either a fix or an explanation.

I got the crazy thought that they might try and do this to limit any illegally downloaded songs from playing on people's iPhones. This would NOT be a smart way to do it though since files like WAV can't have any cover art attached to them hence making it impossible to play WAV files on an iPhone in the future if this is the case. However it's just me thinking out loud.

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Songs without album cover art won't play on my iPhone 12 Pro

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