Why is my iPhone sync stuck at "Determining tracks to sync" on MacBook Air?

Try this advice from that other thread:

.... remove the Music app from the device, which will also remove all data associated with it, then reinstall the Music app from the App Store, then see Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod using your computer - Apple Support to set up syncing from scratch.

It may also help to hold down option+cmd when launching Music which can rebuild various index files that could be used during sync operations.

tt2

If it plays in the Music app you should be able to sync it to your device. Apple's technical limitations on what it blocks are transferring Apple Music DRM content (obtained with the Apple Music service) and allowing purchases from a different Apple ID to be included in your iCloud Music Library if you have a subscription to Apple Music or iTunes Match. (There are a couple of other limitations, really big files high/low bit rates but not generally relevant).

If Apple Music, or rather Finder, isn't syncing content to your device which you've selected to sync then I don't think a patch from Apple is going to come any time soon. Use Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Music > Edit > All Songs > Delete to clean the content from the device and sync from scratch. You can try a more piecemeal approach, removing only the problem tracks, but I think that is likely more effort that its worth.

tt2

Holding down option+cmd when launching Music solved the problem for me. Thanks!

You can reinstall your operating system as a way of repairing the Music app.

You can hold down option as you launch Music to choose or create a new library.

If you've set up Time Machine you can potentially restore your Music library from a point in the recent past from before your think things went wrong with it.

Can you upgrade your Mac to Ventura?

tt2

Below Delete App should be a line that reads Music on the left and Edit on the right. Tap Edit and then the All Songs line below that should gain a minus symbol that can be tapped to remove all content (supposedly) stored on the device. After cleaning all of these references you should be able to cleanly sync from iTunes/Music. Failing that restore the device to factory settings, restore a backup, then reload your content.

Note if you are an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscriber and sync library is enabled on the device then Music would be expected to show all of your iCloud Music Library. Otherwise Music will normally show your unhidden purchase history ready to stream or download from the cloud. The steps above should have cleared any locally stored content, which would normally allow for successful syncing.

tt2

Turing Test - option+cmd did not work. I am not going to go to the trouble of taking all the extraordinary library re-building measures since the success rate seems poor, and will wait for what I hope will be a software fix from Apple (please guys!) I suspect a contributing factor may be that I do not subscribe to Apple Music (not against it at all, just already have family subscriptions for Spotify and Tidal) and my guess is that it may be the operational center of the Music App, and with it missing, so are other attributes of the app. I also theorize that the Music App does not allow being used to play music it cannot verify as "non-pirated" music, and that may also include the act of synching music it cannot verify as "legit," since Apple has a legitimate interest in not allowing its App being used to play stolen music. But like many older users, I have an extensive music library largely burned from CDs I own, and given the large quantities of grayed out music when I sync, a lot of it is not available on Apple Music, and therefore its provenance cannot be verified. Seems - due to the abuse by some of copyright laws - this form of listening is headed the way of the dinosaur as the world moves from owning music to renting it.

TT2: Reporting in. On my iPhone 12 the sequence is Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Music > and then choice of Offload App or Delete App. No option to delete songs. I've tried deleting the Music App, and (after power off and back on again) after reinstalling it on my iPhone from the App Store and - viola - all my music is still there, not erased at all. I have also tried syncing with my iMac with only 1 song to see if I can wipe the iPhone Music files that way - but it won't go past step 3.

See turingtest2's reply to:

Can't sync to iTunes - Apple Community

At first I was trying to resolve the issue of Apple creating duplicates of music on my iPhone 11. I did exactly what you wrote above, based on the recommendation of a computer savvy friend [40 years working with computers as a design engineer who has his own 200T servers and more], and the result was no music at all, then a few of my songs and not limited to what I had before or what I selected from among the albums and items in my 7k songs on my 2021 Macbook Pro. Synch'g to the Apple iCloud has been the worst experience I have ever had pertaining to computer devices! It has resulted in Apple music scrambling albums and songs data, entering or replacing album art work with incorrect art work. It even posted an incorrect commercial album cover on an album I personally created over 25 years ago when my daughter was preparing for college entrance auditions as a classical piano student... she's a music professor now. I recorded those piano performances myself using a tape recorder and a few years ago converted the magnetic analog recording from an Akai recorder to a digital one using Audacity, a mixer, and an analog to digital conversion device.

What music did come back onto my iPhone is not what I chose. It only works for me in the random mode, and then is limited.

My iPhone and Mac are always kept up to date.

I am very grateful to people like yourself who are voluntarily helping others!

"Below Delete App should be a line that reads Music on the left and Edit on the right." Nothing there on mine. The quest continues. Found I needed a Mac OS update and installed that (hoping) but no difference. Still stuck on 3 "determining. . . . " Note: I have no Apple Music subscription and do not have music in the iCloud. I guess it is time to take the medicine, wipe, restore and see what happens.

I was able to finally do this. I have a MacBook Air High Sierra V10.13 and an iPhone 11 V17.4.1, iTunes 12.8.3. In iTunes, I tried to sync my devices but it resulted in my iPhone music being removed. It took me a week, but after all the research, I finally called Apple Support. After 45 minutes and 5 transfers, I reached "O'tare". He suggested that since my iPhone was not in Finder, going to iTunes. My phone shows there but instead of clicking on the phone icon in the left column, click on the icon in the second banner from the top next to "Music". In the left column, click "Music" again and uncheck the Sync toggle and Apply. It will delete the music on your phone BUT, don't worry. Once it finished (for me), I repeated the process and re-checked the "Sync" toggle. You can click the Entire Library or Selected Albums (but you'll need to select them), click "Sync", and your music will hopefully re-appear on your phone. (Disclaimer: I am not an Apple Support Tech but spoke to one or five, and this worked for me. He also suggested I go to the App Store and upgrade to Mojave.)