How can I fix incorrect album artwork on my iPhone Apple Music App?

Wow, Paul--you have an impressive collection, more than 4 times the size of mine. Of course I've found that I only enjoy listening to 25% of my library.

Something became corrupted during the initial wireless transfer of data from my old iPhone to my new iPhone (suspect Music app and related data).

I should clarify that removing all music from the phone and re-syncing as Paul did, DID NOT solve the album artwork mixup for me. It was also necessary to delete the Music app from the phone, re-install it then re-sync Music.

Remove music files and Music app from phone:

1. Connect iPhone to Mac.
2. On Mac, in a Finder window, select iPhone, then the Music tab/button at the top. Uncheck the Sync Music checkbox, hit Apply button at bottom.
3. On iPhone, Settings>General>iPhone Storage (follow Paul's solution to delete all music files from phone).
4. On iPhone, Settings>General>iPhone Storage, delete Music app from phone.

Re-install Music app and re-sync music from Mac:

1. On iPhone, go to App Store app and search for Music app (it should have a cloud over a down arrow icon next to it showing that you previously had it installed). Download it.
2. On Mac, in a Finder window, select iPhone, then the Music tab/button at the top. ☑️ the Sync Music checkbox, hit Apply button at bottom.

I had this issue with Cover Artwork being ALL mixed up on my iPhone 13Pro Max. My mess was moderate until recently, when I started putting a lot more music on the phone. It became insane and unworkable and got worse with each new addition.

I worked with tech support for a couple of hours (mostly pleasant small talk as iOS firmware downloaded and installed).

I HAVE reached a solution. Based on work with the phone tech, I updated iOS on my fone to 17.5.1. THEN I dumped all of my music from the fone. THEN I removed the Music app from the fone. THEN I installed a new copy of the Music app. THEN I reimported all of my music to the iPhone. It was a cumbersome PITA, but I had already invested so much time, effort and rage in this project that seeing a fix and an end made it quite bearable.

I had seen 2 years worth of irritation on this site about this issue and shared in the anger and misery that was expressed. I figure that the least i can do is to share a path back to sanity. Cheers

i think a key step was “THEN I dumped all of my music from the fone”. sometimes i will notice that album art missing from phone file for a song, but present in laptop file for a song. then, i then specifically remove (ie, set to not sync) the specific song with album art issue, perform a sync (effectively removing the song from phone). then i reset song to sync, and perform sync to add song back, this time album art is transferred w sync and solves problem. it is as if art alone cannot be synced, instead entire file/song must be removed and resynched to get art on phone.

The only way I have gotten album art to 'refresh' on the phone, was to effectively remove the song/file from the phone via removing it from synching protocol, and then putting a fresh copy back on the phone from the laptop by putting it back in the sync protocol. For example, if i had trouble w album art by the band "Mattson 2", i would de-select them from the "artist" tab in the sync screen shot attached, and deselect them from any other places the "Mattson 2" files might get synched (like via albums, genres, or playlists). Then I do a sync b/t laptop and phone. then I check the phone to make sure all the "Mattson 2" band songs are removed. then i go back to the sync screen and re-select the checkboxes that I had previously de-selected, and then sync again to 'freshen' the files. also in case of use, the files I synch are mp3, m4a. There are other files that can sync, and some allow album art and some don't, so IDK if the file type could play a role in the problem.

IDK if this helps, but when it comes to album art synching b/t laptop Mac 'music' app, and iPhone 'music' app using the Finder sync window, for a given file/song that is already synced, if you then update the album art on the laptop music app, the art will *not* update on iPhone when a sync is done. instead, what I have found, is that the song/file needs to be 'unsynched' (ie *removed* from the iPhone), and then re-synched (ie *added back*) to the iPhone, and then the correct album art will appear on the iPhone. hope this helps, if it does, it's a way to fix things, but still a painful way

i think a key step was “THEN I dumped all of my music from the fone”. bc sometimes i will notice that album art missing from phone file for a song, but present in laptop file for a song. then, if i specifically remove (ie, set to not sync) the specific song with album art issue, perform a sync (effectively removing the song from phone), then reset song to sync, and perform sync to add song back this time w album art

Hi Paul Oldewurtel,

Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities! We recommend that you reach out to Apple Support directly to take a further look. Please reach out here:

Apple Support

Hope this helps!

Have a great day.

I had the same issue--many album artworks were messed up. I followed Xiandavis suggestions step by step.

1. Deleted music on iPhone 13 Pro, via General>Settings...
2. Deleted music app on iPhone
3. Reinstalled Music app
4. Tried syncing on Mac: "The iPhone “LalaniPhone” cannot be synced. An unknown error occurred (-50)." issues. The search gave no results.
5. Restart iPhone. Sync. Failed
6. Restart iPhone. Restart MacBook Pro. Sync. Failed.
7. Repeated step 6 x 2 with a two-hour gap.
8. Most songs/playlists synced, but the recently added ones are not syncing.

Work is in progress. I will try sync again later tonight and update.

Ive not had any other issues, Im using a 14 Pro Max, and its needing a gas repair, so ive got a 11 Pro max while its away, and thats fine too, so no issues there.

You've been a great help tho, and at least you've been able to sort it.

Thank you.

I've spent countless hours with Apple support and not been able to resolve or even delete the album artwork from my music library on iPhone. I currently have a new 15 pro. Everything else works but not this and it's really confusing. I've deleted the library and reinstalled, that wasted two hours. I've synched them with animated art off, nothing seems to work. Today they told me there were system issues on their end, its just an excuse, I started calling about it years ago when 11 pro began to have the problem. No help from them at all, the advisors are just guessing.

Hey Paul! I’m on this thread late cause I’m dealing with a similar issue of having no artwork show up for any Music in the cloud that wasn’t already downloaded. Did this method help with recovering artwork from that group as well? Apple Music on my MacBook Air seems completely fine but on my iPhone only is where the issue seems to be.