My iPhone 15 Pro is not syncing play counts.

A bunch of people have been having the same issue since updating iPhone to iOS 17.1. Seems to be a bug in the iOS. I've been talking to Apple Support but they don't seem to have any more reports from other users with this issue, so get in touch with Apple Support and let them know you're also having this problem. The more people who report it, hopefully we'll have an update soon with this resolved.

This was happening to me too with my iPhone 14 Pro Max earlier this week. I since updated both my iPhone and iMac. iMac is updated to macOS Sonoma 14.2.1 and iPhone is updated to iOS 17.2.1. The update on both ends fixed the issue (whereas when my phone was the sole one updated, the issue persisted).

IOS 17.2 is now out for iPhone and on my iPhone 11 Pro, it has fixed this issue.

I updated the IOS and then played one track on my iphone. A couple of seconds later, it updated everything on my Mac.

iOS 17.2 fixed the issue, but changed the behaviour.

First of all, if you are still having problems, all your Apple devices need the latest updates.

Second, before iOS 17.1, the play counts from ONE SINGLE DEVICE updated under the following conditions:

• At least 12 hours must pass.
• A song on Apple Music must be played.

For the song you played after these 12 hours, and all songs played previously, the play counts get updated. All songs played after this one particular song, will update the play counts after the next 12 hours cycle (see above).

In iOS 17.2 and later, the behaviour changed a little: The conditions seem to be the same as before. But the song played after the 12 hours have passed will NOT get the play count updated, only the songs previously played get their play counts updated.

Maybe I am wrong, with my observations. But I swear, that play counts update on my devices, although it got more unpredictable. Maybe Apple has changed something with the 12 hours duration too, but I am not sure yet.

Try this and see if it helps. Log out of Apple Music and shut Music down. Then in settings logout of iCloud, log back in again to iCloud and start Apple Music. This kind of sorted one of my Mac’s.

17.1.2 doesn't fix this, but I downloaded and installed 17.2 this morning and it fixed my problem.

Problem solved on iphone SE after updating to iOS 17.2

Same issue with 14 ProMax and Macbook Air. Smart playlists and play counts updated no problem until 17.1.1. Now, though newly added music does sync to all devices (Apple Music subscription), and the playlists update on the iPhone, neither the lists nor play counts or last played update on Mac. Last updated item was the morning of 11/9 which I believe was just before I updated to 17.1.1. Apple, PLEASE FIX!!!

I have the same problem on all Apple devices. More precisely, I have the problem on iOS 17.1.x, iPadOS 17.1.x and MacOS 14.1.x. The 17.0.x and 14.0.x versions and all previous versions worked correctly. Moreover, the current version of iTunes on Windows also works fine. Your old Mac did not get the update, therefore it works as expected (and the same way as Windows).

I had contact with Apple support. They confirmed the problem. I can underline what was said before: Get in touch with Apple Support so they have more users reporting the problem.

I spoke to Apple support on 11/25 and they said they know it's an issue. I think all we can do at this point is wait for an update.

I started having this problem when I updated the iOS on my Mac in September. It would take multiple syncs for it to sync right, but at least it would do it. Now with my iPhone 15 (and iPhone, Mac, and Music app have all been updated as of 11-2), it wouldn't carry over the last played information which affects my playlists. The only thing that somewhat works is to totally delete the playlist on my phone, create a brand new smart playlist with the same rules, and then sync. But some songs still didn't carry over to the phone. I did figure out today a pattern - the ones that carry over are .mp4 protected AAC files, and the ones that did not are .m4a or .mp3. I know this means something but I don't know what. I reauthorized the computer (which deauthorizes every time there's a major update). Please help!

I'm having the same issue after update to iOS 17. Play counts are not updating on PC or MAC after playing on iphone or ipod touch.

I don't know if this is related, but at the moment, itunes music doesn't seem to recognise that I'm using it on multiple devices. In the past, if I tried to play music on my iphone (for instance) while music was already playing on another device, I would get a warning message and music would stop playing on one of the devices.

However, this morning I tried playing music simultaneously on four devices (iMac, iphone, ipod touch and apple music on a PC) and had no messages and music kept playing on all devices at the same time.

I wondered if my apple ID was not working properly, but checked and I seem to be properly logged-in on all devices.

Like you, If I add a new album on one of my devices (any of the four), it appears on all my devices (all four), so apple ID is presumably fine. And if I manually update the music library on my Mac or PC (file/library/update icloud music library) the libraries update properly on my phone and ipod (and MAC/PC).

It just seems to be the play counts that don't update properly to icloud from my iphone or ipod. Up to installing iOS 17, the play counts updated automatically at least once a day, usually after the first play on iphone/ipod. So far, neither the plays from iphone or ipod have synced for two days.

I tried un-toggling the "Sync Library" on my iphone and then turning the "Sync Library" on again, hoping this might force a fresh sync. But it didn't.

I installed another update this morning that claimed to solve some bugs (icloud music problems was not listed as one of the issues), but, so far, there is no evidence that this update has helped.

Also, when checking icloud settings on my phone to see if this was the issue, my phone asked me to agree to new terms and conditions for icloud. I agreed, but it doesn't yet appear to have solved the icloud music play count issue.

Hi had / have the same issue. Three mac's at home, Mini M2 Pro, MacBook Pro M2 and Air M2 + iphone 14 all stopped syncing on 24/10. The mac's were even worse that I couldn't add new music to my collection, I received an unknown error which is useful as ever.

Spoke with Apple tech support, they couldn't fathom it out. In the end I had to create a new user on one of the macs and sign into my Apple music account, it then allowed me to add music. So we know it was a software bug. I had to employee three different ways of fixing my macs. Mini, put into recovery and reinstall Sonoma that solved that one. Air, sign out of iCloud and music, restart, sign back in and that one worked. Pro none of the above worked so I trashed the OS and reinstalled it from scratch and that one worked. Now music works fine, and play counts update between macs; still can't get the iPhone to update the play count, everything else in music works fine so really don't want to trash the phone and start again. What a nightmare and waste of time.

I have the same issue on my 14 Pro Max. I've been scouring the web looking for answers. I just started to sync my library so I have no history on the issue. I will say that playing on AppleTV syncs to phone. Still testing my MBP and Mac Mini. It just appears that the phone does not push to the library, only from library to phone. Closest best answer was to contact Apple Support.

I'm having the same issue. I have an iPhone 14 Pro and since updating to iOS 17.1.1, the songs I play on my phone aren't updating plays/last played across other devices. I heavily rely on this feature for organizing and managing my music. Please fix this asap!