I recently got my iPhone 16. Everything seems to have transferred fine EXCEPT for my iTunes playlists. Whe I open the playlists section, I am told “subscribe to Apple Music to save music”. WTF?? I have thousands of songs on my phone. I have created multiple playlist for different activities. I NEVER EVER EVER want the subscribe to Apple Music. What is going on?
iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 18
Ok, found the core problem - when I synced the phone initially, it didn't sync my playlists, though it did sync all music and videos. The message “subscribe to Apple Music to save music” was VERY disconcerting, and misleading - I was able to create a new playlist. I forced a sync again, and this time it synced my playlists. So the problem came down to bad messages.
All clear now.
Ok, found the core problem - when I synced the phone initially, it didn't sync my playlists, though it did sync all music and videos. The message “subscribe to Apple Music to save music” was VERY disconcerting, and misleading - I was able to create a new playlist. I forced a sync again, and this time it synced my playlists. So the problem came down to bad messages.
All clear now.
You can sync your music from your Mac/PC to your new phone or redownload the music that you have purchased. The Apple Music subscription is only needed to make your music available on all devices without having to manually sync them.
Intro to syncing your Mac and your devices - Apple Support
Sync music between your Mac and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
Sync iTunes content on PC with your devices – Apple Support (UK)
Redownload music from the iTunes Store on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
I have never subscribed to Apple Music (never will) and only sync with the Music app on my MacBook Pro.
When I recently bought my iPhone SE 2nd Gen / iOS 17.6.1 it did not ask me to subscribe to Apple Music to load my music and playlists.
I’m pretty sure this is an iOS 18 thing. I have been syncing my music (98% of which is pulled from my CD library) without issue over iPhones for years. It’s just after my latest upgrade that the Music app is behaving this way - I can’t see the playlists that I have created over the years, and can’t create new ones. The value of my iPhone to my life has taken a major hit
I synced my music just fine, it’s the ability to see the playlists I have created over the years that is the issue. This pops up when I hit the “playlists” button on Music.
So I have to subscribe to Apple Music to get to my playlists
