Level 1

48 points

Music Artwork gone crazy after iOs26.1 has any one else experienced problems?

Has anyone else experienced random artwork changes on music since iOs26.1 came out? I've got artwork for artists I've never heard of and even music purchased on iTunes is incorrect?

Totally bizarre.... Did a sync today total after purchasing a few CDs and buying a few albums off iTunes and have stuff like Jerry Lee Lewis on Yungblud albums or Sinaed O'Connor on Powderfinger albums!

Have done restarts on both iMac and iPhone 17 Pro Max and tried again and again and the art just keeps on changing - last sync put Sia art on a Faith No More album..... ugh.....

iPhone 17 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Nov 18, 2025 12:23 AM

Top-ranking reply

Pocari-Sweat Author

Level 1

48 points

Posted on Feb 25, 2026 10:41 PM

So in the end the Apple case Manager had me go to my service provider and transfer the E SIM to an old phone and erase the 17 back to factory settings status, then if it worked go back and get the e sim swapped back.

I was told to do a cable sync not a side by side - and whilst it jammed a few times, eventually the music art and Apple TV are all ok, but Books are still a rotating mess of art coming from music and Apple TV.

I’ve downloaded 26.3 no negative impact on music or TV but Books is still a mess. I deleted the books and re-synched but it made no difference when they came back - out of 56 Audiobooks purchased they all have the same art - a Natalie Cole album cover without the name or author of the book visible til you actually play it…..

funny how the bugs are in Apple Apps!

I’ve given up and just learned to accept that Apple ain’t what it used to be.

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34 replies

Jun 20, 2026 12:45 PM in response to Pocari-Sweat

Apple has changed lots of album artwork (often the wrong artist) on my phone and it is extremely frustrating.

I have a large CD collection. All of my collection has been uploaded to an external hard drive. All of my albums are tagged the way I want them to be ...and with specific artwork. For example, Beatle albums in mono have the mono cover, stereo albums have the stereo cover. I'm very fussy about this.

My phone has 500gb of memory. 100% of the music on my phone has been transferred from my external hard drive. I use Apple music to stream music, but i do NOT download from the app nor sync my phone.

This past week, a large percentage of the albums on my phone have had the artwork changed. Ihave discussed theis with Apple tech support ..they are baffled.

Aug 2, 2026 8:30 AM in response to Pocari-Sweat

iOS 26.6 made almost ALL of my album artwork get completely switched up. I've only found a few albums out of a few hundred that did not get mixed up. This has been going on for YEARS. This really should not be such a huge issue!

Kesper68

Level 1

8 points

Feb 25, 2026 10:28 PM in response to Pocari-Sweat

https://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=mxreembedartwork ... This worked for me

BRH530

Level 1

18 points

Nov 18, 2025 6:16 AM in response to Pocari-Sweat

Having the same exact issue. The artwork is fine on my desktop. When I drag an album over from the desktop to the iphone the artwork on the screen is wrong but the artwork in the SONG INFO is correct. Then over time the artwork randomly changes. This all seemed to have started with this last update.

Would like to know if Apple is resolving.

Jcipot

Level 1

14 points

Nov 27, 2025 6:39 PM in response to Pocari-Sweat

Same thing happened to me. Everything was fine until last update. I’ve Cleared artwork cache reinstalled music app. Tried everything short of wiping out my phone . I have a 17 pro max and this is a huge glitch and not acceptable after what the phone costs.

Pocari-Sweat Author

Level 1

48 points

Dec 13, 2025 8:49 PM in response to Pocari-Sweat

26.2 is EVEN WORSE!!!

A month dealing with Apple and still no answers but absolutely state the phone is perfect (it was when it was just 26.0)

I've now got photos of album art, audiobooks that aren't in my photos library or from another synched media app - literally random images from the internet!

What is Apple doing?!?!?

(nothing)

Mar 24, 2026 10:00 PM in response to Pocari-Sweat

This just started for me, but after the 26.3 update, otherwise I didn't have the random issue until over this past weekend. My issue is that songs that don't have artwork, which is most of my tracks, I now have showing up on my iphone only, the same album artwork. I remember this issue years ago when the artwork would randomly change on the iphone. All the songs with not artwork on my Mac are fine, just for some reason a random album I ripped over a month ago is now the photo for songs I have not added artwork for, but not all tracks without artwork, just random ones as I see more affected than when I synced on Saturday. Some songs I added artwork for yesterday and did another sync today and the artwork is still the wrong artwork on my phone, but is correct on my computer. This is annoying.

Apr 30, 2026 4:35 AM in response to Pocari-Sweat

Same here. I just updated to ios 26.4.2 and my music artwork has gone totally haywire. I sync my music via a cable and have to say since the switch to Apple Music from itunes the software has gone from bad to worse.

Other gripes about my less than two years old Iphone 15 that cost me over £1000 are that the battery runs worse than my iphone 7 (which I had for nearly ten years) and that it lags worse than my work Windows PC. Apple have gone to ruin and are just phoning it in at this point. But hey....Liquid glass is really cool though!

The less said about the over saturation of possible solutions Apple trot out i.e. full factory reset, switch off background refresh apps, hold the phone up at 45 degrees on the first full blood moon of the solstice and chant Buddhist chants while hopping on one foot...the better.

Given the cost of the product, it's not fit for purpose. Just make your £1000 plus overpriced tat work Apple

[Edited by Moderator]

snufkin

Level 1

6 points

Jun 4, 2026 4:27 PM in response to Pocari-Sweat

This continues to affect me too. It's really frustrating. Yes, a full wipe of my music library does seem to temporarily remediate the issue, but it quickly recurs soon after. It is an emergent behavior of some bug. Please fix! It completely breaks all album art! So aggravating.

L_X

Level 1

14 points

Aug 18, 2026 3:03 AM in response to Pocari-Sweat

Same here! Upgraded last week from an iPhone 15 Pro Max to a new iPhone 17 Pro Max. Everything was fine first for the whole week. But yesterday i synced a few additional new albums from my Mac Mini to the iPhone and all the cover artwork got mixed up as you all described. What a mess. Tried to resync a few times, deleted Apple Music on the phone an re-installed,... Nothing helped, it even got more mixed up.

Are there any news on this? This must be fixed by Apple! Such an expensive phone can't even display the correct album cover artwork!

Pocari-Sweat Author

Level 1

48 points

Nov 18, 2025 4:35 AM in response to Pocari-Sweat

** Update:

Also noticing audiobook covers, book cover art are also now album artworks or music video icons and Apple TV shows on my phone - family guy episode art is replacing music albums - it's completely off the rails...

I've tried so many restarts and the like - and that's what's interesting - the art KEEPS CHANGING with every sync, so it's not like it is connecting something and staying with it even if it's wrong, it just keeps changing! An aerosmith music video I bought off iTunes now has the cover of Anthony Hopkins new audiobook as the art....

Computer shows everything perfectly.

Is it maybe an iPhone 17 Pro Max problem rather than the iOs?