Lost personal music from CDs (not purchased via iTunes) after back up and restoring iPhone 12.

Question

Level 1

9 points

Lost personal music from CDs (not purchased via iTunes) after back up and restoring iPhone 12.

Hello

I recently updated my iPhone 12 to the new 26.1 iOS. My phone immediately started to play up- over heating, emails splitting over different parts of the screen plus more.

I took it to apple and they agreed there was a problem and that I should back it up, delete it and download the 26.1 directly from their system. Then start it as a new phone.

I did all this but when I logged back into my iCloud accounts and looked in my music app all my old playlists were gone.

The music I have purchased through iTunes was there but nothing else.

In the days of copying music from your own CDs i have downloaded 1000's songs. The music is spread over three computers none of which are linked to this iPhone. The MacBook I used to activate this iPhone was destroyed thats to a glass of chocolate milk

How do I get all that music back on my phone? I've tried connecting it to my current MacBook Air but it wants me to restore from a previous back up or set up as new phone. I cannot see the current back up of my 12. I can only see back ups from my 7 red or XS from 2019.

How do I get my music back??

I hope someone out there can help me

iPhone 12, iOS 26

Posted on Dec 28, 2025 8:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Dec 28, 2025 10:18 PM in response to dorthe96

dorthe96 wrote:

In the days of copying music from your own CDs i have downloaded 1000's songs. The music is spread over three computers none of which are linked to this iPhone.

The manual synchronization model has always been that you can only synchronize an iPhone against one iTunes library or Music library at a time. Synchronizing against a new computer/library removes all of the music – other than, perhaps, iTunes Store music – that is currently on the iPhone, replacing it with the new selection.

The MacBook I used to activate this iPhone was destroyed thats to a glass of chocolate milk

How do I get all that music back on my phone?

Restore your Mac's Music library to a working Mac from backups – you did keep backups, right? Or re-import songs from your CDs to a working Mac so that you can then load them onto your iPhone.

I've tried connecting it to my current MacBook Air but it wants me to restore from a previous back up or set up as new phone. I cannot see the current back up of my 12. I can only see back ups from my 7 red or XS from 2019.

I don't believe that iPhone backups contain purchased music. Reloading your music from a Mac or Windows PC or re-downloading iTunes Store purchases from the iTunes Store are how you get the music back.

Reply

Answer 2

dorthe96 Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 30, 2025 7:20 PM in response to dorthe96

Yeah it worked !!!

I have all my music back on my iPhone.

Thanks for your help.

Reply

Answer 3

dorthe96 Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 29, 2025 2:22 PM in response to Servant of Cats

Thank you so much for such a comprehensive reply to my problem. I really appreciate it.

acc to my husband I have “ back up disease “ meaning that I am constantly backing up my computer/s to external hard drives to the extent I now have 5 seperate drives!

I will go through them now and download onto my current MacBook. The songs I purchased thankfully have all come through.

again I really appreciate your advice. Happy New Year

Reply