Tracks duplicate when dragging into manual playlists for iPhone

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Level 1

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Tracks duplicate when dragging into manual playlists for iPhone

I create manual playlists to copy from my iMac to my iPhone. The latest issue is that when I select and drag tracks into the playlist, the tracks are duplicated multiple times. The only solution I have is dragging tracks "track by track" which is not really a solution. Is there any fix out there? Both my devices are up to date. I have tried deleting my playlists and recreating. I don 't use Apple Music as a source of tracks, I use my own uploaded library. Thanks.

iMac 24″, macOS 27.0

Posted on Oct 23, 2026 6:40 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

sooperfresh

Level 2

301 points

Oct 24, 2026 4:12 PM in response to Nick Peck

Looks like a 27 bug where the drop gets processed once per track you dragged, so 5 tracks land 5 times each. Select them and use right-click > Add to Playlist, or Cmd-C, click the playlist, Cmd-V: both add each track once, and the playlist syncs to the iPhone as before. Katalog (musickatalog.com) also runs alongside Music on the same library, and dragging a selection onto one of your Music playlists there adds each track once.

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Answer 2

Nick Peck Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 25, 2026 5:16 AM in response to sooperfresh

Thank you, that works perfectly. I don't know what Katalog is, and I don't know why Apple has to fiddle around with a straight forward process, nor add "icons" to the playlists which I hate!

All I have to solve now is the "disconnect/reconnect/drain the battery" issues which plague synchronisation!

All this used to work perfectly until various operating system upgrades!

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Answer 3

Oct 25, 2026 3:04 PM in response to Nick Peck

Glad it worked. Katalog is a Mac app I make that opens the same library as Music for browsing, playlists and tags, so skip it if Music does what you need: https://musickatalog.com

For the disconnects, syncing over the cable with "Show this iPhone when on Wi-Fi" turned off in Finder is usually steadier.

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Answer 4

Nick Peck Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 26, 2026 5:21 AM in response to sooperfresh

Thank you. I have tried the "Show this iPhone when on WiFi" turned off and it doesn't help. Funnily enough, whenever there is a software update, synchronisation works as it should for about a day, and then reverts to this annoying buffeting. I hope somewhere in the apple software team this issue is being worked on.

Congratulations on the Katalog app - it looks very good.

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Answer 5

Nick Peck Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 27, 2026 10:33 AM in response to sooperfresh

Needless to say, the 27.2 update has stopped the buffering...we shall see if it lasts!

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