Why iPhone does not sync play count anymore?

This just started happening to me last week. I've had my iPhone 4 over a year now. Everything on the phone is updated as far as firmware and software. Here is where my story differs slightly.

I always managed my iPhone manually. Whenever I downloaded music I always downloaded to my laptop (HP/Windows Vista) then added the songs I wanted into a playlist and synced it to my phone. Last week an album came out I wanted. I forgot to download it Tuesday night when it came out. On Wednesday morning I downloaded it straight to my iPhone. Listened to the album several time that day at work. I also decided I didn't like multiple songs and just wanted 9 of 26 songs on my iPhone. I synced and transfered the songs to my laptop that same night. The count never updated correctly from then on.

The other things that have happened is my ringtones have been completely wiped out (no clue why). The songs I do not want on the iPhone keep showing up even though all the settings are set to manual and only checked songs (they are not in any playlists I sync). My iCloud settings are all off also. The only difference is I downloaded these songs to the iPhone then tranfered to the computer. Since then everything has been thrown off settings wise.

I've deleted the songs from the iPhone directly and resynced. As recently as last night I did that again and this time it will only sync and add 3 songs of the 9 songs I wanted on the album I purchased last week.

Anyone have these crazy scenarios happen as well.

My 4 Gig iPod syncs the songs correctly. No clue why.

One more thing.

Has anyone restored the iPhone to original settings and readded everything to the phone. I have all contacts and everything backed up on my laptop so it would not be a big deal to do. I wouldnt lose anything. Just the time it would take to restore factory setting and then update the phone again.

Antee94 wrote:

Listened to the album several time that day at work. I also decided I didn't like multiple songs and just wanted 9 of 26 songs on my iPhone. I synced and transfered the songs to my laptop that same night. The count never updated correctly from then on.

That part sounds consistent with the rest of this thread. Why it just started acting that way for you now (assuming you've had iOS 5 for awhile) is a mystery. But what I take from this thread is that the iPhone now behaves like all other devices that are manually managed -- playcounts don't transfer to iTunes if you manually manage.

The songs I do not want on the iPhone keep showing up even though all the settings are set to manual and only checked songs (they are not in any playlists I sync).

You might want to check the thread below on this topic, particularly the last page. Oh, and the check marks do not matter if you're manually managing, unless something else has changed recently. The check marks (and the option to skip unchecked items) only applies to auto-sync'd devices, and smart playlists.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2576029?start=45&tstart=0

In that thread there is a suggestion to "Go to settings>general>useage>music and swipe to delete" to remove tracks that by all rights should not be on your device, seems to have helped some folks.

I've deleted the songs from the iPhone directly and resynced. As recently as last night I did that again and this time it will only sync and add 3 songs of the 9 songs I wanted on the album I purchased last week.

If you're manually managing your iPhone, syncing it won't add (or remove) songs. What happens if you drag and drop these 9 songs to your iPhone? (as you should do, if you're manually managing it)

Dragging songs to the iPhone icon does nothing. They still did not get added. The only way I was able to get the songs back on the iPhone was to redownload them from iTunes through the iPhone app. I went into the app.Clicked on purchased, music, band name (Nightwish), CD name, and then song name.

The songs showed up as downloaded that were on the phone. The ones that were, I was able to re-download. That's how I got them back on my phone.

Antee94 wrote:

Dragging songs to the iPhone icon does nothing. They still did not get added. The only way I was able to get the songs back on the iPhone was to redownload them from iTunes through the iPhone app. I went into the app.Clicked on purchased, music, band name (Nightwish), CD name, and then song name.

If you're manually managing the music on your iPhone you should be able to drag and drop any song onto your iPhone from your library. If not then something's wrong -- either with your iPhone (try a reset or complete restore) or perhaps something buggy with your iTunes account (try logging out and back in, on your iPhone and iTunes).

Hi guys,

I guess I'm not the only one miffed about this, and I'm bummed to see there's no solution yet.

In the meanwhile, I just got a new iPhone app that works through last.fm called "iScrob for Last.fm," which basically works and looks just like the Music/iPod app (it plays in the background, has all your iPod playlists and music, etc) but actively scrobbles to last.fm as you go (as opposed to the last.fm ipod scrobbler which scrobbles after the fact based on play counts). You cant create new playlists but you can use the music/iPod app for that. The free version has ads, but just visual ones, not audio ones like Spotify.

Then you can use an app (scrobblemapper is the only one I've found so far, and it's not very good) to update your iTunes play count based on the last.fm count. Scrobblemapper has some weird bugs and doesnt update everything, so if anyone finds a better last.fm-to-iTunes play count updating app I sure would love to know about it, because that would make life much easier.

Again, this is an annoying workaround and Apple will soon learn, I'm sure, that there's no point in driving customers away for something silly like this, because the more and more appealing Spotify becomes to someone like me as far as an alternative music library/player (especially as, hopefully, it continues to update its interface) the more they might begin to realize they can play songs for free (or the cheap monthly) instead of $1.29 a pop.

My issue only deals with the iPhone 4S as my old iPods, Apple TV are updating the play count, but not my phone. I use a smart list to create a list of songs I haven't listen to in awhile (which prompts many "why do I have this song!") and having one of my listening platforms not working is a minor annoyance (I actually don't use the iPhone that much to listen to music).

I called Apple Support and from what we could determine it looks like an iTunes Match issue. The only device that does not update the play count is the only device that the Match is linked to. The support fellow checked with a senior member of support to confirm it is a known bug and will be patched.

Is this consistent with everyone else?

Maybe it's me, but I don't even have the option to manually manage my music when I sync my iPhone 4S. I can with all my other devices (which I don't; I auto sync). Everything updates my play count (iPods, Apple TV) except the iPhone. See my later comment on the answer I received from Apple Support.

I've had similar problems mentioned here. I've purchased quite a few albums and songs directly on my ipad running ios5.01. When synced with my macbook pro, the purchased music would show a playcount, but no last played date. I finally decided to restore the ipad and set up as new. Before doing this, I also disabled automatic downloading on the ipad through my account page. When I set it up as new, I also did not add my icloud account. I then turned off itunes match on the macbook pro and started manually adding one purchased album at a time back to the ipad through itunes. I've tried playing each one through, by letting it sit for a couple of hours (I realize this would take days for some people), then did a sync and all of them are syncing play counts and last played info. Basically, I've just ditched icloud, match and automatic downloads since none of the music downloaded directly on the ipad was updating properly. The ipad also syncs in about 5 or 10 seconds since the restore. This may be due to having 26 out of 28 (32) gigs still available.

I'm having exactly the issue described on this thread - however, I'm also having it with Podcasts, which I don't think anyone else has mentioned. When I listen on my iPhone the podcast 'played' info does not sync back to iTunes, but when I listen on my iPod Nano it then syncs back just fine. I'm finding it infuriating and have a support case open with Apple to deal with it at the moment. If they give me any useful info I'll post it here.

I'm having the same problem as others in this thread . . . and I do not manually manage music and videos. I use smart playlists, only sync checked items, etc.

I have noticed the problem happens only with songs I buy from iTunes on my phone. Here's what happens:

1. Buy song on phone.

2. Play however many times.

3. Sync. Song copies to computer with a play count, as it always did before iOS5.

- I don't use the cloud and I don't use automatic downloads. Because when I did, the downloaded song on my computer would also copy to my phone, and I'd have two copies of the song, neither of which synced playcounts. Not what I'm after.

4. Move off iPhone's screen in iTunes. Get warning (that does not go away, despite my trying out the tips in another thread) about my having changed settings (I haven't), do I want to apply the changes, etc. I say yes and eject.

5. Go about my day or week. Play various songs, including my recent purchase.

6. Sync again. All playcounts will sync except . . . the recent purchase.

The only way I've found to get around this is to:

1. Buy

2. Sync

3. Delete song from iPhone

4. Sync again, with song copying from computer back to iPhone

It works. But it's a really stupid workaround.

This problem began with iOS 5. And again: I am not manually managing anything. With that factor removed, does anyone have any ideas?

I don't know when this started, probably with iOS 5, but when you buy music direct to the device from the iTunes store, the songs go into a category of "Manually added items". You can see them if you look at the very bottom of the Music tab where you set your sync settings in iTunes. After transferring these purchases to iTunes, they remain in this "manual" category on your device, and will not sync play counts back to iTunes once transferred.

The only way I can make them sync play counts is to do exactly as you described ... Transfer, delete, then re-sync. Yes it is stupid, and likely a bug. The only thing I might add is that you can remove these songs from your device by swiping across them one by one, or select and delete them from this "Manual" category while connected to iTunes and Apply the changes. Once deleted, sync them back in your preferred manner and you're good to go.

My iPhone is finally syncing play count and last played!!! I haven't checked in awhile, but I played some tunes tonight and did a hard wire sync and "voila"! it counted and displayed last played. I will keep looking the next couple of days to see if this is a fluke.

I Got my Iphone to sync play counts,

i connected to iphone to itunes

then after it connected i right clicked on my phones name

Clicked Sync (iphones name).... and then in music it listed all the items that had been played + Last played

Dermyod wrote:

... and then in music it listed all the items that had been played + Last played

Do you mean the Music folder that you see under your iPhone's name while connected to iTunes, or your iTunes (i.e. library's) Music folder? There's a big difference!