Can't delete Genius playlists on iPad

This is an amazingly frustrating problem I have also encountered and attempted to solve. I shut off Itunes Match and that allowed me the menu option in itunes of shutting off genius. After those steps, there were no genius playlists remaining in itunes, but even after synching the ipad, they remained (duplicated no less!) on my ipad. Also, as part of the above attempt, I shut off itunes match on my ipad as well.

Now, I thought i had a solution after leaving the above settings and then removing all synching of music within itunes (uncheck the settings for synching music under summary, also uncheck synch music box under music for the ipad when listed under devices on itunes). Itunes then showed me with no music within capacity on the summary tab, however even after synching (and turning the ipad on/off and synching again), the music and those genius playlists remained (clogging up) the ipad.

Unbelievable.

I have not tried a restore yet (previously suggested) but that appears the only remaining option.

Please, anyone, advise if you have an idea that works.

This annoyed me too much to stop, so, drum roll please, as my restore from back-up is now completing and synch with itunes has initiated.

THEY'RE GONE!! I have fully synchronized and while my music has fully synched, no genius playlists returned.

Yes - this worked and relatively painless as the restore from itunes back-up has returned almost everything else to the pre-restore state.

Unbelievable though still that Apple makes us go to such extremes to simply avoid being force fed what THEY feel is best for us.

Good Luck.

Is there a way to delete the Genius mixes from iMatch? I tried deleting them in iTunes and turning Genius off, but they are still on my iPad.

I found this thread because I too was having the same problem... I had several empty genius playlists that I never created. I tried one of the other poster's suggestions by tapping on the empty playlist, hit save, edit, done, then going back to all my playlists. However, holding my finger down on the playlist did not bring up the "x" that would allow me to delete it.

I then tried again, but this time, I went into the playlist, hit save, then UPDATE, edit, done. Then when I went back to the playlists, holding my finger down on the playlist DID bring up the "x" and I was finally able to delete the playlist! By doing tis, I was successful in deleting all 7 empty genius playlists that I hadn't created.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

You can delete it easily. You need to buy an app, and then you can delete a lot of the built in garbage on the ios platform. I have deleted gamecenter, stocks, and a few other useless apps on my ipad and iphone.

This worked!!!! You will not believe how much this helped me! i followed your directions and ta-da! it disappeared! you are a life saver! Forever My Hero!!!

I followed kencanuck's advice as well. I had 8 empty playlists. Each time I entered one and hit save, Music closed. When I reopened and selected that playlist in Genius, I could select Edit, close, then select & hold, and delete them. All 8 appear to be gone from my iPad now.

Thanks and good luck to all who run across this one. I have 3 Mac computers, 3 iPhones and my iPad synced to iMatch...still quirky.

Hi there! I too was unable to delete the 13 empty "Genius" playlists on my iPad2. I tried everything, including calling tech support. The only solution was to backup my iPad, turn off Genius and Match, and then restore the factory settings. After restoring from my saved backup, my iPad is now back to where it should be and the "Genius" playlists are gone! Only my own playlists are showing. It's tedious but it worked. I will not turn on Genius or Match again.

I found the soluion by individually clicking on each playlist. Then when I was in the empty playlist I would hit the genius button which would then allow me to save the phantom playlist. After I saved it and backed out of the playlist I would then hold down the icon I just saved which then allowed me to delte teh phantom playlist. Repeat these steps for every playlist and you shuould be fine.

Hi, just turn of the genius on ur ipad : go to settings than iTunes and App Stores then view ur Apple ID and there u can turn the genius of and after this u can delete the playlists

I have the same problem here... turned off iTunes Match and Genius months ago, and now I'm stuck with both empty and populated Genius playlists on my iPad (and only on my iPad, not in iTunes)...

Can I ask how you're "going into" these playlists to edit & save? When I hold my finger down on these Genius playlists I can't get an X. When I tap on a normal playlist, it displays the songs. When I tap on a Genius playlist, I don't get an option to do anything... it just starts playing the music (or no action at all for the empty ones).

I guess my first question should've been: do I have to turn Genius back on before any of these steps?

FYI - I just bit the bullet and restored my iPad to factory settings. I first created a backup before doing so and restored to that backup from the factory settings. After the sync, my iPad was back to the way it was - except the pesky Genius playlists have been destroyed forever. 😁

I was nervous because I created the backup that included the Genius playlists, but thankfully they were not included in the restore process...

I'm seeing what you're seeing: When I tap on a genius playlist, it just starts playing. There's no way to "go into" or view them. I wish someone would explain this further. Or, perhaps our inability to open/view them is yet another permutation (variation) on the general iTunes-Match bugginess...

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I had the same problem and what I did was I tapped the Genius playlist on my iPad then on the right upper corner, there is the "Refresh" and "Save" button. Tap the Save button and then go back to Playlist and then tap and hold the Genius Playlist until the "x" button appears and then delete.