Q: Music not syncing after iOS 7 update

I have been having problems syncing music for months and have tried various permutations.

We have an iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad Mini and have also just purchased a new iPad Air and iPhone 5S.

Software is up to date on all devices.

Here's what has - finally - worked for me:

(1) Close all open apps on iPad including Music (double click the home button and delete all open apps)

(2) Plug the iPad in via cable (not over wifi)

(3) Go to Music tab

Select the music to sync

(4) Go to Summary tab

Backups - Automatically Back Up

Tick "iCloud" (not This Computer)

Options - tick ONLY the following:

(1) "Open iTunes when this iPad is connected"

(2) "Manually manage music and videos" - this will also mean the Music tab is blank if you click back on it

This method has worked across all my devices. There are still some errors with missing and different artwork but it's now only a few issues - as opposed to before when the majority of music wasn't syncing.

I'm a big advocate of Apple but this episode has been an absolute farce. Hours wasted and no intervention from Apple. Disgraceful.

Jerry Dammers wrote:

 

 

I'm a big advocate of Apple but this episode has been an absolute farce. Hours wasted and no intervention from Apple. Disgraceful.

these forums are for apple users to try and help others. if u would like to get help from apple itself u should call them at 1-800-apl-care (1-800-275-2273)

My post helps other users by explaining how I partly fixed my issue.

We're all aware there is an option to contact Apple. Many of us have and they have no solution. Your post is pointless.

This is dumb, but...

Had a HD failure, and replaced the HD and restored from Time Machine earlier tonight.  After that, I had an issue where I couldn't sync music to my iPhone 5s with iTunes 11.1.  It seemed like it was just skipping the step altogether.  Was driving me crazy.

Frustrated, I sat looking at the iTunes -> Music -> Songs screen and noticed all the checkboxes next to the songs were un-checked.  Out of desperation, I selected all and clicked "check selection" in the right-click menu, went back to iPhone -> Music, selected my playlists and albums, pressed "Sync," and presto.  Everything synced.

To test, I went back and unchecked a few songs and re-synced.  Sure enough, the unchecked songs disappeared from the phone.

So, I guess apparently the checkboxes under Music -> Songs need to be checked before the songs will sync.  So, there's that.

Of course, I'm probably the only one who didn't know that.

You have to un-sync and re-sync the playlist

Thats only going to work in your wifi network=( Oh and those posting about how you need to check "manually manage music" get this I check that box and then I click apply... or then go to music once its checked and then check the sync music box and sync a playlist I made and it won't sync. And when I go back to where the manually manage music option is it is back to being unchecked... I tried doing these things in varying order of operations but it will revert to doing nothing. And I have tried to do all the reinstalling bs and restoring and whatever but to no avail. Apple we don't need any more updates when you finally get it right. So please don't give me any more.

Thank you clevergirl929! You made me realize that my iPhone and iTunes (on my Mac) were signed in under different Apple IDs/email addresses. As soon as I changed my iPhone back to the correct one, the "Shared" option showed up, I selected my full library and I'm back in business. Very much appreciated!

Thank you Jnp9. Thank you!!!

I too had tried everything, restoring as a new phone on a completely different Mac, tried to sync music, still didn't work. I always got about 5 GB of songs from random albums. After reading your post, I selected all songs, right-clicked to choose "Get Info", checked the box next to Artwork, and clicked OK. This effectively erased all album artwork I had for all iTunes songs. Now my sync works perfectly, even with my old backup, so I don't have to lose any settings!

I plan to select all songs and choose "Get Album Artwork" to restore the missing artwork.

Thank you so much! I was afraid to listen to the posts that said to restore the phone or iTunes because the last time I tried that, I lost 300+ pictures off my device that I will never get back.. I simply clicked the "Manually manage music" button and iTunes did the rest for me. All of the music, that wasn't syncing, copied to my iPhone 4s and now everything is working perfectly. Only took 2 hours for me to find a good solution...

So. after reading through and having sync issus over and over and over again. I realized that I had downloaded from iCloud music the last time i had issues instead of syncing. As soon as I went into the music app and deleted all of the music I got from iCloud and then synced - the music would copy. I essentially manually erased the music app and then iTunes would work with it. I had selected only sync manually selected items. No restores or installs of anything for me. This is completely unacceptable at this phase of the iOS game Apple - if you are reading - you should be ashamed.

theyre not

Thanks! this apparently Clevergirl's method solved my problems too.

It worked for me too once I was at home and on my network. However when I left home and was off the network it reverted to the same issue.

It ended up being a USB problem as I was using a Morphie juice pack which had a USB cable that my MAC was not recognizing.

Hope it works out for you

Thank you so much. I had to do this for my daughter; worked like a charm. Great teching!

This is truly ridiculous..... I unchecked the sync box, apply, and then rechecked the box....  and it worked.... for now, I am highly skeptical though.... I have a hunch it has to do with the cloud, but I am holding apple responsible for this... very disappointed in something that should work easily.  What a waste of my time (numerous hours).  Never had this problem until iOS7....