"Recently Added" Playlist not updating!

That worked for me. Interesting.

Perfect!

I have tried all of the suggested solutions but without success. I keep resyncing in hopes of a different result. Any other suggestions? By the way, I have an iPod Classic. It had worked fine for the last year or so.

Someone in my office suggested that I drag the reluctant files into my iPod when syncing. I had put them in two new playlists so I dragged both of them and got them there. Not sure what else is not loading. Worrisome!

I don't understand how Apple tests their software. It's like whack a mole, one thing gets fixed then something that used to work doesn't work anymore. Isn't the Recently Added Playlist kind of a fundamental capability that could easily be tested with every IOS patch?

It would be great if there was a fix / workaround that didn't require configuration / synching at the desktop so it could be fixed at the device.

Didn't work for me.

I recently decided to update playlists I've had for a couple of years. I have separate playlists for my iPad, iPhone, and iPod. These playlists do not include purchased music; i.e., I do not check the box for purchased music because I do not want all purchased music in my playlists. I have over 3000 songs in the one main library (including over 1000 purchased songs in 6 years.)

Two days ago, after I created a new playlist for my iPhone, I SYNCed the iPhone via a hard connection to iTunes on my iMac. A couple of observations: 1) the playlist I created has 1805 songs; 2) when I click on the iPhone device in iTunes, it shows 1810 songs; 3) when I look on the phone, there are 1958 songs.

A quick check, without checking each and every song, shows that the additional songs have a cloud by them like they are place holders for the songs. I'm guessing that means they are in iCloud and ready to download onto my iPhone.

I don't care if they exist as a place holder with a cloud by them, but, they play as if they are on the iPhone and already down loaded.

I've tried the erase and reset method. I've tried deleting the playlist and recreating the playlist from scratch. The extra songs are still there.

How can I create a playlist that consists of only the 1805 songs I want on my iPhone?

Yeah that worked 4 me too 🙂 thx a lot SAM

Sam,

While your post was some time ago (now May of 2014), it is STILL the only thing I have found that actually fixes the problem besides doing a hard restart whihc is what Apple support told me to do a few months ago - that was their answer ;-)

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

Been dealing with this for well over a year through all updates on my 5S and iTunes. The only thing that I have found that works is hard restart on phone (Apple Supports solution!) whihc is nuts and Sam20 solution below.

I would just like to add that if you follow my instructions on fixing the problem, I have noticed that sometimes after adding new songs to the library you will have to update the recently added playlist manually. You just right click on the recently added playlist and then click "Update smart playlist". this should do the trick.

I am so glad you added that note, becuase just as I am giving you praise, I realized it was not updating again. However, with your direction I see that it is not updating in iTunes smart list (Recently Added) after I added some new songs and so the fact that it is not updating on the phone makes sense.

Your tip worked perfectly - never knew you could do that.

Thanks again! -John

The unchecking of live updating definitely temporarily fixes the problem, however its annoying that you have to check and uncheck this to update your playlist, as soon as live updating is switched back on, the playlist starts freaking out again on Iphone 😟

Hope apple fix this soon!

Thanks a bunch! This actually worked 🙂