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Why won't my songs transfer from itunes to my iphone?

When I plug in my phone into my computer and try to sync my playlists on iTunes to my iPhone, the sync completes but the songs will not transfer. I even tried deleting the existing playlists from my iPhone and I couldn't even do that. I have literally tried everything that I know. Any suggestions?

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.2

Posted on Sep 28, 2013 2:13 PM

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Posted on Jun 16, 2017 4:17 AM

I figured it out! A million hours later and 4 in the morning but I figured it out. So I did everything updated my iPhone 7 newest software same w iTunes on my windows computer everything. Nothing worked. Until I had to go to my actual iPhone go to settings, music, then turn off iCloud Music Library and enable home sharing. Then once I did that I went back onto my computer went to iTunes and synced manually. All I did was on iTunes go to your phone section and click sync. Once I did so I was then able to add music. I dragged the music to the device and it was finally added. I domt know what's going on w apple and why it's become so much harder to sync music. It was so much easier back in the day. Anywho I'm just glad I finally figured it out. Now I can listen to my hypnobirthing tracks on my phone.

285 replies

Nov 21, 2014 8:41 PM in response to Msorli26

@Msorli Thanks to all those who suggested the solution to manually manage and drag/drop onto the iPod/iPhone icon. Was frustrated for the last few hours thinking my old trusty iPod classic had finally died. I was continuously getting the 'can't read device...please restore' error. The above solution fixed it. BTW you can drag and drop all the files in one shot. Thanks!

Nov 30, 2014 4:57 PM in response to ajal1

Okay, so I had this problem too, and I spent a while trying to fix it and here's where I came up with. *Side note: there are, like, three different music tabs that mean all different things. There is Library Music (in the library column), iPhone Music (right below the settings tab when you click on your device), and Music on your device (under the on your device tab).

1) Connect your device to your computer and start iTunes.

2) Make sure that you have all the music that you want to add/take off of your device checkmarked. I personally find this easier if you change the view to be organized by songs instead of albums or artists.

3) Then click on the icon that looks like your iPhone/iPod and it will take you to the summary of your device.

4) Go to the iPhone music and make sure the 'Sync Music' checkbox is clicked.

5) Click on the circle button that says 'Entire music Library'.

6) Sync your iPhone.


I hope this works for anyone having the same stupid problem.

Dec 15, 2014 8:02 AM in response to ajal1

it's most likely because you've moved your music on your computer. I couldn't figure it out either for the longest time, but I had moved the downloaded music files from my desktop to a folder and the computer couldn't find the original files on the computer to transfer to my phone. So i had to go back to the moved files, open them in iTunes, then re-build my playlists, and then they all could transfer to my phone.

Feb 4, 2015 9:51 PM in response to ajal1

I figured it out!!!


I was having the same problem. I even backed up my phone and updated it to the latest update and it still wouldn't work. Then I noticed when i clicked on the device in itunes the " manually manage music and vidoes" box was not checked. I clicked on it and I could move my music from itunes to my iphone

Feb 7, 2015 7:32 AM in response to ajal1

I had the same issue with my iPhone 4s with the latest update of iOS 8. It started to happen when I bought songs from iTunes using the WiFi at work. The connection dropped unexpectedly and I was never able to download the song on my iPhone. It was in my iTunes library on my home Mac but, whichever method I tried, I still couldn't add it to my iPhone. After trying everything Apple support recommended to do, and most solutions posted here, I deleted my playlist, Restored the iPhone (after backing up) and it solved the problem. I recreated a new playlist and was able to add all the songs that appeared greyed out with the little dashed circle next to it, in the list.


Hope it works for you too, if everything else fails. Apple leaves me angry and frustrated, sometimes, but I'm still crazy after all these years.


Cheers.

Mar 11, 2015 4:26 AM in response to ajal1

Hi guys,


This was my problem. I have mp3 stored on NAS and connected to MAC mini with OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 via router and LAN cables. When I searched for a song on NAS vie Finder and want to drag it directly to iphone 6 running iOS 8.2 which was displayed via iTunes 12.1.0.50 it displayed the file as copied, or with the grey circle near the file. I was able to see the file on iTunes, but not on the phone.


What I did to fix it was that first I dragged the file from Finder to iTunes library and then from iTunes library to phone. All my songs are there and playable.


Hope this helps someone

Apr 10, 2015 8:39 PM in response to ajal1

Hi,


I had this exact same problem for such a long time and it really bothered me. I never thought I would be able to fix it and I couldn't believe my eyes when I did literally. I was madly searching all through iTunes to figure out a way to fix it and this what I did:


Click >> your iPhone tab (e.g. Phoebe's iPhone) >> Music


It should come up with Sync Music and then a few boxes. Then you see the problem, for me all the boxes were unticked and faded out. So I ticked the Entire Music Library box, pressed Sync once again and done. The songs had FINALLY transferred onto my phone.


I really hope this helped if someone else hasn't already figured it out 🙂

May 4, 2015 3:48 PM in response to aramm22

I've had this problem several times. Now I figured out something that helped me. When right-clicking on the song I want transferred, there appears a drop-down-menu. You can there "add to playlist" - and a new drop-down-menu appears. There you can select (your iphone-name). Actually - first I could select "add to" and my iphone appeared. Suddenly only "add to playlist" appeared.


Good luck. I wish I didn't buy iphone again - itunes and music-sync is terrible and every apple-employee should be ashamed for making syncing music such a hassle.

May 21, 2015 8:02 PM in response to ajal1

Connect your device to the computer and open iTunes. Select your device - go to 'on my device' - go to 'music' - select the faded out songs that have not transferred and press delete. Attempt to re-transfer the songs. If they are singles then allow each song to transfer and sync before you attempt the next. If it is an album select the album and transfer the entire album in one attempt. Allow the album to copy before you proceed to the next song/album. I've had this happen on multiple occasions and I believe it to be the computers inability to transfer so many songs/albums at once. Hope this helps.

Why won't my songs transfer from itunes to my iphone?

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