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Mark Bishop1 Author

Level 1

10 points

iPhone 6 won't sync all songs after iOS 8 update

This was in an iPhone 4s post but I'm seeing it with newer devices also so I reposted my comment.

Just got new iPad Air and iPhone 6 trying to sync with my MBP. Playlists won't all transfer properly. It deleted the contents of 2 playlists. Movies won't sync and when I select movies in the tab music becomes unselected and back and forth we go. I spent 5.5 hours (yes 5.5) at the Apple store with a very knowledgeable Genius. We tried everything.

Last night I successfully synced my iPad Mini and my iPhone 5s with the MBP, then restored to my new iPhone 6 and iPad Air. Over and over, only some songs came through and no movies or books. Today I tried again and with movies unchecked, most of my play lists synced, but could not get movies to transfer. Among all other attempts, we installed a clean copy of iTunes and also rebuilt all my preference files. In the store, we also added a "test" playlist with 1 song that transferred, when I got home I added my own and deleted "Test", but when I synced, "Test" was still there on the 6 and Air and my new list was not but still on the MBP. We did hard resets, diagnosis software, trial and error and all error. Just when it seems to work, it doesn't. I emphasize I had 5.5 hours of undivided attention from the best tech at the store. No fixes worked reliably.

I then synced my old nano and all the playlists came through fine. The tech and I are convinced that its a programming glitch between playlists and multimedia (movies.) Nothing else is affected on my MBP or other devices and it only affects syncing to the new units. Since I have all my other stuff, contacts etc and enough music, I guess I'll just wait till Apple gets it right and issues an update. My computer is fine and my devices couldn't both be defective. It was hanging on apps syncing but we manually told the iPad to download fresh copies.

At the Genius Bar, we tried everything possible. We had 4 Geniuses involved and can't solve it. I own or administer about 35 apple computers/devices and have worked on macs and repaired them for years (since my original Macintosh- that still runs). Never an issue like this.

This problem involves: MBP 2.4 Ghz i7- 10.9.5, 16g ram, 500GB SSD, NEW Iphone 6 64GB, NEW Ipad Air iOS 8.2 32GB

iPhone 6, iOS 8, IPad Air, iOS8

Posted on Oct 2, 2014 7:18 PM

Best reply

kcuttsjr81

Level 1

19 points

Posted on Oct 4, 2014 4:34 PM

Here's what worked for me. I've had this issue a few times, between iOS 6-8 and iPhone 5S to 6 (just today with the new phone).

FIRST - BACKUP FIRST

Make sure your iPhone/iPad/iPod is backed up using iTunes. Use the cord (not WIFI).
Be sure to "Transfer Purchases" as well.
Sync and backup the device.

NEXT - FIX MUSIC SYNCING ISSUES

Now, in iTunes, highlight the device, click the "Music" tab, and uncheck (click to uncheck) the "Sync Music" check box.
Sync again.
Then, turn off the device and restart it.
Also close iTunes and restart the computer.
When everything is ready, open iTunes and Sync the device again.
After this time, highlight the device in iTunes, click the "Music" tab, and check (click to check) the "Sync Music" check box.
Uncheck all of the previous music items in the list below the check box. Try only one playlist, artist, or album in the beginning.
Sync again and you'll see it works.

Hope this works for you!

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171 replies

jheaven

Level 1

0 points

Oct 11, 2014 7:07 PM in response to mrjasonf

That sounds like pure ****. I would rather punch my own balls. They need to release a fix for this and save us the trouble.

Lisa_67

Level 1

0 points

Oct 12, 2014 9:13 AM in response to Jeff Barlow

I tried all the solutions here with no luck. Finally turned off "show all music" under Settings-Music and synced again.

This time everything went over. Not sure how long it will last but so far so good.

Oct 12, 2014 12:01 PM in response to randomguy_42

Randomguy - you are my HERO!!! got rid of my duplicates and music is syncing like it did before. THANK YOU!!!!

Oct 13, 2014 8:51 AM in response to Mark Bishop1

I was able to get one reliable sync after resetting the device. Last night's sync never completed and was stuck on "waiting for items to copy" for over eight hours before I aborted it to go to work.

I picked up Dupin and will look for duplicates tonight, but it is unacceptable that this issue would be allowed to continue to exist for so long. I've already wasted hours wiping the phone three times, restoring it, and reloading all of the content.

Oct 13, 2014 9:59 AM in response to randomguy_42

I received my 6 plus 128gb over the weekend, I spent the rest of the weekend and am still trying to get my library sync'd to the phone. I have cleaned up my library, removing duplicates, and have even tried it from both a Windows desktop and my Macbook Pro. I run into the same issue on both. Initially it looks like it wants to sync the music but after the first time things just get messy. I'm restoring my phone right now and I'm going to attempt syncing everything at once and then I won't connect my phone the computer again. I tried it a little while ago and it seemed to work but then I made the mistake of trying to update some album artwork and iTunes started removing music from the phone. On the phone it looks like these items are there until you go to play them and then it just skips to the next track that actually exists on the phone. I've used iTunes for 10 years now with numerous iPods/iphones/ipads. Never have I had any problems getting it to do exactly what I wanted. This is an absolute joke. I'm starting to wonder if Apple even tests their products or are we supposed to do that.

Oct 13, 2014 10:19 AM in response to Mark Bishop1

Not only is iTunes not adding files to the phone, but it's also not removing them. My playlist is set to only add songs with a play count of zero. Once it has been played, it is automatically removed on the next sync. Tracks I played over the weekend are still on the phone after last nights failed 8 hour sync.

I've been successfully managing my playlists this way for over five years.

LaMaupin

Level 1

5 points

Oct 13, 2014 11:03 AM in response to Mark Bishop1

Hi everyone! Here's what worked for me JUST NOW for my iPhone 6 Plus (128Gb), which is totally up to date:

1. On the Music tab, uncheck the "Sync Music" box.

2. On the Summary tab, check "Sync only checked songs and videos" and "Manually manage music and videos."

3. Go to your regular music library and find a song that's missing on your iPhone.

4. Drag that song to your iPhone playlist (or just the phone itself).

This triggers a massive update of music. You might also get some stuff you didn't want (I got a NIN album I'd deleted some time ago), but it sure as **** beats partial music.

Cheers!

LaMaupin

SKLandis

Level 1

0 points

Oct 13, 2014 2:12 PM in response to kcuttsjr81

I was having the same issue. Only purchased songs were loading onto my iPhone 6 plus. I followed the steps given exactly and it worked perfectly for me. Now all my songs are loaded onto my iPhone. Thank You!!

SKLandis

Level 1

0 points

Oct 13, 2014 2:14 PM in response to kcuttsjr81

njrat

Level 1

0 points

Oct 13, 2014 7:48 PM in response to LaMaupin

LaMaupin's solution was the only one that worked for me. I tried deleting duplicate purchased songs, unchecking and rechecking the sync in music, and syncing via wifi. By changing to manual sync and dragging one of the missing songs to my phone, all of my missing songs finally sync'd successfully.

Oct 14, 2014 2:25 AM in response to Mark Bishop1

I have an iPhone 5. I just upgraded to iOS 8.02 and have (newly) OSX 10.9.5

My sync hangs. I have tried repeating it several times. It seems to hang in different places.Sounds like the same problem.

I never had this problem before upgrading.

This is really annoying

jheaven

Level 1

0 points

Oct 14, 2014 5:20 AM in response to LaMaupin

LaMaupin's solution worked for me as well! Thanks bro. They need to fix this issue ASAP. And send us all $20 iTunes cards.

Oct 14, 2014 8:08 AM in response to Jeff Barlow

Same here, initiall sync works fine, all future syncs don't 😠

Oct 14, 2014 1:28 PM in response to TingMatin

After my successful reset and sync this weekend, even though my play counts and play lists in iTunes are updating, it's not carrying over to the iPhone on a sync.

nadamcik

Level 1

0 points

Oct 16, 2014 8:35 PM in response to jheaven

I would like to kick the apple VP in the balls for these issues.

iPhone 6 won't sync all songs after iOS 8 update