I can't transfer my music from iTunes 12 to my iPhone--please help

Hey PraySilence,

I was just experiencing this issue with iTunes and my iPhone 6. A couple things to check are as follows:

1) Have you enabled "Manually Manage Music and Videos" for your iPhone?

2) If your iPhone is preparing to update through iTunes, the drag and drop feature is temporarily disabled (I don't know why, it just is).

3) Unplug and replug your iPhone.

Let me know if any of these works for you.

Good Luck!

Therein lies your issue. If "manually manage music and videos" is not enabled, the drag and drop feature is disabled for that device (frustrating, I know).

You have two options:

1) Create a playlist labelled "iPhone Music", "Music for my Phone", etc. (some playlist for iPhone music). Then, in iPhone settings, go to music and select your newly created playlist to sync with your iPhone. Uncheck the library if you do not wish to copy all songs to your iPhone. Then, from your library, you can drag and drop songs to the new playlist, which will directly sync with your iPhone.

2) If you wish to drag and drop straight to your iPhone, unfortunately, you will need to erase it. Once you do this, you will be allowed to use iTunes the way you are accustomed to.

Lastly, you can try to avoid erasing the phone by clicking Advanced (on the top bar) -> Authorize this computer. I'm not certain it will work, but you will sign in and give your computer permission and it should be done anyway.

Let me know if this helps

Good luck!

Having the same problem. Where exactly is the 'manually manage music and videos' setting? Where exactly is the 'Advanced (on the top bar) -> Authorize this computer' setting? Will this work for podcasts as well? If I erase my phone, will I lose all my contacts, apps, etc?? Is this easily restored from iTunes? HOW do I erase my phone? Thanks so much for your help.

Hi Johnrjohnr,

Here are some images to help you out. Please be sure to first plug your iPhone in or enable "Sync with this iPhone over WiFi" and be running the latest version of iTunes.

1) Select your device from the upper-left corner of iTunes (your application may appear slightly different on a Windows computer). To erase your iPhone, select "Restore iPhone" in the Summary tab of your device. Erasing your iPhone will remove ALL data - including photos, contacts, apps, etc. If you choose to do this, be sure to back up your information to iCloud, iTunes, or another service of your choosing. All apps, movies, music, etc. that you have purchased through iTunes will be available to install immediately after the restore.

2) Remain on the Summary tab. Scroll to the bottom of the screen where you will find the Device Options List. To drag and drop songs to your iPhone, "Manually manage music and videos" must be checked. The remaining items are optional.

3) It appears I was mistaken on the "Advanced" menu, my apologies. It is no longer in iTunes (I believe it was removed with iTunes 11). The option is now located under Store -> "Authorize This Computer..." Selecting this will give your computer full permission to access any content you have purchased through iTunes. I have not personally used podcasts in a few years, but I'd imagine it will apply as well. Sign in using the Apple ID that you have purchased content with and you should have unrestricted access. Keep in mind that you may have up to 5 authorized computers at any given time. To authorize a 6th computer, you will need to go to one of the other machines and select "Deauthorize This Computer..."

I hope this has been of some help to you. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Good Luck!