iTunes won't sync updates to playlists to my Iphone

Question

iTunes won't sync updates to playlists to my Iphone

I manage all of my music on my iPhone through playlists. When I try to add songs to a playlist and sync the phone, the songs appear on the phone as if they've synced properly, but they are grayed out and do not play. The only work around I have found it to completely remove that playlist from the phone and add it again. Is there any fix for this?

I'm using an iPhone 6s running iOS 9.2. My Macbook Pro is running OS 10.10.5 and iTunes 12.3. I don't really want to upgrade to 10.11 if I don't have to. I just want iTunes to work.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Jan 9, 2016 6:58 PM

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Answer 1

SteveKer

Level 1

13 points

Dec 15, 2017 10:47 AM in response to Quack

It's now December 2017, a year and a half later and it's still not fixed. iTunes is still creating XX1 and XX2 versions of playlists that are both wrong. It's still broken. I guess Apple isn't planing to fix this.

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Answer 2

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Jan 11, 2016 7:59 AM in response to onelinerbassist

Howdy onelinerbassist,

I understand that, when syncing a new playlist to your iPhone, the music appears grayed out until you remove the playlist, sync, then re-add the playlist. In such a situation it can often help to disable music syncing altogether, sync the device, then re-enable syncing.

Disabling music syncing with your iPhone can be done via the steps outlined below. After syncing with music syncing disabled, repeat the same steps, but select the 'Sync Music' checkbox rather than deselecting it.

Select your iPhone in iTunes (underneath the Play button at the top left)
Select 'Music' on the left under 'Settings'
Deselect 'Sync Music'
Click 'Apply'
Click 'Sync'

Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes using USB
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201253

Hope this helps!

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Answer 3

May 24, 2016 4:56 PM in response to CarlAVII

Hi,

There is no option to Deselect 'Sync Music'. I only have an option to Sync Voice Memos. Hmmm, Why?

Is there another way to get the playlist on my iPhone to update in iTunes? I'm on a Macbook Pro and iPhone 6+ with everything updated.

Thanks for Your Time!

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Answer 4

Quack

Level 4

1,224 points

Aug 5, 2016 7:44 PM in response to onelinerbassist

I have the same issue. I buy a new song through iTunes and it shows up in my purchased tab. I get on my laptop and move the new song to my playlist. New song shows up in my playlist on my mac. I sync my iPhone and the new song is not in the playlist.

Only way for me to get it to work is to uncheck sync music on my iTunes when my phone is hooked up. Let it sync without the songs then resent again by checking it.

This was never an issue before and I don't know why it is now. I tried adding the song to my playlist on my iPhone but when I sync it creates the same playlist but names it xx2. Very frustrating.

Did you ever find a fix?

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