Music app on iPhone reverting back to changed titles automatically

I use an iPhone 6s (16GB) iOS 10.3.2 and iTunes 12.6.1.25. On the stock iPhone Music app I like to change album titles and artist names so that my library is a little more organized. So, on iTunes I go to the song I want to change, click on "get info," and edit the track info the way I like it. But when I start playing the music on my iPhone, sometimes the titles that I change automatically start to revert back to the original info. It will show the song info as purchased the song.


For example: let's say I edited the song "One Dance (feat. Wizkid & Kyla)" Drake . If I change the album title from "One Dance (feat. Wizkid & Kyla) - Single" to "Views." I sync my phone and the changes are shown on my phone. But when I start playing the song on my phone it will automatically revert back to "One Dance (feat. Wizkid & Kyla)" - Single.


However, on my computer the titles in iTunes are still edited the way the I changed them. When I sync my phone directly after the changes take effect, it does not change the song info back to the way I like them despite my changes still remaining on iTunes on my computer.


The only temporary solution I have found is that if I delete the song from my phone and re-sync the song, it will match what is on iTunes temporarily. But it will only stay this way for a short while. After some plays (not exactly sure how many) it will change back to the original titles. Also, sometimes when I persistently delete and re-sync the song or buy new music it eventually songs won't have this problem anymore. But then other songs I edited a while back then will start to revert back to old info. So, I fix some songs then other songs start to have the problem.


I also have went into my settings and chose to hide Apple Music on my iPhone and computer (just in case it was Apple Music was the reason) [I had Apple Music for three months trial but haven't used it since.] I also do not have iTunes Match.


I use an app called MusixMatch when I listen to music to play lyrics on my phone. I doubt it, but is it possible for apps that have access to your music to change song info? Also, my library uses iCloud. The new update doesn't give me the option to turn off iCloud for my music on the computer nor on my iPhone.


I am wondering if there is a way to stop the song info on my iPhone from being automatically reverted back to original info, after the info was changed manually by me.


Just to make sure it is clear, the song info only is reverted back to the original song info on my iPhone. So on iTunes my changes remain intact, while on my iPhone the changes remain for a short while before changing back (usually as soon as I start listening to the song that I edited).


I appreciate any and all responses related to this issue. Thank you.

iPhone 6s, iOS 10.3.2

Posted on Jul 16, 2017 6:57 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 1, 2017 11:35 PM

You may find that hiding the purchase (see Hide and unhide iTunes Store, App Store, or iBooks Store purchases - Apple Support) prevents your device from reading the metadata from your purchased track and then applying it to the one that is already on the device,


tt2

11 replies

Oct 23, 2017 7:41 AM in response to kondwanimz

I'm running into this issue as well. In my case, I like to edit the album titles of movie soundtracks to remove the phrase "(Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" from the album title. For example, "Dunkirk (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" becomes simply "Dunkirk".


This issue affects only iTunes purchases I've made since about January of 2017. All purchased items in my library from before 2017 are unaffected – and like the other user, the changes to metadata do not revert in my iTunes library. Only the album titles on my iOS devices, which sync via iTunes Match, are affected.


I have also found that there are temporary solutions – such as editing the album title in iTunes to something new, saving the changes, and then editing it back – which forces iTunes Match to re-sync the new changes. Also toggling iTunes Match (iCloud Music Library) off, then back on, on the affected iOS device. Both of these will correct the issue on the iOS device temporarily, and the iTunes purchases will revert back to their "official" metadata after a few hours, or a day at most. I've given up using these temporary steps since they never stick, and because I've purchased enough affected iTunes content since the issue began that temporarily fixing it is an onerous task.


Obviously there's been some internal change related to iTunes purchases and Apple servers checking or authenticating iTunes content on the iOS device against their official store servers and not the metadata from my library that is supposed to sync via iTunes Match.


The issue isn't enough to make me stop using iTunes Match all together, but it does take the shine off an otherwise excellent service. I hope (but don't expect) that Apple will take steps to address it at some point.


* All devices are running the latest versions of Apple software: Mac running High Sierra 10.13 and iTunes 12.7.0.166, iPhone 8 running iOS 11.0.3, iPad Air running iOS 11.0.3

Oct 1, 2017 11:48 PM in response to turingtest2

I have figured that deleting the music app on my iPhone then re-syncing all my music using iTunes reverts all the music back to my edited song info. Usually after a while when it fetches for new artist pictures, I believe that at that time it also looks at titles and changes them. I am going to see how long it lasts. Hopefully for long! If it does change I will try your method of hiding the songs.

Oct 1, 2017 11:44 PM in response to turingtest2

If only there was a way to disallow iTunes from looking in your library. Apple needs to understand that if you give the user the ability to edit music manually on your computer, why should your iPhone music app revert the titles to the original iTunes Store titles automatically. Who would want even want that? If you really wanted the original titles you would leave the music as is, or redownload the song altogether if you made too many changes. Apple really needs to rethink this feature. I have looked back at other forums and it looks like this problem has lingered since iOS 7. If iTunes doesn’t fix this feature soon I will permanently move on to other music stores such as Google or Amazon so that my future songs won’t be changed by the iTunes Store when I edit the tracks.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Music app on iPhone reverting back to changed titles automatically

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.