Local music from iTunes library not available on iPhone

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Level 1

10 points

Local music from iTunes library not available on iPhone

I just don’t understand how Apple Music and iCloud music library works. I made the jump from Spotify to Apple music just to stop thinking about stuff, tweaking and just listen to music. Switching between iTunes and Spotify was a pain.

Her's what I want to do:

I want to have my 50 GB of local music available on my iPhone, plus the tracks and albums from Apple Music (some of them downloaded to listen offline). That’s the selling point that got me paying for Apple Music.

But I run into issues – namely I cannot play some music that exists locally on my iPhone. Drives me mad.

Here's my approach:

1. My iTunes library is all in synced to the cloud. On my Mac, iCloud music library is enabled.

2. I wanted the have my music on my iPhone.

3. Since syncing does not work with iCloud Music library, I tricked it: I disabled iCloud Music library on the iPhone to have the local files transferred.

4. Plugged the iPhone, checked “sync entire library”, synced.

5. Then I enabled the iCloud Music library and chose to keep local music when prompted.
My understanding was – I get to keep my local files on the phone PLUS I’ll get the Apple Music stuff.

Here's the problem:

- Lots of local music that exists locally is not on the phone at all.

- It just has this cloud icon and offers to download it. I don’t get it. Double checked. Lot of files that clearly are present in my ITunes library, show up in my Music app as “cloud only”.

Before IOS 11, this approach worked fine. Now it’s a mess. I want to have my entire local library available. When I feel like I want to listen particular album, I want to have it ready for me ninstantly, not a friggin cloud icon. This is the only reason I bought large capacity iPhone, to replace my iPod Classic! With cloud only library and dependence on downloads, I could get away with smaller capacity iPhone and could have saved some cash!

Am I doing something wrong here? Any suggestions?

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Oct 30, 2017 2:01 AM

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Answer 1

tomasz b Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 30, 2017 3:16 PM in response to tomasz b

Ok I got it, I think.

Some time ago, when playing with Music app on my iPhone I turned on the “optimize storage”. It deletes songs that were not played recently to free up space – all you got is the copy in iCloud that you can download if you wish.

BEWARE though. I found out that turning this “optimize storage” on iPhone deletes songs that were not played for some time, ALSO from iTunes library. There is no warning about that whatsoever.

When looking for solution I noticed that my iTunes library shrinked I size by about 50%. I was like ***!.. and found out that the very same albums that existed in in iCloud only, were also gone from iTunes. This is ridiculous. There is no warning that this feature optimizes storage not only on iPhone but also on your computer.

My conclusion is – if you have a large music library and looking to squeeze that in to iPhone, you might want to convert the files to a smaller size, like AAC 128, on the fly, when syncing.

Stay away from “optimize storage” feature.

If you mess things up like I did, be prepared to re-download all the songs that were pushed to the cloud. Right now I’m re-downloading some 20+ gigs of music which is a pain. ITunes does not handle this well, despite ultra fast broadband. Will take whole night I guess.

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Answer 2

tomasz b Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 30, 2017 8:28 AM in response to tomasz b

Silly to answer my own question but I might have found the cause of the problem.

Digging into iOS Music settings I stumbled upon this “Optimize Storage” – this was enabled, The description said clearly, that what it does is “removing songs that were not listened for a while” and the threshold was set to keep maximum of 3200 songs.

Need to get back to my Mac, check if this setting is present on iTunes also and do a re-sync. Will post an update.

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Answer 3

tomasz b Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 23, 2017 4:14 PM in response to LACAllen

This is not correct. The info about disabled sync is bit misleading. You defunitely CAN sync local music files via iTunes with iCloud Music Library and Apple Music disabled. Once the sync is completed and the files are on your phone, you can ENABLE the iCloud Music Library and Apple Music.

iPhone will ask you whether you want to keep your local music or not. If you choose keep, the files stay and voila, you have two sources of music - files synced previously that just sit there, and the second source - Apple Music.

You are right however that from the point you enable the iCloud Music library, syncing is not available. So you want to do one sync, maybe with all your library, and only then enable iCloud Music Library,

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Answer 4

LACAllen

Level 8

43,602 points

Nov 23, 2017 1:09 PM in response to wesb2114

I plug my phone into the computer and sync some favorite music to my phone. I want to be able to also use my library online since I sometimes access random artists, but there are many artists on my computer that don't show up in "Music" app.

You can't do this. Your phone can have only one source for music. You can either sync with iTunes, or use the iCloud Music Library. It's one or the other.

is music app separate from "Itunes Store" app.

The Music App plays all music. iTunes purchased, CD based, Apple Music.

In iOS, there is the Music App, which plays music, and the iTunes Store app, where you purchase apps and music.

On Mac/PC there is just the iTunes application that both plays music and allows you to purchase music.

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Answer 5

LACAllen

Level 8

43,602 points

Nov 2, 2017 6:41 PM in response to tomasz b

You can only have one source for music on your device. iTunes or an iCloud Music Library.

Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes on your computer using USB - Apple Support

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Answer 6

tomasz b Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 2, 2017 1:34 AM in response to tomasz b

Update 2.

So, I re-downloaded all the missing files, synced the iPhone and re-enabled the iCloud Music Library.

Problems remain. Some albums, which are clearly local, show up as “cloud only”. No clue why. If I want to listen them, download is required. But the local files are clearly there in iPhone memory. If I disable the iCloud Music Library, I am able to play them, without downloading, no problems.

Something is seriously broken here.

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Answer 7

wesb2114

Level 1

4 points

Nov 23, 2017 1:03 PM in response to LACAllen

So can you tell us how to fix this? I also have his problem and there are so many ways to navigate to itunes/music settings. Is there a step by step explaining how they all relate and how to set them up? I plug my phone into the computer and sync some favorite music to my phone. I want to be able to also use my library online since I sometimes access random artists, but there are many artists on my computer that don't show up in "Music" app. Is music app separate from "Itunes Store" app. How do they relate? Is there an "Itunes" app that looks like the Itunes interface on the computer?

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Answer 8

LACAllen

Level 8

43,602 points

Nov 23, 2017 4:20 PM in response to tomasz b

So noted.

Functionally, that is neither convenient or easy to grasp for a layman.

IMO, not using both at the same makes sense.

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Answer 9

tomasz b Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 23, 2017 4:24 PM in response to LACAllen

Yes, it took me some time to figure this out, trial and error..

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Answer 10

tomasz b Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 23, 2017 4:22 PM in response to wesb2114

As for the iTunes Store and Music Apps they’re different things. The store, is well, a store where you purchase stuff. I don’t think you can play anything with it. Music purchased there is playable in Music app.

Re the files sync, please see my other comment in this thread about file syncing. Here it goes, hope it is clear:

You definitely CAN sync local music files via iTunes with iCloud Music Library and Apple Music disabled. Once the sync is completed and the files are on your phone, you can ENABLE the iCloud Music Library and Apple Music.

iPhone will ask you whether you want to keep your local music or not. If you choose keep, the files stay and voila, you have two sources of music - files synced previously that just sit there, and the second source - Apple Music.

You are right however that from the point you enable the iCloud Music library, syncing is not available. So you want to do one sync, maybe with all your library, and only then enable iCloud Music Library.

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