I've searched support articles and found how to delete music in this way, but after I delete it, the artist and album still show in my Music app on my iPhone. To see if the music is still there, I hit "play" and the songs from the deleted artist or album still play. Is there any way to delete individual songs, albums or artists that have been put on the iPhone but still leave them in my iTunes library on my PC?
iPhone 6s, iOS 11.2.1
Thanks, Demo. I appreciate the response. I did ensure that I was viewing only "Downloaded Music" (see attached screen shot).
I attempted to delete one of the AC/DC albums, Back in Black. Now, when I use 3D touch to bring up the album, I get the next result.
That makes me think that it is indeed off of my iPhone, but still in my PC iTunes library. However, when I go to play the song to ensure that it's not on the device, it plays as though I never deleted it. That's the confusing part.
Thanks,
--Greg
That album is not on your phone. That’s why you see the download icon. The songs will still play as long as you are connected to WiFi or have a cellular connection. Why Apple did it this way is beyond me.
You can double check in Settings>General>iPhone Storage>Music. Swipe down and you see a list of all of the music that is on the phone.
Deleting content on the iOS device itself should not have any effect on content on your computer unless you are using one of the Apple Cloud services, like iCloud Drive, Apple Music , iTunes Match or iCloud Photo Library.
Are you sure that you are actually looking at Downloaded Music on the phone. Launch the Music app and tap on Library>Downloaded Music. That will show you the music that is actually on the phone. Songs with the cloud download icon are not actually residing on the phone.
Bottom line is that if you are not using one of those cloud services, you can delete songs on the phone and they still remain in iTunes on your computer.
Got it. Thank you, Demo. Much appreciated
You’re welcome.
How To Delete Music from iPhone but Leave on iTunes
