Partial Playlist Sync Between iTunes and iPhone 8 Plus?

Hello,


I have an iPhone 8 Plus on iOS 11.2.5 and a MacBook (2015) on macOS 10.13.3 and iTunes 12.7.3.46. I have a particular playlist consisting of 14 songs ripped from a single CD (from another MacBook) that I am trying to sync to my iPhone.


I have tried syncing via wi-fi and via a USB-C to lightning cable, repeatedly, but I am only able to sync 11 out of 14 tracks. There are three songs in particular, that despite multiple reboots and sync attempts, just refuse to sync. I thought the files might be 'corrupted' but they play just fine from my MacBook.


When I open up Music on my iPhone, I see the three song titles, but they are greyed out and I am unable to play them. When I watch my phone sync, the circular progress bar moves along, suggesting the sync of those three tracks is moving along, but the progress bar completes a full circle around and the track remains greyed out.


On iTunes on my MacBook, when I look at songs 'On My Device' I see the song title, greyed out, with a dotted-line circle icon to the left.


I've spent about an hour on multiple sync attempts and multiple reboots. Help!


Thanks in advance!

iPhone 8 Plus, iOS 11.2.5

Posted on Feb 14, 2018 7:50 PM

Reply

Similar questions

1 reply

Feb 16, 2018 1:39 PM in response to wut3232

You could try the following all-purpose steps for dealing with erratic device or sync behaviour (including the troublesome greyed out tracks and/or dotted circles of stalled transfers). They assume that all of the content you want on the device is in your library ready for restoring. If it isn't see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device first. I would also recommend you copy everything out of the camera roll if you haven't already.


  1. Backup device.
  2. Restore as a new device.
  3. Restore the backup you made earlier.


Use an encrypted backup (*) if you want to preserve passwords, Wi-Fi settings, web history and health data where appropriate. I also suggest syncing with a selection of playlists (unless you're using iCloud Music Library) rather than manually adding content as, if nothing else, the process above is easier to do if you ever have to go through it again.


(*) The downside with backup encryption is that if you forget the password when you need it again, which could be years later, you may need to invoke a workaround to turn off encryption as shown in Re: disable encrypted backups, which can only help if your device is in a state that can backup to iCloud, or runs iOS 11.



For added security you might also want to make an independent backup to iCloud and/or archive your current backup before you start.



FWIW I successfully used this method some time ago when Siri became unable to call contacts or play my music.



tt2

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.

Partial Playlist Sync Between iTunes and iPhone 8 Plus?

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