Issues with Apple Music and Solutions

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coco
August 7, 2024

Apple Music is one of the most popular music streaming services in the world with over 90 million songs. The standard Apple Music subscription costs $10.99 in the United States, but there are special prices for families, students, and Apple One subscribers.

Apple Music is available on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac, HomePod, CarPlay, Smart TVs, Gaming Consoles, Roku, Android, PC, Amazon Echo, Sonos, Google Nest, etc. However, you may encounter kinds of issues while streaming or downloading Apple Music songs on different devices. Don’t worry, here we have list the most common issues while using Apple Music and their solutions.

Related: How to get Apple Music 6 months free?

1. Apple Music Library not loading

iCloud Music Library is a very convenient way to keep all your music. But sometimes you are going to run into problems with the iCloud Music Library. The main problem is iCloud Music not syncing. The songs you have uploaded to your iCloud Music Library on computer don’t show up on your iPhone. If you are encountering this issue, don’t worry. We will show you a few workarounds to fix the iCloud Music Library not showing up issue.

1.1 Check Internet Connection

Any issues with the network may lead to iCloud Music Library not syncing problem. Simply open your browser or any other app and try to load something. If you can not do that, it means that the problem stems from your Internet connection. Then you can try a different network. 

1.2 Sign out and sign in with your Apple ID

If Apple ID fails to communicate with the Apple Music server, you can’t access and load your music library. A quick re-login process can help you fix the issue.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Go to Settings > [your name]. 
  2. Scroll down to the bottom. 
  3. At the bottom of an iPhone screen there’s a Sign Out button with red text. 
  4. Tap Sign Out. 
  5. Enter your Apple ID password and tap Turn Off. Forgot your Apple ID password? 
  6. Turn on the data that you want to keep a copy of on your device. 
  7. Tap Sign Out. 
  8. Tap Sign Out again to confirm that you want to sign out of iCloud. 
  9. 9. Open the Settings app. Tap Sign in to your [device]. 
  10. 10. Enter your Apple ID and password. 
  11. 11. If prompted, enter the six-digit verification code sent to your trusted device or phone number and complete sign in.

On Mac

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. 
  2. Click Apple ID, then click Overview. If you use macOS High Sierra or earlier, click iCloud. 
  3. Click Sign Out. 
  4. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. 
  5. Click Sign In. 
  6. Enter your Apple ID and password. 
  7. If prompted, enter the six-digit verification code sent to your trusted device or phone number and complete sign in.

1.3 Re-enable Sync Library

Restarting iCloud Music Library settings can help fix the Apple Music loading issue. With the latest version of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, Sync Library is turned on by default. If you turned off Sync Library, you can turn it back on. Just follow the steps below for your device.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Go to Settings > Music. 
  2. Turn on Sync Library. If you don’t subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, you won’t see an option to turn on Sync Library.

On your Mac

  1. Open the Apple Music app. 
  2. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Music > Preferences. 
  3. Go to the General tab and select Sync Library to turn it on. If you don’t subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, you won’t see an option to turn on Sync Library. 
  4. Click OK.

On your PC with iTunes for Windows

In iTunes for Windows, iCloud Music Library isn’t turned on by default. To turn on iCloud Music Library:

  1. Open iTunes. 
  2. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Edit > Preferences. 
  3. Go to the General tab and select iCloud Music Library to turn it on. If you don’t subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, you won’t see an option to turn on iCloud Music Library. 
  4. Click OK.

2. Apple Music Playlists Disappeared

2. 1 Check Your Subscription

Here’s how to view subscriptions on your iPhone so you can see whether the Apple Music subscription is out of date. 

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. 
  2. Tap your name at the top of the list. 
  3. On the resulting page, tap Subscriptions.

2.2 Turn off Sync Library and then sync on

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Go to Settings > Music.
  2. Turn off Sync Library. Restart your device and turn Sync Library back on.

On your Mac

  1. Open the Apple Music app.
  2. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Music > Preferences. 
  3. Go to the General tab and uncheck Sync Library to turn it off.
  4. Wait a moment and then turn it on.

On your PC with iTunes for Windows

  1. Open iTunes.
  2. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Edit > Preferences. 
  3. Go to the General tab and uncheck iCloud Music Library to turn it off. 
  4. Wait a moment and then turn it on.

3. Apple Music Song Not Available in Your Country or Region

Why do songs get randomly removed from Apple Music?

Make sure that all of your devices have Sync Library turned on, and signed in with the same Apple ID. If you’re still missing a song that you added from the Apple Music catalog, then the song might have been removed from Apple Music or is available under a different file name. Here are some reasons why:

  • Artists and content providers might release some songs from an album in advance, but not all of them. If you add the entire album to your library, the songs will become available as they’re released.
  • Artists and content providers might change or remove music from the Apple Music catalog. Search Apple Music to see if that song is available under a different name or file. If it is, add the song to your library so it’s no longer grayed out .
  • The song might not be available in your country or region and will appear in gray text when you search for it in Apple Music.
  • If an explicit song is grayed out, you might have restrictions turned on for your device. You can use Screen Time on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch , or Screen Time on your Mac to turn off restrictions. You can also add the clean version from Apple Music to your library.

3.1 Check Language & Region

Go to Settings – General – Language & Region and make sure they are correct. If you are using a VPN connection delete it.

3.2 Reset Warnings

  1. On your Mac, open the Apple Music app. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Music > Preferences. Go to the Advanced tab and click Reset Warnings.
  2. On your Windows, open iTunes. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Edit > Preferences. Go to the Advanced tab and click Reset Warnings.

3.3 Turn Sync Library off/on

3.4 Sync the iPhone Manually

Connect the iPhone to your computer via a USB connection. Open Music and select the iPhone from the list of devices. (You might need to authorize from both your computer and the iPhone.) Synch the iPhone with the computer. You can choose what music, etc. you want to transfer to the iPhone.

4. Apple Music Songs Greyed Out

What are the reasons some songs would be greyed out in Apple Music?

Sync Library might be turned off or unable to connect to the internet on one of your devices.

Some songs or albums might be greyed out because they’re not currently available in Apple Music.

If most of your music was imported from sources other than Apple Music, or you have a large music library, it might take more time for your music library to upload.

Apple Music might not be able to upload the song because the song wasn’t purchased from the iTunes Store, was purchased using a different Apple ID, or is too large of a file.

The song file is corrupt or there was an error uploading the song.

Various reasons may cause the problem of songs greyed out. Here are all the possible solutions that can help you get out of the trouble.

5 Solutions to Fix Apple Music/iTunes Songs Greyed Out

4.1 Turn on Sync Library

4.2 Select the Checkboxes

If a song is grayed out but you can still play it. Open the Apple Music app on your Mac or iTunes on your PC. Under Library, click Songs and make sure that there’s a check next to the song.

If you don’t see checkboxes next to your songs:

  1. Open the Apple Music app or iTunes.
  2. On your Mac, go to the menu bar and choose Music > Preferences. On your PC, choose iTunes > Preferences.
  3. Click the General tab.
  4. Select “Songs list checkboxes.”
  5. Click OK.

Under Library, click Songs and make sure that there’s a check next to every song. If there isn’t, select the box next to a song to see a check.

4.3 Re-authorized Computer

You can also try to refresh the authorization. Here’s how to reauthorize your computer:

Mac:

  1. In the Music app on your Mac, choose Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.
  2. If requested, enter your Apple ID password.
  3. In the Music app on your Mac, choose Account > Authorizations > Authorize This Computer.
  4. If requested, enter your Apple ID password to confirm.

PC:

  1. Open iTunes for Windows.
  2. From the menu bar at the top of your computer screen, choose Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.
  3. Choose Deauthorize.
  4. In the menu bar, choose Account > Authorizations > Authorize This Computer.

4.4 Check Selection Setting

The iTunes music will be hidden and disappear from your devices if you turn on the Check Selection setting. To fix it, you need to uncheck this option.

  1. Open iTunes library on your device, right-click on that song which is greyed out.
  2. Choose the “Check Selection” option and after doing this, you are probably able to play the song.

4.5 Find the songs in Apple Music catalog

If you subscribed to Apple Music, search the songs from Apple Music catalog and then add them to Library.

5. Apple Music Family Sharing Not Working

5.1 Check your Family Sharing settings

Check your Family Sharing settings to make sure that you’re signed in with the correct Apple ID.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Go to Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing.
  2. Tap your name.
  3. Confirm or change the Apple ID that you want to use to share content.
  4. Tap Back in the upper-left corner to go back to Family Sharing.
  5. Tap Purchase Sharing and make sure that Share Purchases with Family is turned on.

On your Mac

  1. Choose Apple Menu > System Preferences, then click Family Sharing.
  2. Click Purchase Sharing.
  3. Confirm or change the Apple ID that you want to use to share content.
  4. Make sure that Share My Purchases is selected.

5.2 Check your Apple Music Family subscription

To share Apple Music with Family, you need to have a Family subscription. Individual and student subscriptions are not qualified.

5.3 Log out of Apple Music and iTunes and back in

Try signing out of your accounts on your devices, then signing back in.

5.4 Turn off Sync Library and then sync on

5.5 Remove Family members and re-add them

The organizer of a Family Sharing group can remove other members.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Go to Settings  > [ your name] > Family Sharing.
  2. Tap [ member’s name], then tap Remove [ member’s name] from Family.

On your Mac

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Family Sharing.
  2. Click Details next to the name of the family member that you want to remove.
  3. Click Remove from Family Sharing.

On macOS Mojave or earlier

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences > iCloud, then click Manage Family.
  2. Click the name of the family member that you want to remove.
  3. Click the Remove (—) button in the bottom-left corner.

6. Apple Music keeps skipping songs

6.1 Check song status

Double click the song and see what iTunes says. Below error means the songs has been deleted from your computer. You need to find where is comes from and download it again.

6.2 Check Internet Connection

The most common reason why iTunes won’t play the next song might be your bad internet connection. You can check the internet and see if it works while using other apps. If you can visit other apps just fine, the problem is iTunes, and you can try the following solutions.

6.3 Log out and log in Your Apple ID

6.4 Re-sync or Re-download

If the sync or download process was interrupted, the tracks won’t be playable. You can try to delete the tracks from your library first and sync them again. This might help to fix the iTunes keeps skipping songs issue.

6.5 Delete music

1. On your Mac, hover your pointer over the item, then click the More options button that appears. 
Or on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone, press and hold the item that you want to delete. 
2. Tap or click Remove. 
3. From the menu that appears, choose Remove or Remove Download. Or choose “Delete from Library” to remove the item from all devices that you use with Apple Music.

6.6 Turn on Sync Library

7. Apple Music Album Artwork Not Showing

7.1 Free up storage

It is possible that your iPhone or iPad does not have enough free space and thus artwork cannot be displayed. Tap Settings > General > iPhone (or iPad) Storage. You might see a list of recommendations for optimizing your device’s storage, followed by a list of installed apps and the amount of storage each one uses. You may want to delete useless apps, photos and videos, or other content you do not need.

On your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, go to Settings – General – [Device] Storage – Music – Offload App. This will free up storage used by the app, but keep its documents and data. Then reinstall Music app.

Go to Settings, scroll down and tap Music. Turn on Optimize Storage, which will automatically remove music from this device that you haven’t played in a while when your device is low on space.

7.2 Download the album

Select an album in your library that is not downloaded to phone. Download it to phone. Once it’s done. Delete the downloads. All the blank album artwork showed up instantly.

7.3 Update your device

Back up your device using iCloud or your computer before update.

  1. Plug your device into power and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi .
  2. Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update. 
  3. If you see two software update options available, choose the one that you want to install.
  4. Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now.

If you can’t see the update on your device, you can update manually using your computer. Learn how to update your device manually if you’re using a Mac with macOS Catalina or later , or if you’re using a Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier or a Windows PC .

7.4 Turn off Sync Library and then sync on

All the problems above can be killed with the help of Pazu Apple Music Converter. It is a professional Apple Music converter, which will help you download and convert Apple Music files to MP3, AAC, FLAC, AIFF, WAV, or M4A format at 10X faster speed with keeping lossless audio quality. Thus, you can freely move your Apple Music songs to Peloton for listening. The following is the detailed tutorial to help you convert Apple Music to MP3 and sync them to Peloton for playing. 

Step 1 Launch Pazu Apple Music Converter

Download, install and run Pazu Apple Music Converter on your Mac or Windows. Click the key icon to activate the full version if you have purchased a license, otherwise you can only use the trial version.

Step 2 Log in your Apple Music account

Follow the on-screen instructions to sign in with your Apple ID.

Apple Music Converter

Step 3 Choose output format

The default format is M4A in 256kbps. Apple Music Converter also supports MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV and AIFF. Click the gear icon if you want to change output format or output folder. Here you can also customize song name format with any combination of Playlist Index, Track Number, Title, Artist and Album. Or set Pazu Apple Music Converter to archive output song with Artist, Album, Artist/Album or Album/Artist.

Apple Music Converter settings

Step 4 Choose a playlist, artist or album you want to download

Follow the on-screen instructions to choose a playlist, artist, or album that you want to download.

add Apple Music songs

Step 5 Add songs

Click the Add button to select songs for converting. All songs in the playlist or album are selected by default. Uncheck the songs you don’t want to download if there are any, then click Convert button.

convert Apple Music to MP3

The songs you selected will be downloaded to the format you want. After conversion, click the folder icon to quickly locate the DRM-free Apple Music songs. Now you can transfer the downloaded MP3 Apple Music songs to any device and play them with any music player.

Click the History icon to view all downloaded songs. You can check them by converted date, artist or album.

Apple Music Converter

Apple Music Converter

Download Apple Music to MP3, M4A, etc.