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Syncing Music Deletes All Music From iPhone?

I am trying to use iTunes to play a song on my computer. Unfortunately the song is not found anywhere in the iTunes library, despite the phone being synced literally in the last five minutes. The song is on my phone, but not the computer. I looked around and noticed "sync music" was not checked so I turned that option on. I got a warning saying that all songs on my phone would be deleted.


What the **** is that?! The phone is with me 24/7, my computer is not. Therefore everything on the phone: videos, songs, websites, playlists, pictures, etc etc etc. are their most current versions. Basically iTunes is telling me that it is impossible to sync new music from the phone to the computer, despite the fact that literally everyone on the planet uses their phone rather than the computer to make purchases for things to be used on their phone. How do I force iTunes to sync music from the phone to the computer as a one way transaction with no data on the phone being affected in any way whatsoever? This should literally always be the only direction data travels unless restoring the iPhone from a backup.

iPhone 8 Plus, iOS 14

Posted on May 20, 2021 5:07 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 20, 2021 5:39 AM

Adding music to an iDevice has always been one-way; from iTunes to the device (iPhone in your case). What Sync does in addition to adding music to the phone is synchronise Playlists between the two, as well as send back to your iTunes Library any changes you've made to the rating of a piece of music and details of the Last Played time.


Backing up the phone does not back up the media (music). Backup of music is a separate function, that you need to carry out yourself.


If you want to add music that you purchased from the iTunes Store, to your iTunes Library, sign into your account in your iTunes library. Once you've done that, if the songs don't automatically download, look at your account detail in the store and download the songs directly from the store to your Library.

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 20, 2021 5:39 AM in response to Nilrem435

Adding music to an iDevice has always been one-way; from iTunes to the device (iPhone in your case). What Sync does in addition to adding music to the phone is synchronise Playlists between the two, as well as send back to your iTunes Library any changes you've made to the rating of a piece of music and details of the Last Played time.


Backing up the phone does not back up the media (music). Backup of music is a separate function, that you need to carry out yourself.


If you want to add music that you purchased from the iTunes Store, to your iTunes Library, sign into your account in your iTunes library. Once you've done that, if the songs don't automatically download, look at your account detail in the store and download the songs directly from the store to your Library.

Syncing Music Deletes All Music From iPhone?

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