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Dragging music file from macbook to iphone deleted entire music library on iphone

Hello. I have a new Macbook air and an iphone 16.


I'm trying to (re)create a personal ringtone that I had on my old iphone. I've made a 20s wav file in GB on my macbook from a particular song I want to use, plugged in my iphone, and then dragged the file across to my phone using the finder. I feel certain, although it was a while ago now, that this is what I did previously to create a ringtone, converting the wav file to m4r on my phone, and then setting it as my ringtone.


However, doing this has resulted in the wav file appearing in my music app on my phone, but the entire existing music library of several 1000s of songs was deleted from my phone at the same time. I'm now re-syncing to get the music back on my phone.


I would welcome any advice on what I did wrong, and if there is a better way of going about this.


Many thanks



iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Oct 27, 2024 5:26 PM

Reply
3 replies

Oct 30, 2024 12:23 PM in response to Nautilus_maximus

That sounds like expected behaviour if you connect the device to a new (to it) computer and library and try to add content. With iPhone in particular (for reasons unknown) all media items synced or manually transferred to the device are suppose to align with a source file on the computer. If that file isn't there when the device updates then it is removed from the device. There should be a warning about removing what is on the device and replacing it with what you are adding from the computer, but it may be supressed or unclear.


See Create and manage ringtones - Apple Community for advice on creating ringtones and adding them to your device.


tt2

Dragging music file from macbook to iphone deleted entire music library on iphone

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