apple music playlist artwork disappearing

I had problems recently where Apple Music playlist artwork was not synchronised between my MacBook and my iPhone. Now almost all my playlist artwork has disappeared from my MacBook but is still on my iPhone.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.0

Posted on Nov 7, 2025 2:25 AM

Reply
19 replies

Nov 9, 2025 2:55 AM in response to richardwg

I have done everything that the support team have suggested. I always back up my MacBook every week. They have guided me throughout and none of their solutions have worked. I am not doing any more diagnosing for Apple. They know there is a problem so they can work it out.

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To the OP and ALL those affected…


Provide Apple Feedback:

Do Your Part: Report this to AppleApple won't get back to you directly, but the more feedback they receive on this, the more they will know what is occurring, and what should be looked at.

  1. Go Here: Feedback - Music - Apple
  2. Select: "Bug Report" for the "Feedback Type"
  3. Select: "Library" for the "What Apple Music feature is your feedback about?"
  4. Comment: on when you came across this issues, and how you have troubleshot it thus far. Include the URL of this post)
  5. Proceed from there as necessary

Nov 9, 2025 2:09 AM in response to richardwg

“apple music playlist artwork disappearing

I had problems recently where Apple Music playlist artwork was not synchronised between my MacBook and my iPhone. Now almost all my playlist artwork has disappeared from my MacBook but is still on my iPhone.

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Export, then Import Playlists:

I’ve had the same issue.


A. Restore from a Time Machine Backup:

The ultimate solution is to export from a a Time Machine Backup that you created just after the macOS upgrade. You’d Manually copy the Music folder (located in your Home directory) to an external drive.


But, if you made no backup prior to the latest macOS update, then void this option out. Take this as a learning experience, knowing to always create a backup of your Mac, prior to performing the upgrade. That way, you can have something to restore it from, should anything go wrong such as this.


B. Create > Export > Import Playlists:

Alternatively, export your playlists, and then import them back. The exported file if a XML file that contains playlist and song information but not the music files themselves. So, you’d create a new playlist, and then make a copy of each playlist, pasting it into the one you’ve just created. After the import, else if all is seen as it should.


First, Export as Playlists:

  1. Go to: File Menu
  2. Click: Library
  3. Click: Export Library


Then Import the Playlists…

  1. Go to: File menu
  2. Click: Library
  3. Click: Import Playlist
  4. Select: the XML file

Nov 8, 2025 1:33 AM in response to richardwg

I am now working with a senior support person at Apple. None of the actions they have suggested to rebuild the Music library have worked so far. They have now suggested reinstalling MacOS and I have a call booked for this afternoon so they can walk me through the process. I will report back whether this does, in fact, fix what seems like it ought to be a simple problem to resolve.

Nov 9, 2025 9:35 AM in response to TheLittles

I have tried adding the artwork back manually with interesting results. As I add artwork to playlists further down the list, the artwork I have already added to earlier ones disappears! Weird! I think there must be some unintended numerical or size limitation in the storage area for artwork. None of their individual images are large though. They are all less than 200Kb each

apple music playlist artwork disappearing

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