I connected my iPhone to my computer earlier today to copy the new music I have bought in the last year from my iPhone to my computer.
Afterward, in at least two of the playlists I have for the last year, almost all of the songs have been wiped from them. Two of the playlists are almost empty. One playlist has only two songs in there when there must have been about 50 and several hours of music. And the other playlist is only a quarter full of songs. There may be other playlists that have had songs wiped out from them as well.
When I spend so much money buying music from the Apple iTunes store on my iPhone and adding to playlists I don't expect them to be wiped.
I contacted Apple who referred me to their technical support site as they said the email address I contacted was for billing, account, and download queries only.
The guy I spoke with on chat at first wanted me to update my device to the latest iOS and said that it happens when software is not up to date. This is BS. A basic web search can find plenty of incidents when it happens to people with up to date software as well and the issue is a known issue apparently going back at least a decade.
I explained to the guy that I would not be updating my iPhone from iOS 13.4.1 that it is currently on because versions higher than this automatically download and install the UK Governments track and trace software onto your phone and I do not want this installed. He then asked for the serial number which I had already provided him with.
![apple chat 4b.png]( "apple chat 4b.png")
He then came back after speaking with someone for five minutes and told me something different. He said what causes the playlists to be wiped is that "This usually happens when syncing the iPhone to the pc, so whatever is within iTunes will sync to the iPhone".
![apple chat 10b.png]( "apple chat 10b.png")
He then went on to suggest that I use "iCloud, Apple Music or similar services to keep content from your mac or pc in the cloud" A sales pitch that doesn't help me at all. It especially won't help me if I want to access any of that on my 4G plan. Why would I want to put all this in the cloud when there is space on my iPhone and I want it to be accessible anywhere including places without internet?
I have had iCloud 200Gb service in the past year but I cancelled it because I got a new hard drive that I downloaded all my photos to from there so I no longer needed it. What good is that for the music that I purchase? None! I don't want or need that or Apple Music. I don't like streaming services, and if I can't trust companies like Apple to not wipe my playlists why would I trust them with my data and music in the cloud for any period of time other than a temporary means of storage until I have more space myself? If I pay for these additional services they want me to buy I would have the same problem except my wiped empty playlists would then be in the cloud not on my device. It would transfer the problem to another location where Apple has full control and doesn't actually solve the root issue.
I Then explained to him that none of the options within iTunes software on my PC were selected to sync automatically anyway. So why did it? Why would it sync without my permission? All I wanted to do was back up my device and save everything from my iPhone to my PC.
![apple chat 13b.png]( "apple chat 13b.png")
He then directed me to a website to follow instructions for syncing. Naively thinking this might help I decided to try following his advice. It only made matters worse. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210612
It has now synced my iPhone again. When I go to see my music and playlists it has now duplicated all the playlists many times and the most recent ones that had been wiped and now just duplicated four times and none of them have the songs restored that I had purchased in the iTunes store. Below you can see Playlist 2020 only has 11 songs in there when there were hundreds. It is also duplicated three times. Playlist 2020 2 has only 1 song in there when there were hundreds that I bought and added. All the other playlists are duplicated four times including the Recently Added, Recently Played, and Purchased which are Apples own default lists.
![IMG_7097.PNG]( "IMG_7097.PNG")
![IMG_7098.PNG]( "IMG_7098.PNG")
![IMG_7102.PNG]( "IMG_7102.PNG")
![IMG_7101.PNG]( "IMG_7101.PNG")
Apologies for the long rant but is anyone competent able to help with this issue? I.e. not someone from Apple. It would be nice if Apple just made software that worked and wasn't a heap of trash like iTunes. I am convinced they modeled it on Sony's Sonic Stage MiniDisc software it is that bad.
Why would Apple not fix something like this that is a clear issue for many of their customers? I have read articles going back to 2011 where other iPhone users had the same issue and others in between that time and more recently. It is clear their updated iOS systems did not solve the problem. I don't think I am going to buy another Apple product ever again if these songs are not restored to the playlists. And I won't be buying any more music from iTunes either.
Afterward, in at least two of the playlists I have for the last year, almost all of the songs have been wiped from them. Two of the playlists are almost empty. One playlist has only two songs in there when there must have been about 50 and several hours of music. And the other playlist is only a quarter full of songs. There may be other playlists that have had songs wiped out from them as well.
When I spend so much money buying music from the Apple iTunes store on my iPhone and adding to playlists I don't expect them to be wiped.
I contacted Apple who referred me to their technical support site as they said the email address I contacted was for billing, account, and download queries only.
The guy I spoke with on chat at first wanted me to update my device to the latest iOS and said that it happens when software is not up to date. This is BS. A basic web search can find plenty of incidents when it happens to people with up to date software as well and the issue is a known issue apparently going back at least a decade.
I explained to the guy that I would not be updating my iPhone from iOS 13.4.1 that it is currently on because versions higher than this automatically download and install the UK Governments track and trace software onto your phone and I do not want this installed. He then asked for the serial number which I had already provided him with.
He then came back after speaking with someone for five minutes and told me something different. He said what causes the playlists to be wiped is that "This usually happens when syncing the iPhone to the pc, so whatever is within iTunes will sync to the iPhone".
He then went on to suggest that I use "iCloud, Apple Music or similar services to keep content from your mac or pc in the cloud" A sales pitch that doesn't help me at all. It especially won't help me if I want to access any of that on my 4G plan. Why would I want to put all this in the cloud when there is space on my iPhone and I want it to be accessible anywhere including places without internet?
I have had iCloud 200Gb service in the past year but I cancelled it because I got a new hard drive that I downloaded all my photos to from there so I no longer needed it. What good is that for the music that I purchase? None! I don't want or need that or Apple Music. I don't like streaming services, and if I can't trust companies like Apple to not wipe my playlists why would I trust them with my data and music in the cloud for any period of time other than a temporary means of storage until I have more space myself? If I pay for these additional services they want me to buy I would have the same problem except my wiped empty playlists would then be in the cloud not on my device. It would transfer the problem to another location where Apple has full control and doesn't actually solve the root issue.
I Then explained to him that none of the options within iTunes software on my PC were selected to sync automatically anyway. So why did it? Why would it sync without my permission? All I wanted to do was back up my device and save everything from my iPhone to my PC.
He then directed me to a website to follow instructions for syncing. Naively thinking this might help I decided to try following his advice. It only made matters worse. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210612
It has now synced my iPhone again. When I go to see my music and playlists it has now duplicated all the playlists many times and the most recent ones that had been wiped and now just duplicated four times and none of them have the songs restored that I had purchased in the iTunes store. Below you can see Playlist 2020 only has 11 songs in there when there were hundreds. It is also duplicated three times. Playlist 2020 2 has only 1 song in there when there were hundreds that I bought and added. All the other playlists are duplicated four times including the Recently Added, Recently Played, and Purchased which are Apples own default lists.
Apologies for the long rant but is anyone competent able to help with this issue? I.e. not someone from Apple. It would be nice if Apple just made software that worked and wasn't a heap of trash like iTunes. I am convinced they modeled it on Sony's Sonic Stage MiniDisc software it is that bad.
Why would Apple not fix something like this that is a clear issue for many of their customers? I have read articles going back to 2011 where other iPhone users had the same issue and others in between that time and more recently. It is clear their updated iOS systems did not solve the problem. I don't think I am going to buy another Apple product ever again if these songs are not restored to the playlists. And I won't be buying any more music from iTunes either.