Where’s My Music? How to Restore Songs on Your iPhone or iPad

You try to play your favorite music on your iPhone or iPad only to find that it’s gone. It was there the last time you checked! Yes, your music can get lost in action. The sync setting for this album may have been turned off, or you may have accidentally deleted the music.

There’s even a chance that syncing your music to iCloud will remove the music from your mobile device. You may also find that your music needs to be reorganized. How do you get your missing music back? There are several ways to recover what was lost.

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Sync your music again

If you can’t find your music, your first stop should be the Music app – the free app, not the Apple Music service. If you are on a Windows PC or are still using a macOS version older than Catalina, you would use iTunes. Check the music library on your computer to see if the album is still there. When you find the album, play each song to make sure everything works.

If they’re on your computer but not on your iPhone or iPad, they might not sync. Connect your device to the computer. In macOS Catalina or later, open Finder and click your mobile device listing. Click the icon for your iPhone or iPad, and then select music Category.

You may only notice that the box to sync this album has been unchecked. Check the box for this album and sync your music. Once synced, open the Music app on your device and browse for the album. Play the songs to ensure the entire album is now syncing.

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Add your music again

Couldn’t find the album in iTunes or the Music app? The album may still be on your computer but just hidden or otherwise not showing up in your library. Open File Explorer or Finder and browse your music library, then see if you can find the missing songs.

In this case, go back to your computer’s Music app. Open for those with the Music app File > Import. If you use iTunes, go to File > Add Folder to Library. Navigate to the folder for the album and click Select folder or Open. You should see a message that iTunes or the Music app is adding the files. The missing album should then reappear in your music library. You can then sync the songs to your iPhone or iPad.

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Download your music again

Still empty? The album may have been deleted from your computer. If you ripped the album from a CD, you need to rip it again or buy the album. If you bought the album from iTunes, you should be able to download it again. To do this, click on the Save on computer Link in iTunes or the iTunes store Entry in the Mac Music app.

On the right side under Music Quick Links, click Bought. If the album you are looking for is not in the Not in my library Under Purchased, click the tab All Tab to see each music purchase. By default, iTunes will show you any albums that you’ve purchased but aren’t in your library.

When you see the album you want to restore, click the download icon on the top right corner of the album cover. Go back to your music library and check if the music was restored correctly. Then you can sync the album to your iPhone or iPad.

If you still can’t find the music, go back to the Store main screen and click Account on the right side of the screen under Music Quick Links. Sign in to your iTunes account and click Account again. click Administer Next Hidden purchases under the Downloads and Purchases Section.

Select the album you want to restore and click unhide button under the album art. Return to the Purchased section and you should now see the album appear in the Not in my library Section. Click the download button to restore them and then sync them to your iPhone or iPad.

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Restore your music to the device

If you bought your missing album on your iPhone or iPad and never synced it to your computer, you can restore it from your mobile device. Open the iTunes Store app on your device.

Go to iPhone version More > Purchased > Music. In the iPad version, tap Bought icon below and select music. You should be able to find your missing music from here. Tap the download icon next to an album or track to restore it to your device.

After the album has downloaded, tap To play First song button. The album should open in the Music app to play the selected song. Now open the entire album in Music and play the first few seconds of each track to ensure the entire album is intact.

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You can also do the same magic tricks with missing movies, TV shows, e-books and audio books. If your favorite movie, show, or book is missing from your iPhone or iPad, search for it in iTunes, then your iTunes library.

If they appear blank, go to the “Purchased” section in iTunes to see if you can find and download the missing content. On your iPhone or iPad, you can search for movies and TV shows using the iTunes app and eBooks and audiobooks using the iBooks app.