If you have lost access to your Apple Music library, the good news is that there are several ways you may be able to get it back. Apple provides tools to help recover and restore Apple Music libraries in many cases. With some effort, you can often recover your full library or at least a good portion of it.
What causes an Apple Music library to be lost?
There are a few common reasons why you may lose access to your Apple Music library:
- Getting a new device and forgetting to transfer your library
- Accidental deletion of songs/albums from your library
- Hard drive failure or data loss on the device containing your library
- Corrupt or damaged Apple Music app data
- Hacking or unauthorized access to your Apple ID account
When you lose your Apple Music library, the songs and albums you added are no longer accessible from any of your devices. Unless you have another copy, the only way to recover them is to use Apple’s tools to restore your library from a backup or your Apple Music purchase history.
Method 1: Restore from a backup
If you have an iTunes or Apple Music backup from one of your devices, you may be able to use it to restore your library. Here are the steps to take:
- First, check your Mac or PC to see if you have any iTunes backups stored locally. There may be an automated backup of your Apple Music library in the device backups.
- If you use iCloud, you can also check online for any available backups of your iOS device that contains your Apple Music library. Go to Settings > your Apple ID profile > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups.
- Once you locate a backup containing your Apple Music library, you can use it to restore your songs and albums. On a Mac or PC, connect the device and click “Restore from Backup” in iTunes. On an iOS device, tap “Restore Backup” in Settings.
- After the restore, your Apple Music purchases and added songs should be intact again. You may need to re-download any songs saved locally.
The key is finding a device backup that contains the Apple Music library you want to recover. If you regularly backed up your iPhone, iPad or music library on a computer, there’s a good chance you can use those backups to restore your collection.
Method 2: Rebuild your library song by song
If you don’t have a backup handy or your backups are out of date, you will need to manually rebuild your Apple Music library by re-adding songs and albums. Here is how:
- On any device, open the Apple Music app and go to the Library tab.
- Browse through all of your purchased songs, albums, artists and playlists. Tap the + sign to re-add them.
- If you added any songs that were not purchased from Apple Music, you will need to locate these files on your computer or another device and upload them again.
- Check your iTunes account purchase history to see all Apple Music purchases. Search for any purchases missing from your library and add them back.
While tedious, this process will allow you to reconstruct your Apple Music library one song at a time. Focus on your most important songs, artists and playlists first. Over time you can continue adding more until your library resembles what you had originally.
Using playlists to restore your library
Playlists can make rebuilding your Apple Music library easier since they often contain many songs and albums. Here are some playlist tips:
- Check your Apple Music account online to see all of your playlist titles and the songs they contained.
- Recreate any important playlists by adding the songs back one at a time in the Music app.
- If you have playlists saved on your computer or in written form, use these lists to know which songs to add.
- Creating new playlists can jog your memory about which artists and albums you liked.
Playlists provide an outline of your library that you can use to more easily identify and add back your music. Focus first on your most used playlists and songs you know you loved listening to.
Using Recent Plays and downloads
In the Apple Music app, check your recent plays and downloads to see music you’ve been listening to lately. This provides clues about your favorite songs and albums from your library:
- In the Library tab, the Recently Added section shows your latest downloads.
- The Recently Played section reveals music listened to in the past month.
- Check the Downloads playlist for the full history of Apple Music songs saved on a device.
- Use the listening history as hints for music to re-add from your lost library.
Scanning your recent Apple Music activity can jog your memory about the music most important to you. Use it as a guide for recovering your library more quickly.
Contacting Apple Support
If you are still unable to restore your Apple Music library using the steps above, you can contact Apple Support for additional help:
- Chat or call Apple Support and explain your situation with your missing Apple Music library.
- They may be able to assist with finding any available backups or provide tips for recovering your purchase history.
- If purchases were made under your Apple ID, provide proof that you own the account.
- As a last resort, request refunds for any purchased albums and songs that cannot be recovered.
Apple Support has tools to look up your purchase history and assist with account access. Make use of their expertise before considering your music library a total loss.
Preventing Lost Music Libraries
Going forward, be sure to consistently back up your Apple Music library and playlists to avoid this situation happening again:
- Enable automatic device backups to iCloud to protect your music.
- Manually back up iTunes and Apple Music on your computer periodically.
- Use a secondary cloud storage service like Dropbox to keep duplicates of playlists.
- Create playlists of your most important songs for easy recovery.
- When getting a new device, immediately transfer your Apple Music library.
Establishing strong backup habits will help ensure you always have multiple copies of your Apple Music collection available if disaster strikes again.
Conclusion
Recovering a lost Apple Music library may seem daunting, but in many cases it is possible to restore some or all of your music. Backups provide the fastest method of recovery. Without backups, carefully re-adding music and using playlists, listening history and purchase records can help reconstruct your library. Persistence and use of Apple’s support resources will typically produce the most success. Implement preventative backups so you can avoid ever losing your Apple Music collection again.
| Method | Recovery Success Rate | Time Required |
|---|---|---|
| Restore from Backup | High | Minutes to hours |
| Rebuild Library Manually | Medium to High | Days to weeks |
| Contact Apple Support | Low to Medium | Days to weeks |
This table summarizes the estimated effectiveness and time requirements for the major methods of recovering a lost Apple Music library detailed in the article. Restore from backup provides the fastest and most complete recovery, while manually rebuilding or contacting Apple Support may recover only a portion of your library but when backups are unavailable.
Key Takeaways
- Restore from an iTunes or iCloud backup if available
- Manually re-add songs, playlists and purchases
- Check listening history and downloads
- Contact Apple support for purchase lookup help
- Prevent future loss with consistent backups
With persistence and utiliziation of all recovery avenues, there is a good chance of salvaging at least part of your lost Apple Music collection. Stay diligent, use Apple support tools, and be proactive about backup habits going forward.