Apple Music is one of the most popular music streaming services, with over 90 million subscribers as of 2022. With access to over 90 million songs and 30,000 playlists, Apple Music allows users to stream music, download music for offline listening, and access exclusive content like new releases and concerts.
However, with all the data collected from users like playlists, favorites, listening history and more – how long does Apple Music actually keep your data? Does Apple Music delete your data after you unsubscribe? Or does your data stay on their servers forever?
In this article, we’ll examine how long Apple Music keeps your data, including:
What user data does Apple Music collect?
Apple Music collects and stores a variety of data from users in order to provide personalized recommendations and features. This includes:
- Account information like your name, email, payment details
- Playlists you create
- Songs, albums, artists you add to your Library
- Listening history and habits
- Favorited and disliked songs (thumbs up/down)
- Music, podcasts, music videos you stream
- Interactions with Apple Music app and iTunes Store
- iOS device details like type of device and iOS version
All this data allows Apple Music to recommend music tailored just for you and provide features like Replay playlists. But it also raises privacy concerns over how long Apple retains all this personal data.
Does Apple Music delete your data when you unsubscribe?
Yes, if you unsubscribe from Apple Music, Apple will delete your data such as:
- Playlists you created
- Your Apple Music library with saved songs, albums, artists
- Listening history and habits
- Interactions with Apple Music app
However, Apple will retain some of your personal data like your name, email address, and payment information for up to 7 years after account closure for financial reporting requirements.
What happens when you unsubscribe?
Here’s what happens step-by-step when you unsubscribe from Apple Music:
- Your Apple Music subscription is cancelled immediately.
- You lose access to all Apple Music features like streaming songs, downloading music, listening to exclusives, etc.
- All playlists created, songs/albums added to your Library, recent plays, favorites, ratings & other personal data is deleted.
- Your Apple ID remains active so you can access other Apple services and reactivate Apple Music in the future if you choose.
- Account info like your name, email, payment details is retained by Apple for up to 7 years for financial reporting.
- You can no longer stream songs or access any content in the Apple Music catalog until you re-subscribe.
So in summary, your personal data like playlists, library, and listening history is deleted when you unsubscribe, but some account data is retained by Apple.
How long does Apple retain account data?
According to Apple’s privacy policy, they will retain certain account data for up to 7 years after account closure. This includes:
- Name
- Email address
- Phone number if provided
- Payment information
- Purchase history
Apple requires this information for financial reporting and audits. However, they state that retained data will be anonymized by removing identifiers like name and email.
Some other key points on how long account data is kept:
- Billing information is retained for up to 10 years for tax and accounting purposes.
- Purchase history and listening activity data is retained for up to 6 months.
- Other data like subscriptions, forum posts, service requests are retained for 1 year after account closure.
- Server logs with IP address and device identifiers are saved for up to 30 days.
So in summary, Apple retains some account data for years after closure for financial reasons, but anonymizes it by removing personal identifiers.
What happens when you reopen your account?
If you resubscribe to Apple Music after cancelling, here’s what happens:
- Your existing Apple ID will be reactivated for Apple Music access.
- You don’t need to create a new account.
- Your previous Apple Music library, playlists, favorites, ratings, etc. do not get restored.
- You’ll start fresh with a new, empty Apple Music library and profile.
- You can begin rebuilding your library, playlists, and recommendations will start over time based on new activity.
So your previous data does not get restored. You start fresh while retaining the same Apple ID.
When does Apple Music delete inactive account data?
For accounts that remain inactive for an extended time, Apple will delete the data as follows:
- Account without purchases: Data deleted after 120 days of inactivity
- Account with purchases: Personal data deleted after 2 years of inactivity
Purchases, payment information and other financial data may be retained for up to 10 years as required by law.
So Apple Music will delete your inactive account data within months to years depending on your purchase history.
Does deleted data stay on Apple’s servers?
No, according to Apple’s privacy policy, when they delete personal data from their servers, it is permanently deleted from their systems.
Some key points:
- Data marked for deletion is first anonymized by removing identifiers like name or email.
- Anonymized data may be retained for analytics to improve services.
- After anonymization, all storage locations of the data are identified on Apple’s systems.
- Data is then permanently purged from all of Apple’s servers and backup systems.
- This deleted data cannot be retrieved again.
So when your Apple Music data is flagged for deletion, Apple attempts to anonymize it first. But eventually all traces are permanently purged from their servers.
Does Apple disclose deleted data to third parties?
No, Apple states that deleted data is neither stored, disclosed to third parties, nor retained for analytics after its initial anonymization.
Some key privacy assurances from Apple:
- Apple does not sell your personal data to third parties or brokers.
- Deleted data cannot be retrieved via legal requests to Apple.
- Anonymized insights may be shared with partners after deletion.
- Partners are contractually obligated to comply with Apple’s privacy standards.
So you can be assured once your data is deleted by Apple, it is not being shared or sold to outside companies.
How can you request Apple delete your data?
If you want Apple to delete your personal data right away, you have a few options:
Unsubscribe from Apple Music
As covered earlier, unsubscribing from Apple Music will trigger deletion of data like your library, playlists, listening activity, etc. within 1-2 days.
To unsubscribe:
- Go to Apple Music account settings.
- Turn off auto-renewal.
- Confirm cancellation when subscription expires.
Delete your Apple ID
Deleting your Apple ID completely will also delete your Apple Music profile and all personal data.
To delete your Apple ID:
- Go to Apple ID account management page.
- Click “Delete Apple ID and Data.”
- Enter Apple ID password and confirmation info.
- Click “Delete” to confirm.
Once deleted, you cannot reuse or reactivate the Apple ID.
Submit privacy data deletion request
You can request Apple to delete all or some of your personal data by contacting them at:
Apple Privacy Policy Team
Apple Inc.
One Apple Park Way
Cupertino, CA 95014, USA
You need to specify exactly what data you want deleted from Apple Music and other services tied to your Apple ID. Apple is generally receptive to data deletion requests.
Does cancelling your subscription delete your data?
Cancelling just your Apple Music subscription will not immediately trigger deletion of all your personal data. However, it does eventually lead to data deletion:
- When subscription expires, you lose access to Apple Music features.
- Your library, playlists, history remain intact though inactive.
- If account remains inactive for 120+ days, data is deleted.
- To immediately delete data, you must unsubscribe or delete Apple ID.
So cancelling subscription will not instantly delete your data but will cut off access and lead to deletion after inactivity period.
Is previously deleted data restored if you resubscribe?
No, if you reactivate Apple Music after cancellation or unsubscription, your previously deleted data like library, playlists, listening history, etc. does not get restored or reloaded.
When you resubscribe, your Apple ID regains access to Apple Music with a blank slate:
- You start fresh with empty library, no playlists, favorites, history, etc.
- As you use Apple Music again, new data will be collected and stored.
- Old playlists, library cannot be recovered unless you had a backup.
So reconsider before unsubscribing if you want to retain your existing Apple Music data and profile.
Can you recover deleted Apple Music data?
Unfortunately there is no way to recover or restore deleted Apple Music data like your library metadata and playlists unless you had a backup:
- Apple cannot restore deleted user data due to privacy laws.
- You’ll need a third party backup to an external drive or cloud storage.
- Use iTunes or third party apps to create periodic backups.
- Backups allow restoring your library, playlists, favorites, etc.
So back up your Apple Music data to avoid losing playlists and library metadata if you ever unsubscribe.
Does Apple provide any user data to third parties?
Apple states they do not share any identifiable user data with advertisers, data brokers, or other third parties. Some key points:
- Apple does not sell or disclose personal data like name, email, browsing data.
- Data shared with partners is encrypted, aggregated, or anonymized.
- Partners must comply with Apple’s stringent privacy standards.
- For security, Apple may share data with law enforcement if compelled by subpoena.
- Some purchase data may be shared with financial institutions for payment processing.
So you can be assured Apple does not share identifiable user data with other companies or entities. Shared data is encrypted or aggregated to ensure privacy.
Does Apple Music show personalized ads?
No, Apple Music does not show any personalized third party ads. A few reasons why:
- Apple Music has no advertising of any kind.
- Apple does not collect data for advertising profiling.
- User data is not shared for ad targeting or analytics.
- Apple’s privacy policy forbids sharing data with ad platforms.
Apple Music focuses entirely on subscription revenue, not advertising. So users see no personalized ads, just occasional Apple promos for their own content.
Should you be concerned about Apple Music’s data retention?
Apple Music collects and analyzes your usage data to tailor your experience. But Apple states they take data privacy very seriously:
- You control what personal data you provide Apple.
- Apple anonymizes collected data where possible.
- Random identifiers are used internally, not profiles tied to your ID.
- Data retention periods are reasonable for finance and operations.
- Apple keeps data in house and strictly controls access.
- External partners adhere to Apple’s privacy standards.
So while Apple Music does leverage your data to improve personalization, their privacy standards remain industry leading.
How Apple Music data practices compare to competitors
Here’s how Apple Music’s data collection and retention practices generally compare to competing services:
| Service | Data Collection Level | Personalized Ads | Data Deletion Policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Music | Moderate | No | Reasonable retention periods |
| Spotify | Extensive | Yes | Indefinite retention until manually deleted |
| Amazon Music | Limited | No | Retention periods unknown |
| YouTube Music | Extensive | Yes | Until manually deleted |
In general, Apple Music collects a moderate amount of usage data and has reasonable retention policies. Services like Spotify and YouTube collect more data for ads and indefinitely store until users delete.
Conclusion
In summary:
- Apple Music collects data like your library, playlists, listening history, account info.
- Deleting your account or unsubscribing erases much of this personal data.
- Some account data may be kept for up to 7 years for financial reasons.
- Inactive accounts have data deleted after 120-730 days of no activity.
- Deleted data is purged from Apple’s servers and cannot be recovered.
- Apple does not share identifiable user data with third parties.
- Take occasional backups to preserve your Apple Music profile.
So while Apple Music leverages your usage data to personalize your experience, you remain in control of your data. Apple provides transparency into data practices and retention policies. Though some data is kept for reasonable periods, inactive data is erased and once deleted, it is gone for good.