Apple Music is a popular music and video streaming service developed by Apple. It allows users to stream over 90 million songs, listen to curated playlists, watch music videos, and more. One of the key features of Apple Music is Sync Library, which lets you access your personal music library seamlessly across all your Apple devices.
Sync Library enables you to store up to 100,000 songs from your personal collection in iCloud, so you can stream them on demand or download them for offline playback across your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, HomePod, and CarPlay. This makes it easy to access your favorite music on any device logged into your Apple Music account.
This article provides an in-depth look at how Apple Music’s Sync Library feature works. It covers what gets synced, library limits, downloading songs, playback, streaming vs. downloads, potential sync issues, data usage, and more. The goal is to help Apple Music subscribers understand the ins and outs of Sync Library so they can get the most out of this convenient capability.
What is Sync Library?
Sync Library is a feature in Apple Music that keeps your music library synchronized across all of your devices signed into the same Apple ID (MacReports). When Sync Library is enabled, any changes you make to your Apple Music library, such as adding songs, downloading music, creating playlists, etc. will automatically sync to your library on your other devices. So if you add an album on your iPhone, it will also download and appear in your library on your iPad or Mac as long as Sync Library is turned on.
With Sync Library, Apple Music acts more like a centralized music collection rather than separate libraries on each device. Your full music library is available on any device where you are signed into your Apple ID and have Sync Library enabled (DRmare). This makes it easy to pick up listening on another device right where you left off. Syncing ensures all of your Apple Music content stays up to date on all compatible devices so you always have access to your full library.
Enabled Devices
Apple Music’s Sync Library feature is only available on Apple devices running iOS 14.4 or later, iPadOS 14.4 or later, or macOS 11.2.3 or later [1]. This includes the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac, HomePod, and CarPlay.
Some key compatible devices include:
- iPhone 6s and newer
- iPad Pro all models
- iPad Air 2 and newer
- iPad 5th generation and newer
- iPad mini 4 and newer
- iPod touch 7th generation
- Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD
- HomePod and HomePod mini
Sync Library allows you to access your full Apple Music collection across these devices without taking up storage space. It keeps your library up to date on all linked devices.
Library Limit
Apple Music allows you to sync up to 100,000 songs in total across your Apple devices using Sync Library [1]. This 100,000 song limit applies to both songs you’ve added from your personal collection as well as songs downloaded from the Apple Music catalog. Songs purchased from the iTunes Store do not count towards this limit [2].
The 100,000 song download limit exists because the songs need to be stored in your iCloud Music Library in order to sync across devices. iCloud has storage limits, so Apple must impose a cap on library size to prevent users from exceeding their available iCloud storage. While you can store over 100,000 songs in your Apple Music library for streaming, you will be unable to download more than 100,000 for offline listening.
If you attempt to add more songs to your library for download beyond the 100,000 limit, you will get an error message in the app saying “Limit Reached.” At that point, you must delete some existing downloads before adding new ones.
Downloading Songs
With Sync Library enabled, you can download songs to your device so you can listen to them offline. There are two ways to download songs:
On-demand Downloads: You can manually download any song, album or playlist by tapping the download icon next to it. This will download that content to your device so you can access it offline. [1]
Automatic Downloads: You can enable Apple Music to automatically download songs you’ve recently played or added to your library when your device is connected to WiFi. This ensures those songs are available offline when you want to listen. Auto-downloads only occur on WiFi to manage data usage. [2]
The advantage of on-demand downloads is you can manually select the specific content to save offline. Automatic downloads ensure recently played music is always available offline, but don’t give you full control.
With Sync Library, any songs you download on one device will automatically show as downloaded on your other devices. So you don’t have to manually manage downloads on every device.
Playback
One of the key features of syncing your Apple Music library is the ability to play music offline when you don’t have an internet connection. Once you have synced tracks or albums to your device by downloading them, you can listen to them anytime without needing a WiFi or cellular data connection.
According to Apple’s support documentation, to play synced music offline you simply need to enter Airplane Mode on your iPhone or iPad to disable all internet connectivity (source). Then open the Music app and select the “Downloaded” section or a downloaded playlist. From there you can play any music that has been previously synced to your device’s library for offline listening.
This allows you to continue enjoying your Apple Music collection even when you are in areas with poor or no connectivity. It ensures you always have access to your favorite music by syncing tracks to your device ahead of time before going offline.
Streaming vs Downloads
When you stream a song on Apple Music, it plays directly from Apple’s servers without taking up space on your device’s storage. Streaming requires an internet connection. If you lose connectivity, streaming will stop. Downloaded songs are saved locally on your device so they can play offline without an internet connection. According to discussions on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/14m3jg3/streams_vs_downloads/), Apple Music will always prioritize playing downloaded versions of songs if available rather than streaming them.
In terms of audio quality, there is no difference between streaming and downloading a song from Apple Music. Both use AAC 256 kbps encoding for most songs. However, some content may be available in lossless quality which can only be experienced through downloads, not streaming (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253579017).
The main advantages of downloading songs are the ability to listen offline, save mobile data usage, and access lossless quality versions. The tradeoff is taking up storage space on your device. With streaming, you save local storage but need an internet connection. Both methods allow access to the full Apple Music catalog.
Sync Issues
Many users have reported various sync issues with Apple Music’s Sync Library feature. Some common problems and potential fixes include:
Songs not syncing between devices – Make sure Sync Library is enabled in the Music settings on all devices signed into the same Apple ID. Force close the Music app and try syncing again (Source).
Disappearing songs – If songs seem to randomly disappear from your library, make sure all devices have the latest version of iOS/iPadOS. Older versions may not sync properly. Restart devices and re-enable Sync Library (Source).
Sync conflicts – Having Sync Library enabled on too many devices can sometimes cause conflicts. Try limiting synced devices to 5 or less. Sign out of Apple Music on problematic devices and sign back in. Downloads may need to be deleted and re-downloaded (Source).
Library limit reached – Apple Music Sync Library is limited to 100,000 downloaded songs per account. If you reach the limit, you’ll need to delete downloads and stream more songs instead. Consider using playlists to sync only your most frequently played songs.
Data Usage
Using Sync Library requires downloading songs to your devices, which can use up significant amounts of cellular data if you’re not on WiFi. According to Apple Discussions, iCloud will constantly sync downloaded songs and data between devices, causing high data usage. The Documents & Sync feature is most often the culprit behind mysteriously high data usage.
To minimize data usage with Sync Library, only download songs over WiFi connections. You can disable cellular data for Apple Music under Settings > Cellular > Apple Music. Also disable Documents & Sync under Settings > Cellular > Documents & Sync. Check your carrier’s data usage reports frequently to monitor Apple Music streaming and downloads. Using Low Data mode will also help restrict background syncing activity.
Conclusion
In summary, Apple Music’s sync library allows you to download and save songs, albums, and playlists to your device for offline listening. With sync library enabled, you can access your Apple Music content even without an internet connection. The key benefits of using sync library include:
- Offline listening – Download favorite songs and playlists to listen anytime, anywhere.
- No streaming data usage – Downloads help minimize cellular data usage for streaming.
- Seamless playback – Transition smoothly between downloading and streaming songs.
- Customize your library – Choose what music to sync for each device.
- Convenience – Easily manage and update synced content across devices.
Overall, the sync library is ideal for Apple Music subscribers who want offline listening access and control over managing music downloads across their devices.