You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Apple Music Library Deleted - HELP

Hello,


Long story short, I had a very old Macbook that I have not logged into since 2019. I was going to delete the contents to reset it and give to my mom. It needed several software updates, and the computer was out of memory. I thought since I was going to be erasing everything anyway, I would get rid of all of the large local files that I could to make room for updates. I opened the Music app, and it gave me a prompt to "log in." I assumed I was logged out at that point, since it was asking me to log in. Thus, I thought it was safe to delete the entire music library. I did so, deleted the trash, and downloaded the updates. I opened Apple Music on my phone later and to my shocking surprise everything was gone. I pay for the Apple Music subscription and 1TB iCloud storage. Thus, I believe everything is backed up, somewhere. Any thoughts on how I can restore my Apple Music to a previous version? TIA

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on May 6, 2023 7:03 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 7, 2023 3:25 AM

Apple Music and iTunes Match provide library syncing services, not backup. If you delete your content in one location that action will be repeated elsewhere. There is no undo. Your personal and locally stored files in an iTunes or Music library will be marked as removed, and can be added back, but content from the Apple Music service, playlists, or anything stored only in the cloud is gone for good. If you have a Time Machine backup of any of your libraries you may be able to view the content of those if you restore the database and go offline before you open Music/iTunes, but you would need to manually reselect content and recreate those playlists.


tt2

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 7, 2023 3:25 AM in response to mcclsha

Apple Music and iTunes Match provide library syncing services, not backup. If you delete your content in one location that action will be repeated elsewhere. There is no undo. Your personal and locally stored files in an iTunes or Music library will be marked as removed, and can be added back, but content from the Apple Music service, playlists, or anything stored only in the cloud is gone for good. If you have a Time Machine backup of any of your libraries you may be able to view the content of those if you restore the database and go offline before you open Music/iTunes, but you would need to manually reselect content and recreate those playlists.


tt2

Apple Music Library Deleted - HELP

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.