Music copied from CDs missing on new iPhone

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Music copied from CDs missing on new iPhone

I recently traded in my iPhone 13 for a 17. The music app on the 13 included both music I purchased from Apple as well as hundreds of songs I copied from CDs into iTunes years ago. When I copied everything from the cloud from my 13 to my 17, all of the music I copied from CDs is gone. Playlists are grayed out too. Is there a way to restore these songs? Should I connect my new iPhone to my old PC that still has iTunes? Can I copy the music from my 13 somehow? (I still have the 13 for another couple of weeks before I have to bring it in as a trade). Someone suggested I wipe the 17 and back it up directly from the 13.

iPhone 17 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Nov 12, 2025 9:11 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 13, 2025 2:52 AM in response to vjmazzei

My impression is that copying music directly from one iPod/iPhone/iPad to another is not allowed. This might have been, in part, a giveaway to the record companies.

With this in mind …

I believe that you will need to load music from your own CDs onto your new phone using a PC or Mac. The exact method depends upon which Apple applications you are running. (E.g., on the PC, Apple started out using iTunes for Windows, but later encouraged people to migrate to Apple Devices for Windows.). But the idea would be that you'd hook up your phone to your computer and use your computer to completely replace the current selection of music on the phone.

With music purchased from the iTunes Store, you could reload it it from your PC, but I believe that you would also have the option of re-downloading it directly on the new phone using the iTunes Store app.

NOTE: This assumes that you are not a subscriber to iTunes Match or to the Apple Music streaming service. If you subscribe to either, and are using "Sync Library", then what you need to do might be different.

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