Learn how to delete Apple Music songs downloaded on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac for offline listening, as well as remove them from your library.
Deleting music downloads vs. removing songs from the library
You can add any Apple Music song or playlist you fancy to your library in the Music app so that you can get to it faster later. To do so, tap the three-dotted icon next to a song in the Music app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac and choose the Add to Library option from the menu. Alternatively, hit the + (plus) button next to a song.
A shortcut to the song is added to your library in the Music app and linked to your Apple Account. It will also appear on your other devices using the same Apple Account that has the Sync Library option turned on in their music settings.
You can download any song to your device for offline listening, as long as it’s already in your library. Don’t worry, you can delete downloaded songs to free up storage space on your iPhone, as well as remove any songs you no longer want to listen to from your library in order to unclutter it.
We’ll show you how to do both.
Deleting music downloads and removing songs from your library
Removing a track from the library removes it (and its downloaded version) from all your other devices that use the same Apple Account for Apple Music. Contrast this with deleting a downloaded song, which only deletes an offline copy stored on that particular device.
On iPhone or iPad
- Open the iOS Music app and go to the Library tab.
- Select ‘Songs’ to see all the tracks you have added to your library. Or, go to Downloaded > Songs to view all offline songs.
- Touch and hold a song or tap the three dots icon next to it.
- Tap Delete from Library to unlink the song from your music library and also remove its offline copy (if any). Or tap Remove Download to delete the local file and free up storage space while keeping the song in your library.
You can also touch and hold an album, artist, or playlist to access the same options.
Note:
- Remove Download is a per-device option that only deletes a downloaded song from that specific device.
- Delete from Library unlinks the song from your Apple Music profile, which makes it disappear from all your other iPhones, iPads, Macs, Android phones, and other devices configured to use the same Apple Account for Apple Music.
On Mac
- Open the Music app and go to Songs, Albums, Artists, or Recently Added.
- Click the three-dotted icon next to a song, playlist, or album.
- Choose Remove Download or Delete from Library.
Delete all downloaded songs at once from Apple Music
If you’ve downloaded many songs, you can delete all those downloads in one fell swoop instead of one by one. The removed songs remain linked in your library so you can access and play them easily.
On iPhone or iPad
- Open the Settings app and go to General > iPhone Storage.
- Pick Music from the list.
- Hit Edit and then tap the minus (-) button next to All Songs.
- Tap Delete to remove all downloaded songs in one go.
Additionally, you can touch and hold the icon of the Music app on the Home Screen and pick Remove App > Delete App > Delete from the menu. Doing so will uninstall the Music app from your iPhone or iPad, and delete all the music downloaded for offline listening (without removing them from your library). You can reinstall the Music app at any time by clicking the cloud icon on its App Store page.
On Mac
- Open the Music app and select Songs in the sidebar.
- Press Command + A to select all tracks.
- Right-click or Control-click the selected songs and choose Remove Download from the menu.
Remove songs synced from a computer
Music synced from your Mac or Windows PC to your iPhone can be removed from your device, but you’ll need to use Finder on Mac or the Apple Devices app on Windows PC.
- Connect your iPhone to your Mac or Windows PC via a USB cable.
- Select your iOS device in Finder (macOS) or the Apple Devices app (Windows).
- Go to the Music tab.
- Untick the box next to ‘Sync music onto iPhone’ and confirm. Then, click Apply or Sync.
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