Learn how to stop Apple Music from adding songs to your library when you add them to playlists on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The Music app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac automatically adds any Apple Music tracks to your library when you add them to playlists.
You can change that to declutter your music library and stop the songs from mood-based playlists you add from influencing your recommendations in the app.
And if you identify songs with Shazam, which saves them to a special playlist, you probably don’t want those to clog up your library, too.
iPhone and iPad
- Open the iOS 27 Settings app.
- Scroll to the bottom and tap Apps.
- Select Music from the list of apps.
- Turn off Add & Delete Playlist Songs.
In iOS 26 and older, this switch was called Add Playlist Songs.
Moving forward, songs you add to a playlist will not be added to your library. You can check by going to the Home tab in the Music app and adding a new song to a playlist; this song will appear only in that playlist, not in the ‘Recently Added’ section of the Library tab or the (all) Songs section.
Mac
- Open the Music app.
- Click Music > Settings in the top menu bar or press the Command + , (comma) keys.
- Go to the Advanced tab.
- Uncheck the box for Add & Delete Playlist Songs next to ‘Library.’
In macOS 26 and older, untick the box for Playlists in the “Add songs to Library when adding to” section, then click OK.
People using iTunes on macOS Mojave and earlier will go to iTunes Preferences > General instead and untick the box next to “Add songs to Library when adding to playlists.”
With one simple setting change, you can stop songs in Apple Music playlists from populating your library unnecessarily.
You may not know that the Music app also automatically adds songs you favorite to your library. Don’t worry, there’s a setting for that, too!
Whether you’re a passionate music lover or just listen to music occasionally, feel free to make use of the following tutorials: