How to Fix Apple Music Not Working on Your iPhone, Mac, or iPad?

Apple Music is one of the most useful Apple services launched in 2015. According to Business of Apps, there were 88 million active Apple Music subscribers in 2021, with a whopping revenue of $68.4 billion.

But, unfortunately, many users have complained about “Apple Music not working” for them. Going through Apple forms, we found most users say Apple Music does not play songs after updating their system. But that’s not the case for every user. For some, a simple expired subscription is a problem.

However, no matter what is causing Apple Music not working on your device, this guide has covered all the possible solutions to fix it.

13 Ways to Fix Apple Music Not Working

Before we discuss solutions to fix Apple Music not playing songs, ensure your Apple Music subscription is not expired. To do so:

Step 1. On the phone, launch the Settings app. Tap on your name. Select Subscriptions from the drop-down menu.

Step 2. The iPhone shows the Subscriptions menu option under Settings.

Step 3. Choose the subscription that you want to control.

Step 4. From the drop-down menu, choose Cancel Subscription.

Step 5. Your subscription has been terminated and won’t be renewed if you don’t see Cancel.

If your Apple Music subscription is up to date and it is still not working, try the following solutions:

Way 1. Check Your Internet Connection

Most people today stream music rather than download it to their devices first, so a lousy internet connection could be to blame if the music isn’t playing.

Test the speed of your internet connection at speedtest.net (or another similar website). Alternatively, you could observe how quickly other websites load on your network.

Way 2. Check Apple Music Server Status

Checking Apple’s servers is the first thing you can do to resolve the Apple Music not working issue.

All you have to do is check that the light next to each Apple Music server is green at apple.com/support/systemstatus.

Way 3. Fully Close & Reopen the Music App

A minor software error is frequently to blame when something in an iOS app isn’t functioning properly. Closing and opening the Music app can often resolve many of these minor issues if Apple Music isn’t functioning on your iPhone.

Open the app switcher first. Next, double-press the Home button on an iPhone without a Face ID to accomplish this. After that, to close the Music app, swipe it up and off the top of your screen.

You can access the app switcher on an iPhone with Face ID, just swipe up from the bottom of the screen toward the center. The app switcher will open if you keep your finger in the center of the screen. Next, swipe Music to the top of your screen.

Way 4. Turn Off iCloud Music Library

Toggle “Sync Library” off and then turn it back on if your music in your Apple Music library has disappeared or if recently uploaded songs and playlists have not yet appeared. The iCloud Music Library option is now known as “Sync Library” following the iOS 13 upgrade.

iPhone and iPad users can follow these steps:

Step 1. Turn off “Sync Library” by clicking the switch. Then, in the “Settings” > “Music” menu, select “Turn off.”

Step 2. After a few seconds, switch back on “Sync Library.”

Step 3. Users of the “Sync Library” feature must have an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription.

Step 4. Check to see if the Apple Music problem has been resolved. If not, proceed to the next solution.

Way 5. Update Your iCloud Library

Numerous other sync problems might prevent the music from playing correctly.

Make sure Sync Library is turned on in the General tab of Apple Music’s Preferences ( ⌘ +,).

You can also choose Update Cloud Library from the Library menu under the File menu.

Way 6. Restart Your Mac

Restarting the computer will fix many enigmatic bugs in your Mac; no magic is needed!

Verify that your macOS is current and no updates that could have triggered the Apple Music issue have been uninstalled. Then, open Software Update under System Preferences to get started.

Way 7. Restart Your iPhone or iPad

Restart your iPhone if Apple Music is still not functioning properly. This will restart your iPhone and might resolve a small software error that was the issue.

Press the Power button until Slide To Power Off appears unless your iPhone has Face ID. If your iPhone does have Face ID, you can access the Slide To Power Off screen by pressing and holding the side button and either volume button.

Way 8. Update iTunes

After restarting your iPhone, if Apple Music still doesn’t work, you might need to update iTunes and iOS. Apple updates its iTunes and iPhone operating systems to enhance its services, such as Apple Music. These software updates frequently fix bugs causing Apple Music to stop functioning on your device.

On Mac

Open the App Store and select the Updates tab to see if any iTunes updates are available for your Mac. Then, click the Update button to its right if an iTunes update is available.

On Windows

Open iTunes on a Windows computer and select the Help tab in the menu. Click Check For Updates after that. If an update is available, update iTunes by following the on-screen instructions.

On iPhone or iPad

Go to Settings > General > Software Update and tap Download & Install to update your iPhone.

Way 9. Sync Your iPhone to iTunes

Try syncing your iPhone to iTunes once more after updating it and reauthorizing your account. You should now have resolved the problem that prevented Apple Music from functioning correctly in iTunes.

Open iTunes and connect your iPhone to your PC. The sync procedure ought to start right away. If it doesn’t, click on your iPhone in the iTunes window’s upper left corner and choose Sync.

Way 10. Factory Reset Your iPhone

Try returning your phone to factory settings if the issue continues. Although you don’t want to, it can sometimes be effective. Resetting the settings on your device entirely is the most effective solution to the issue. However, many users claim that uninstalling and reinstalling the Music app is still the better option.

As follows, reset your iPhone to factory settings:

Step 1. Firstly, create a backup of your iPhone. Turn on “iCloud Backup” by going to “Settings” > “Your Apple Account” > “iCloud” > “iCloud Backup” > and then click “Back Up Now.” 

Step 2. Go back to “Settings” and choose “Erase All Settings” under “General” and “Reset.” (Repeat entering your passcode.) Finally, choose Erase iPhone to erase all data.

Way 11. Clear Up Some Space on Your Device

If Apple Music doesn’t let you download tracks or albums to your phone when you click the download cloud button, you might not have enough room on the iPhone to save new music. By making space on your phone, you can try to find a solution to this issue.

Here’s how you can create space on your device:

• Any unused gaming apps should be deleted.
• Delete any old movies, pictures, and podcasts you no longer want.
• You should delete or offload any unused apps.

On the other hand, Mac users can even use tools to create some space for Apple Music.

The best app in the world for decluttering, streamlining, and safeguarding your Mac against malware is called CleanMyMac X. You can perform a variety of one-click scans with it, including ones that can delete cache, look for unused files, and shred private documents.

Therefore, if your Mac is running out of storage space, you can quickly fix the issue by using CleanMyMac X:

Step 1. Open CleanMyMac X.

Step 2. From the sidebar, select System Junk.

Step 3. Uncheck anything you don’t want to delete by selecting Scan Review Details.

Step 4. Hit Clean.

Way 12. Reset Network Settings

If your Apple Music says, “You are offline,” even though you are connected to Wi-Fi or have a strong cell phone signal, reset the network settings best. Here’s how you can do that:

Step 1. Go to Settings > General > Reset Network on an iPhone or iPad to restart the network.

Step 2. Select the “General” tab from the “Settings” menu.

Step 3. Select “Reset” at the bottom of the page as you scroll down.

Step 4. Once you click “Reset Network Settings,” your network settings should be restored to their default state.

Way 13. Delete Apple Music Cache

A bug somewhere within cached files is one of the most common causes of things randomly working incorrectly with apps.

Apple Music, in particular, relies heavily on cached files. To avoid repeating songs from the internet, it saves them in a cache (or temporary storage) and replays them from there.

To manually delete the Apple Music cache:

Step 1. Select Go from the menu bar. Navigate to Folder… ((Shift + + G))

Step 2. Enter /Library/Caches into the address bar.

Step 3. Locate the com.apple.iTunes folder.

Step 4. Remove all of the files within it.

Let’s Play Some Music Now!

There you go, Apple users. You can try all or a few of the solutions mentioned above to fix Apple Music not working. You can also take help from tools like CleanMyMac X.

Moreover, you can always check out other Apple guides on this website. You can also share your thoughts in the comments.