How to Turn Off iCloud Music Library on iPhone, Mac (Any Devices)

Having trouble disabling iCloud Music Library, freeing up your iCloud space? We'll show you the steps to quickly, turn it off on iPhone/iPad, Mac!

Apple Music lovers should use the iCloud Music Library feature. This feature allows you to save your songs in a playlist or album, which can be accessed on different Apple devices running on the same Apple ID. Although the iCloud Music Library does not consume a lot of space, many people turn it off due to insufficient space in their iCloud (which has a limited space of 5GB).

Steps Turn off iCloud Music Library on iOS and macOS

On iPhone/iPad

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll the screen to Find Music App.

Despite the cut-throat competition from various music apps like Spotify and Apple Music, Apple Music remains by far one of the best-streaming music apps with millions of users. Apart from boasting largest library of tracks, the app is feature-packed and includes tons of customization for a personalized music-listening experience. Whether you are new to Apple Music or just hunting down the best Apple Music Tips and tricks to get the best out of it, this guide has got you covered.  Get the Most Out of Apple Music with These Tips and Tricks Here are some useful tips and tricks for Apple Music that you might find interesting. Tip#1. Explore the Apple Music App Taking a moment to explore and getting known with the Music App is worth it.  Listen Now: Let you know what you recently played, mixes made for you, recommended radio stations, and recommendations based on your listening history.  Browse: Go through a premade playlist, radio show, new music, tips, and top charts.  Radio: Described further in the next section, you can go to Radio Tab to listen to a station. Library: In this menu, you'll get music playlists, songs, albums, compilations, and downloaded items. Search: Look for songs, albums, radio stations, shows, and more with the help of a search box. Jot down your request, or use the microphone icon to speak it.  Use the shortcut menus Long press a song: Along with other items you'll read below, you can long press to see full lyrics even without playing the song or create a station with it.  Long press an album: You can long press an album or one of your playlists to add it to your listening queue, either at the end or beginning.  Tip#2. Take advantage of radio stations The radio stations in Apple Music are one of the options for background music while work to play. They offer a continuous stream of songs and podcasts so you can relax and listen without lifting your fingertip.  Step 1: Access the Music App on your iPhone. Step 2: Tap on Radio in the bottom menu. Next, you can browse through the various stations. Step 3: Listen to a radio with your favorite artist or host, a recent episode of that new podcast, or artist interviews. You can also go through music station by genre, listen to Apple Music hits, or enjoy music around globe.  Tip#3. Check out premade playlists If you want to try new songs, why not one of the premade playlists in the Music app? The songs are designed for you, and you can skip over the tunes you don't like; you can choose various genres like activity, country, workouts, etc. Step 1: Access the Music App on your iPhone. Tap on Browse in the bottom menu. Step 2: You can scroll through options from top picks.  Step 3: Hit on the playlist and select Play button to enjoy the music. Further, if you discover a song you want to hold onto, select Three Dots next to it and add it to your library. Besides this, if you want to add an entire playlist, tap on + Icon in the top right corner and select Sync Library.   Tip#4. Automatically add song to your library If you find something interesting and want to add it to your playlist, you can also plop it automatically into your Music Library. This means the song is always available to you, even when you delete it from a playlist. Step 1: Access the Settings App on your iPhone. Choose Music. Step 2: After this, enable the toggle next to the Add Playlist Songs. After this, any song you add to your playlist will be available in your library.  Tip#5. View your Apple Music Replay After using Apple Music for a long time, you'll get the playlist of the songs you listen to most of the time. It's automatically generated for you; Apple Music Replay allows you to easily access the songs you played more than others. Step 1: Access the Music App on your iPhone. Step 2: Tap on Browse and swipe down to the bottom. Step 3: You'll see a section tagged as Replay: Your Songs by Year with a playlist for each. Step 4: Pick up the one to review and tap on Play to listen.  Tip#6. Check what your friend is listening to If you and your friend share the same music taste, it's always fun to know what type of music they are listening to right now. Here's how. Step 1: Access the Apple Music App on your iPhone. Step 2: Tap on your Profile Icon in the top right corner.  Step 3: Tap on Set Up Profile > Get Started. Then, give your profile Name & Username and set a profile picture. Tap Continue to Find Contacts.  Step 4: In the Follow Friends screen, follow desired friend and tap on Next. Step 5: From Choose who can follow your screen, select either Everyone or People you approve. Tap Next. Step 6: In the Show off your Playlists, select the box next to the desired playlist. Next, tap Done. Now, share your profile with friends and family, let others find you, and decide what you want to share. Step 7: After this, find and follow the friends who have set up Apple Music Profiles. You can do the same when you set up your profile or later by selecting Follow More Friends on your profile screen. Alternatively, select your Profile Icon and choose your name. You'll see who you're following and select friends to see exactly what they're listening to. Tip#7. Sing, search, or share with song lyrics Besides having access to the song lyrics, you can search for a song using particular lyrics and share specific lyrics with others. Here's how. View Song Lyrics Step 1: Open the Apple Music and play the desired song.  Step 2: While playing the song in the Now Playing, select the Lyrics Icon. Step 3: You'll see the synced lyrics moving as the song continues. Search with Lyrics Step 1: Open the Music App and tap on the search bar at the top.  Step 2: Type or use a microphone to speak song lyrics. Step 3: You can select between Your Library and Apple Music to find the song that matches your lyrics. Share Lyrics When you view lyrics for currently playing a song as shown above, long press on the desired song, you want to share. You'll then see the lyrics in a pop-up on a separate screen where you can share it using AirDrop, Social Media, or a Message.  Tip#8. Create and share a playlist Unlike accessing your friend's playlist, you can now create and share playlists directly with them. This helps create a playlist of songs you know they'll love.  To create a playlist based on a song, Long-press the song or select Three Dots > Add To Playlist > New Playlist and follow on-screen instructions.  To create a new playlist from scratch, Open the Music App > Library Tab > Playlists > Add to Playlist > New Playlist and follow on-screen instructions.  Once you've created a playlist, here's how to share it! To share a playlist via Mail, Messages, AirDrop, etc, Press and hold the playlist and select Share Playlist. After this, choose preferred sharing option and follow on-screen instructions.  To share a playlist via SharePlay: Long-press the playlist and select SharePlay. Choose Contact and then select FaceTime or Messages and follow on-screen instructions.  Tip#9. Listen to Apple Music without internet If you frequently travel somewhere with no or weak internet, then fuss not; you can listen to Apple Music offline. All you need to do is download the song you want, and you're ready to go when no signal message appears on the screen. Step 1: First, you must add a song to your Library or a playlist.  Tap or long-press the Three Dots to the right of the song and select one to Add to your Library or Add to a Playlist.  Step 2: Once you have added the song to your Library, access your Library or Playlist and select the song to open it.  Step 3: After this, tap or long-press the Three-Dots in the top right corner. Select Download. To download one of your playlists, pick it to open it. Then select the Download Button on the top right.  Note: If you want to see how much space is acquired by downloading music, go to Settings > Music > Downloaded Music.  Tip#10. Change the Sound Quality  What makes Apple Music convenient is that it lets you change the sound quality to booming bass to a toned-down instrumental background, etc. To enhance your Apple Music quality, follow the steps below.  Step 1: Access the Settings App on your iPhone. Scroll down and select Music. Step 2: In the Audio section, you'll get different audio features.  Dolby Atmos: By default, this feature is set to Automatic. You can change it to Always On if you want to use Dolby Atmos, even if your earphones don't support it.  Audio Quality: If you have enabled Lossless Audio, it will deliver HD sound quality. But this feature consumes lots of data.  EQ: You can choose one from various EQ presets, such as piano, dance, pop, rock, bass, and more.  Tip#11. Croon karaoke with Apple Music Sing It's always great to sing along with lyrics, but what's even better is when your voice is only one. Unlike karaoke bars you visit on weekends, Apple Music Sing allows you to right from bed.  To do so, play the song normally and select the Lyrics Icon. Warm up your local cords and then select Karaoke Icon.  You'll then see the song's vocals vanish, and the melody and the lyrics stay on the screen for you to enjoy the song. Remember, this feature is available on the iPhone SE 3rd generation, iPhone 11 series, and later versions. However, if you found the feature isn't working, read our article on Apple Music Sing not working.   Tip#12. Watch music videos on Apple Music Step 1: Access the Apple Music app on your iPhone. Step 2: Tap on Browse in the bottom menu. Scroll down to More to Explore section. Step 3: Select Music Videos. On the next screen, you'll see the section of videos alongside the video playlist and everything from new songs by genre.  Tip#13. Receive Music Notifications If you want to keep receiving song notifications from your favorite artist frequently, you can enable these notifications in the Music app. To do so, follow the steps below. Step 1: Access the Apple Music App on your iPhone. Step 2: Tap on Profile Icon in the top right corner. Tap Notifications. Step 3: Turn on the toggle next to the New Music and Friend Activity.  Besides this, ensure that iPhone Notifications is turned on for the Music App. Head to the Settings App > Notifications > Music > enable toggle next to the Allow Notifications.  Tip#14. Free music from your iPhone's Storage If you keep downloading various songs, playlists, and albums, it could lead to higher iPhone storage space. Luckily, Apple offers a feature, "Optimize Storage," that will automatically delete the song you haven't listened to in a long time once the device starts running out of Storage. Here's how.  Step 1: Open the Settings App on your iPhone. Step 2: Scroll down and tap on Music. Scroll down and select Optimize Storage. Step 3: Enable the toggle next to Optimize Storage.  Tip#15. Set an Apple Music Song as an Alarm  Step 1: Access the Clock App on your iPhone. Tap on Alarms in the bottom menu. Step 2: Select Edit in the left-top corner. Pick up specific alarms. Step 3: Pick-up Sound. In the Songs Menu, tap on Pick a Song. Step 4: Select a Song accordingly.  Tip#16. Create a soundtrack to your photos With iOS 15, Apple rolled out a deeper integration between photos and music app. Specially, it permits Apple Music subscriber to choose song to play while using the Memories features within the Photos App. To do so, follow the steps below. Step 1: Access the Photos App on your iPhone. Tap on For You in the bottom menu. Step 2: Select the Memories Tab and pick up a specific Memory to which you want to add music. Step 3: Tap on Music Icon in the bottom left corner, and you'll redirect to Music App.  Tip#17. Apple Music's use Listening History feature In a nutshell, the Use Listening History feature allows Apple Music Track your listening activity. This keeps your personalized playlist, like favorites and replay, updated. It helps Apple Music algorithm offer accurate song recommendations. But if you no longer want everyone to know your passion, you make info private.  Step 1: Open the Music App on your iPhone.  Step 2: Tap on your Profile in the left top corner. Step 3: Select your Profile Picture > Edit. Step 4: Scroll down and turn off toggle next to the Listening To.  Tip#18. Customize Apple Music with Loves and Dislike  Another effective way of helping Apple Music understand your music tastes is making songs, playlists, and albums with either 'Love' or 'Dislike.' To do so, hit three dots and mark them accordingly. Apple Music, learn your song taste and use this to shape future suggestions.  Tip#19. iCloud Music Library An extra that comes with Apple Music's paid version, iCloud Music Library, allows you to store up to 100,000 tracks in the cloud and differentiates from your regular iCloud storage capacity. Anything you store offers access to your saved music on up to ten devices. Here's how to enable iCloud Music Library. Step 1: Go to the Settings App on your iPhone. Step 2: Scroll down and select Music. After this, enable the toggle next to Sync Library.  Tip#20. Listen to lossless music on your iPhone Apple Music offers access to millions of tracks encoded using lossless audio compression to Apple Music subscribers. It's a form of compression that preserves all original data. The feature is also known as Apple Lossless Audio Codec—the entire. The entire music catalog is encoded via ALAC in resolutions ranging from 16 bit/44.1 kHz up to 24 bit/192 kHz. Step 1: Head to the Settings App on your iPhone. Scroll down and select Music. Step 2: Hit on Audio Quality. Then, enable toggle next to the Lossless Audio.  Step 3: Choose an audio quality for downloading or streaming audio. Select Lossless for a maximum resolution of 24-bit/48 kHz. Choose Hi-Res Lossless for a maximum resolution of 24-bit/192 kHz.   The audio quality of stream music depends on network conditions, song availability, and the capability of connected speakers or headphones.  Tip#21. Enable Spatial Audio Note: If you paid Apple Music, you can listen to selected song in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos.  Step 1: Before performing the procedure, ensure your iPhone is updated to the latest iOS version. Step 2: Head to the Settings App on your iPhone. Scroll down and select Music. Step 3: In the Audio section, tap Dolby Atmos. Step 4: Choose one from Automatic, Always On or Off.   Final Verdict! That's It! These are some of the best Apple Music tips and tricks. Further, if you have some Apple Music tips that aren't mentioned in the article, then feel free to drop them in the comment box below.

3. On this screen, turn the toggle to the left side next to Sync Library.
4. “Turn off Sync Library” This will remove all Apple Music content and downloads from your library on this device
5. Choose Turn Off.

Turn on sync library tap turn off sync library on iphone

That’s it!

Steps to Turn Off iCloud Music Library on Mac

1. Open the Music App on your Mac.

Open the apple music on mac

2. Now click on music on the top menu bar.
3. Select Settings… or press keys together (Command +).

Open music app click on menu bar music select settings... on mac

4. So now, go with the General Tab that appears on the header.
5. Uncheck the box next to Sync Library. You can re-enable it (Music library) at any time by checking the box again.
6. Click OK to save your changes.

Go to the general tab uncheck the box next to the sync library at last click OK on mac

If you are getting the error something like this on enables or Disable iCloud music library on iOS or Mac,

  • Missing or mismatched album artwork
  • Wrong metadata
  • Live tracks matched to their studio versions

This will fix the cloud side. Apple will auto-fix the temporary error and will be right next time you re-enable & start to use the iCloud Music library catalog in your iCloud account.

Troubleshoot the issues on iCloud Music Library

iCloud library is not accessible like Mail or Drive files. The music library will auto-sync or update to the different existing devices or set up a new device with the same Apple ID. If you are having trouble in sync, log out of Apple ID and re-login your Apple ID (Settings > Profile name > Sign out).

If this post is helpful to you, Disable or Enable the iCloud music library on any device.

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Karly Wood

Karly Wood, a Wellington-based journalist, excels in covering Apple and tech trends. With a diverse background in public safety, government, and education reporting, her insights bridge multiple disciplines, offering readers a well-rounded perspective on today's technological advancements. Contact Her Team:- [email protected] [OR] [email protected]

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