How to transfer music from iphone to itunes windows 10

Learn how to sync music, movies, and more using iTunes on your Mac or PC.

If you're using macOS Mojave or earlier or a Windows PC, use iTunes to sync content to your devices. Before you use iTunes to sync content to your iOS or iPadOS device, consider using iCloud, Apple Music, or similar services to keep content from your Mac or PC in the cloud. This way, you can access your music, photos, and more on your devices when you aren't near your computer. Learn more about using Apple Music or iCloud Photos instead of iTunes.

If you use iCloud or other services like Apple Music to keep your content up-to-date across all of your devices, some syncing features through iTunes might be turned off.

What you can sync with iTunes

• Albums, songs, playlists, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and audiobooks.
• Photos and videos.
• Contacts and calendars.

iTunes features might vary by country or region.

Sync or remove content using iTunes

1. Open iTunes and connect your device to your computer with a USB cable.
2. Click the device icon in the upper-left corner of the iTunes window. Learn what to do if you don't see the icon. 
   
   
3. From the list under Settings on the left side of the iTunes window, click the type of content that you want to sync or remove.* To turn syncing on for a content type, select the checkbox next to Sync.
   
   
4. Select the checkbox next to each item that you want to sync.
5. Click the Apply button in the lower-right corner of the window. If syncing doesn't start automatically, click the Sync button.
   

* You can only sync your device with one iTunes library at a time. If you see a message that your device is synced with another iTunes library, your device was previously connected to another computer. If you click "Erase and Sync" in that message, all content of the selected type on your device will be erased and replaced with content from this computer.

Sync your content using Wi-Fi

After you set up syncing with iTunes using USB, you can set up iTunes to sync to your device with Wi-Fi instead of USB.

1. Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable, then open iTunes and select your device. Learn what to do if your device doesn't appear on your computer.
2. Click Summary on the left side of the iTunes window. 
3. Select "Sync with this [device] over Wi-Fi." 
4. Click Apply.

When the computer and the device are on the same Wi-Fi network, the device appears in iTunes. The device syncs automatically whenever it's plugged in to power and iTunes is open on the computer.

Get help

• Learn what to do if you see an error when you try to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes.
• Learn what to do if you see an alert in iTunes for Windows that says syncing contacts and calendars has been deprecated.
• Learn how to redownload apps and redownload music that you purchased on another device.
• Learn how to import photos and videos to your computer.

Published Date: February 10, 2022

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• Transferring Purchased Music to Windows with iTunes
|
• Downloading Purchases with an Apple ID
|
• Using Cloud Services

Do you want to transfer your purchased music from your iPhone to your computer? While iTunes will work just fine for transferring music that you purchased through Apple from your iPhone to your computer, you won't be able to move music that you didn't purchase through Apple nor will you be able to transfer your entire music library from your iPhone to your computer. Macs, as long as both the iPhone and Mac are signed into the same Apple ID, are automatic, and doing anything like transferring music isn't necessary. This wikiHow article teaches you how to transfer music from your iPhone onto your Windows computer using iTunes and cloud services, as well as how to download onto your computer music purchased with an Apple ID.

Things You Should Know

• With iTunes, you can only transfer music that you've purchased to a Windows computer.
• Sign into your Apple ID on your Mac or Windows computer to transfer music wirelessly.
• Use cloud services like Dropbox to transfer music that you didn't purchase through Apple.

1. 

   1

   Attach your iPhone to your computer. Plug one end of your iPhone's charging cable into the iPhone, then plug the other end (the USB end) into your computer.

   • iTunes will only transfer music that you've purchased through Apple. If you ripped a CD, you won't be able to transfer that music via iTunes. You can transfer music that you didn't purchase through Apple with cloud services, like Dropbox.
   • iTunes works on Windows computers. If you have a Mac, music should transfer and sync automatically if you're signed into the same Apple ID on your iPhone and Mac.

2. 

   2

   Open iTunes. Its app icon resembles a multicolored musical note on a white background. The iTunes window should pop up after a few seconds.

   • If prompted to update iTunes, click the Download button and wait for iTunes to update. You'll need to restart your computer before proceeding.
   • You may need to authorize your computer if you haven't already. Go to Account > Authorizations > Authorize This Computer > Authorize.

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3. 

   3

   Click File. It's on the upper-left side of the iTunes window.

4. 

   4

   Select Devices. This option is near the bottom of the File drop-down menu.

5. 

   5

   Click Transfer Purchases from [Name]. Instead of "[Name]", you'll see your iPhone's name here. Clicking this option prompts the purchased music to begin transferring onto your computer.

6. 

   6

   Wait for the purchased music to finish transferring. Depending on the amount of music that you need to transfer, this may take a few seconds to a few minutes.[1]

7. 

   7

   Click Recently Added. It's a tab on the left side of the iTunes window. Doing so opens a list of recently added music.

8. 

   8

   Find the purchased music that you want to save. You may have to scroll up or down to find the music that you want to download onto your computer.

9. 

   9

   Click the "Download" icon

   
   . It looks like a cloud with an arrow pointing out of it and should be to the right of your selected song (or album). This will prompt the music to download from iTunes onto your computer, ensuring that you have a backup of the music on your computer at all times.
   • If you don't see the Download icon, the music is already on your computer.
   • You can go to the music's location on your computer by selecting a song, clicking File > Show in File Explorer.

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1. 

   1

   Open iTunes. Its app icon resembles a multicolored musical note on a white background. If you accidentally deleted iTunes music from your iPhone or iTunes, you can re-download it as long as you're signed into the account with which you purchased the music.

   • This method allows you to download music that you've purchased on your iPhone without connecting with a cable.
   • iTunes only works with Windows computers. Since this is an automatic process for Apple devices, like Macs, doing this on a Mac isn't necessary. However, if you are having trouble downloading your music on a Mac, you'll need to use Music.

2. 

   2

   Click Account. It's at the top of your screen with File and Help.

   • To check that you're signed into the same account that purchased the music, go to View My Account. If you aren't signed in, click Sign in.

3. 

   3

   Click Purchased. It's near the bottom of the drop-down menu. Doing so will take you to the iTunes Store tab.

4. 

   4

   Click the Not in My Library tab. You'll find this near the top of the iTunes page. Clicking it shows you a list of all of your purchased songs that are not in your iTunes library.

5. 

   5

   Click the "Download" button

   
   . It looks like a cloud with an arrow pointing out of it and is in the top-right corner of the song or album that you want to download. Doing so will download the song or album back onto your computer.
   • You can find the music on your computer by selecting a song, clicking File, and clicking either Show in Windows Explorer (Windows) or Show in Finder (Mac).

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1. 

   1

   Install the Dropbox or Google Drive app on your iPhone. You can get these cloud services for free from the app store. Free accounts have a smaller size limit, but you can pay to upgrade your storage.

   • Cloud services are like Google Drive, and Dropbox.

2. 

   2

   Sign into the same account on both devices. On both your computer and your iPhone, sign into the cloud service with the same account.

3. 

   3

   Upload the music you want to transfer into the cloud service. The instructions will differ depending on the cloud service you're using, like Dropbox or Google Drive.

4. 

   4

   Download the music to your computer. From your computer, download the files from your cloud service account. You can easily access the website of the cloud service (like https://dropbox.com or https://drive.google.com) from your computer's internet browser and download the music files that you uploaded from your iPhone.

   • Many cloud services have a limited amount of space available on their free accounts, so you might have to transfer music in batches if you have a lot of songs.

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Add New Question

• Question

  How can I transfer music that was ripped from old CDs, or not purchased from the iTunes Store?

  

  Minorite

  Community Answer

  With iTunes you can sync ripped tracks to device, but there is no official way to sync non-iTunes purchases from device to iTunes. Third-party iTunes alternative apps can do it, though.

• Question

  How do I transfer music that was not purchased on iTunes?

  

  Minorite

  Community Answer

  There is no way to transfer non-iTunes purchases from an iOS device to a computer. You will need something like iMazing or another third-party app that can transfer music from iOS to computer.

• Question

  If I transfer purchased songs from my IPhone to my computer, will they be deleted off my phone?

  

  Citylimits

  Community Answer

  No, they will be available on both devices as long as you are logged in with the same apple ID on both.

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