Why Won’t Apple Music Let Me Add Songs To My Library? 4 Fixes

Apple Music has joined the ranks of the top music streaming platforms thanks to a song library of over 100 million tracks, lossless audio, Dolby Atmos, and spatial audio. While you can’t get all of the above on every song, it’s still impressive. But what do you do when you can’t enjoy these features because you can’t add songs?

This seems to happen in one of two ways—either the ‘added to library’ notification shows up without the song actually dropping into your library, or the ‘Add to Library’ button just vanishes altogether. 

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Regardless of which way the problem goes, you can’t get music into your library. No one wants to use a music streaming platform where you have to search for your favorite tunes every time and you can’t shuffle your favorites or play them in your own order.

4 Fixes To Apple Music Not letting Songs Be Added To Library

1. Apple ID Sign-In

Apple usually makes you sign in, no matter what device you’re using, whenever you try to access an Apple App of any kind. However, it doesn’t always. Sometimes, you can access the app but you can’t do much of anything until you’re signed in.

On the flip side, some users have reported being signed in and still unable to add music to their libraries. Whichever situation applies to you, the answer is the same—sign in.

If you’re already signed in, sign out first and sign in again. We’ll proceed from the assumption that you’re signed in and need to sign out before signing back in.

1. Jump on the Settings menu
2. At the very top, select your name in the Apple ID tab
3. On the next screen, sign out by selecting ‘Sign Out’ at the bottom
4. Once you’re signed out, you can sign right back in on the same screen
5. Return to the Apple Music App and see if the ‘Add to Library’ is back or you can add music to your library

If you’re rocking an Android, you’ll have to sign out of the Apple Music app itself.

1. Open the Apple Music App
2. Locate and open the ‘For You’ section
3. Select ‘Account Settings’
4. Apple will probably make you sign in to access the menu to sign out
5. Select ‘Sign Out’ once you’re in
6. Confirm
7. Sign back in

As you would on an iOS device, try to add music to your library once you sign back in. If you were missing the tab altogether, hopefully, it will now be available again.

2. Is Your Apple Music Subscription Active?

One of the biggest complaints about Apple Music is that the subscription is pretty pricey and you literally get nothing if you don’t subscribe. The option to add your music to your library will probably disappear if you no longer have an active subscription to Apple Music.

You can check your active subscriptions with Apple by jumping into the Settings menu once again.

1. Open the Settings menu
2. Select your Name/Apple ID
3. Select the tab for ‘Subscriptions’ on the next screen
4. On the Subscriptions screen, you will see “Active” or “Inactive” above the Apple Music Subscription

If you are no longer subscribed, you’ll need to use the Apple Music App to restart your subscription again. You’ll find the option for subscription in the “For You” section mentioned above.

On an iOS device, you simply select the inactive Apple Music Subscription tab and you’ll see the option to renew your subscription again.

Above that tab, you’ll see the plan you were on before, such as the ‘Family’ plan. Select the ‘See All Plans’ to the right of that to change your plan to Individual, Voice, Student, Family, or Individual Yearly.

3. Update Your App or iOS Device

If there’s one thing that will jack the Apple Music app all up, it’s a failure to keep the app or the iOS device you’re using updated.

Apple devices tend to get very finicky when you don’t update them regularly. Updating the app is fairly straightforward and there are a few extra steps involved to update the device.

1. Select the ‘Settings’ icon on the home screen of your iOS device
2. Select ‘General’
3.  Select ‘Software Update’
4. Wait for any updates to populate
5. If an update pops up, select ‘Download and Install’
6. Enter Your PIN, Touch ID, or Face ID
7. Confirm the update

To update the Apple Music app, go to the App Store (the blue square icon with the A in the center). Select your profile icon on the top, right-hand corner of the game.

From here, all you need to do is scroll down to the Apple Music app and see if the app has the word “update” next to it.

If you’re using an Android device, you only need to worry about updating the app.

1. Open the Google Play Store App
2. Select your Profile icon on the top, right-hand corner
3. Select ‘Manage Apps & Device’
4. Locate the Apple Music App
5. If it needs an update, it will have the word, ‘Update’ next to it

nikkimeel – stock.adobe.com

4. Un-Sync and Resync your Apple Music Library

Sometimes, the ‘Sync Library’ gets in the way and causes more of a cluster than anything else. Fortunately, it’s simple to toggle off the ‘Sync Library’ off and toggle it back on.

1. Jump on the Settings Menu
2. Scroll down and select ‘Music’
3. Toggle off the ‘Sync Library’ option
4. Select ‘Turn Off’ to confirm
5. Once it is confirmed, toggle the option back on

Turning off the sync will reset your Apple Music, which means any songs you once put in the library will now be gone, along with anything you’ve selected as favorites or anything of that nature.

So, you’ll have to play from scratch and add new music (along with your old music) to your library again. However, if it returns your ‘Add to Library’ option, it’s worth the trade-off.

Final Thoughts

There you have it, four ways to get your Apple Music Library back in order. Apple Music is a fairly dynamic experience. If there’s one thing Apple is known for, it’s the ability to put a shine on just about anything.

However, Apple Music isn’t fun when you can’t add any music to your library because it makes everything else mostly pointless. Hopefully, the above troubleshooting tips will get you back on track and playing Apple Music out of your library in no time.