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4 easy ways: How to delete music from iPhone

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How to delete music from iPhone

Quick jump to:

  1. Delete tracks or albums individually
  2. Delete all music from device
  3. How to delete songs from iPod or iPhone with iTunes or Apple Music app
  4. Delete duplicate songs on iPhone

How to delete music from iPhone

If you're new to iPhone, or have never needed to delete music from your iPhone before, it may not be immediately apparent how to delete songs or albums from your device. Do not fear, though! In this article, we'll guide you through 4 easy ways in which you can remove music from your iPhone.

Before deleting music from your device, or syncing your music library with your iPhone, we highly recommend backing up your iPhone to keep your data safe.

You can create a backup of your iPhone using iTunes, Apple Devices or Finder. Alternatively, you can use a program like TouchCopy to transfer all of your iPhone music to your PC or Mac, or directly into your iTunes library or Apple Music app.

Summary

How to delete music from iPhone:

  1. From your iPhone menu, tap Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
  2. Select the Music header from the list of apps.
  3. Tap Edit in the top right corner.
  4. Under the Artists heading, you'll see a list of all the music artists stored on your device.
  5. Delete all songs by tapping the red circle next to All Songs, or the circle next to an artist to delete all songs by that particular artist.
  6. Tap Delete to confirm.

How to remove music from iphone

Tap the red circle to delete individual artists, or all iPhone music.

1. Delete tracks or albums individually

If you only want to get rid of certain tracks or albums from your iPhone, this is the method for you:

  1. If you're using iOS 9 or an earlier version, make sure only music downloaded to your device is displayed. Go to Settings > Music Show All Music, and turn off the setting by sliding it off, if it is on already. This option was removed in iOS 10.
  2. Open the Music app from your iPhone app menu.
  3. From your Music Library page, tap either the Albums or Songs header, depending on if you would like to delete entire albums or single songs.
  4. Tap and hold your finger on an album or songs you wish to delete until a menu is displayed.
  5. Tap the "Delete From Library" or "Remove" option, then confirm the deletion.

Delete an album of music from your iPhone

How to delete an album from iPhone

2. Delete all music from device

If the previous method was too slow for you, or if you want to start from scratch by removing all of the music currently stored on your iPhone, you're in the right place.

To delete all music from your iPhone, follow these steps:

  1. From your iPhone menu, tap Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
  2. Select Music in your list of apps (you may need to tap "Show more" if Music isn't shown in the initial list).
  3. You'll see a list of all of the music artists stored on your device. Tap "Edit".
  4. Delete all songs by tapping the red circle next to "All Songs", or the circle next to an artist to delete all songs by that particular artist.
  5. Tap "Delete" to confirm

How to delete songs from iPhone - all music

How to delete all music from an iPhone

3. How to delete songs from iPod or iPhone with iTunes or Apple Music app

If you prefer to use iTunes (or Apple Music app) for your music management, you can remove music stored on your iPhone through the program.

Here's how to delete songs from iPod or iPhone using iTunes or Apple Music app:

  1. Open iTunes or the Apple Music app on your computer.
  2. Connect your iPhone.
  3. When the device is found, click the "Music" header under your device name in the menu bar on the left.
  4. Select the tracks you want to delete from your iPhone.
  5. Hit the Delete key on your keyboard, or right-click on one of your selected tracks, and click "Delete from Library".
  6. Confirm the deletion.
How to delete songs from iPod or iPhone using iTunes.
How to use iTunes to delete music from your iPhone or iPod.

4. Delete duplicate songs on iPhone

If you think you have more than one copy of a song on your iPhone, the song will play more often when shuffling songs, and will also take up unnecessary space on your device.

Unfortunately, the iPhone does not currently provide a way to find duplicates, so the use of a computer is necessary. We will first remove any duplicate songs from iTunes (or Apple Music), then sync your cleaned library with your iPhone, ensuring that your iPhone's library is the same as the music library on your computer.

The quickest way to find and remove these duplicates, with the most control, is by using trusted third-party software such as Tune Sweeper.

Tune Sweeper is an app for PC and Mac which will analyze your iTunes or Mac Music library for duplicate songs, and delete them for you automatically.

Use Tune Sweeper to delete duplicates from iTunes
Tune Sweeper - Duplicate music fixer.

Why use Tune Sweeper?

  • Allows you to set search criteria to find all duplicate songs, or narrow it down to find specific duplicates.
  • You can manually select which file to delete from a group of duplicates.
  • Gives you options to automatically select songs to keep of Highest Quality, Longest Duration, Latest Added, Oldest Added or Latest Played. The other duplicates will be automatically deleted for you.
  • Has loads of additional features such as fixing track information, downloading album artwork, and adding and removing missing tracks from your music library.

How to delete duplicate music with Tune Sweeper

  1. Download and install Tune Sweeper.
  2. Launch Tune Sweeper and click "Search for Duplicates".
  3. Your iTunes or Mac Music app library will be scanned and Tune Sweeper will return a list of duplicates.
  4. Manually tick which files to remove, or allow Tune Sweeper to do it automatically by selecting a Keep Selection Preference.
  5. Once you're happy with the selections, click "Remove Duplicates".
Deleting duplicate music from iTunes using Tune Sweeper
Delete duplicate music from iPhone / iTunes - Tune Sweeper.

Once you've deleted all your duplicate music from iTunes or the Mac Music app, you can go ahead and sync your library with your iPhone. Check out our full guide on how to remove duplicate music from iPhone, which details how to sync the cleaned library to your iPhone.

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