iOS 8.2 Update Claims to Fix Some iTunes Sync Problems

The iOS 8.2 update, just released, claims to fix some problems with iTunes syncing. We’ll have to see if this resolves some of the most egregious sync issues. Feel free to post a comment if this fixes things for you (or not).

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In my first few tries, removing music, and then syncing new music to my iPhone 5s, the sync started fairly quickly, and seemed to sync all the music I was adding. Syncs are clearly much faster than before. Let’s hope this lasts.

52 thoughts on “iOS 8.2 Update Claims to Fix Some iTunes Sync Problems

  1. I can also say that my first IOS8 device – my iPhone 5 – has successfully synced with my iTunes 12!! I did the new upgrade first then synced it and it went smoothly and much faster. Now mind you this is with only three playlists – 321 songs but it worked! Thank you Apple.

  2. I can also say that my first IOS8 device – my iPhone 5 – has successfully synced with my iTunes 12!! I did the new upgrade first then synced it and it went smoothly and much faster. Now mind you this is with only three playlists – 321 songs but it worked! Thank you Apple.

  3. Well forget what I said yesterday – yes, the iPhone 5 with just a few songs did OK syncing BUT this morning I just tried my 60GB iPod Touch (5th Gen) with 11,000 songs and same ole story. It showed to be syncing but after a short time it finished and WIPED OUT THE ARTWORK FOR ALL SONGS!!!! And did NOT sync the few new playlists I checked to add. So nothing really has improved. I guess all of Apple’s attentions are on the Apple Watch and they care nothing about this dreaded problem! Now I’m restoring…………

    • Thanks for commenting. So far, it’s a lot faster for me, but there are still songs that don’t sync. My guess is that they did fix something, but not everything.

  4. Well forget what I said yesterday – yes, the iPhone 5 with just a few songs did OK syncing BUT this morning I just tried my 60GB iPod Touch (5th Gen) with 11,000 songs and same ole story. It showed to be syncing but after a short time it finished and WIPED OUT THE ARTWORK FOR ALL SONGS!!!! And did NOT sync the few new playlists I checked to add. So nothing really has improved. I guess all of Apple’s attentions are on the Apple Watch and they care nothing about this dreaded problem! Now I’m restoring…………

    • Thanks for commenting. So far, it’s a lot faster for me, but there are still songs that don’t sync. My guess is that they did fix something, but not everything.

    • Yes! It certainly did on my iPhone and my iPod Touch. That was probably the only reason for this update because it sure did NOT fix the syncing problems!!!!

    • Yes! It certainly did on my iPhone and my iPod Touch. That was probably the only reason for this update because it sure did NOT fix the syncing problems!!!!

  5. What on earth is going on at Apple? And what happened to thunderbolt??
    These recent product announcements, the macbook and watch, are vastly overpriced.

    I’m hoping they have something later in the year for pro users and not just poseurs…

  6. What on earth is going on at Apple? And what happened to thunderbolt??
    These recent product announcements, the macbook and watch, are vastly overpriced.

    I’m hoping they have something later in the year for pro users and not just poseurs…

  7. On the plus side: iOS 8.2 does seem to sync faster.

    On the minus side: it hasn’t solved the problems I’ve had syncing, although at least now I can confirm a sync hasn’t worked before I try it again. And again. And again.

    The standard routine I’ve had for the past few months: I remove all audio, sync a few times until the audio really goes away, and then put the audio back on. And it syncs fine for a while. After a week or two, album art disappears. Then files that should disappear after a sync (played audiobooks, for example, or tracks in an “Unplayed in X months” playlist) no longer disappear. Soon files that should be added will no longer be added. Eventually the errors compound until I wipe the audio and start over.

    It’s probably just a coincidence that, when I installed 8.2, everything was syncing perfectly. And after my first post-8.2 sync, my iPhone jumped to the final stage, with no album art, no files being removed, and no files being added.

    Do note that I have fairly intensive smart playlist syncing going on: for example, I’ve got hundreds of Chinese lessons in my iTunes library, with synced smart playlists that are supposed to remove whatever lessons have just been studied, and add in other recently unstudied lessons. You know, the kind of complicated stuff that iPhones apparently can’t handle, even if my old iPod managed it well.

  8. On the plus side: iOS 8.2 does seem to sync faster.

    On the minus side: it hasn’t solved the problems I’ve had syncing, although at least now I can confirm a sync hasn’t worked before I try it again. And again. And again.

    The standard routine I’ve had for the past few months: I remove all audio, sync a few times until the audio really goes away, and then put the audio back on. And it syncs fine for a while. After a week or two, album art disappears. Then files that should disappear after a sync (played audiobooks, for example, or tracks in an “Unplayed in X months” playlist) no longer disappear. Soon files that should be added will no longer be added. Eventually the errors compound until I wipe the audio and start over.

    It’s probably just a coincidence that, when I installed 8.2, everything was syncing perfectly. And after my first post-8.2 sync, my iPhone jumped to the final stage, with no album art, no files being removed, and no files being added.

    Do note that I have fairly intensive smart playlist syncing going on: for example, I’ve got hundreds of Chinese lessons in my iTunes library, with synced smart playlists that are supposed to remove whatever lessons have just been studied, and add in other recently unstudied lessons. You know, the kind of complicated stuff that iPhones apparently can’t handle, even if my old iPod managed it well.

  9. Can we just state , for the record…
    01 – that this sync issue (MAJOR PROBLEM) began at ios6
    02 – We’ve had ios7 and ios8, and new hardware, MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS and nothing solid on this

    So does it follow that APPLE are NOT interested in the issue?

  10. Can we just state , for the record…
    01 – that this sync issue (MAJOR PROBLEM) began at ios6
    02 – We’ve had ios7 and ios8, and new hardware, MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS and nothing solid on this

    So does it follow that APPLE are NOT interested in the issue?

  11. Yes, it follows they are not that interested.

    I updated to 8.2 yesterday 3/12, and had about 98 GB music on my iphone 6. This morning, my audio filed had all switched to Other, and I couldn’t access my music from the Music app.

    I restored my phone, added about 6 GBs of music (all downloaded from iTunes), tried to sync more albums on, after which all the files moved to Other, and were again inaccessible from the Music app.

    Repeated restore, added 5 GB music, and it happened again.

    I’ve had sync problems for years with iOS devices, but this takes the cake. I have to think this 8.2 update has worse bugs than the supposed fix.

    I have never had a problem syncing my old trusty iPod classic.

    • So true Charles and I still have my trusty old iPod Classic and just may go back to it! The only reason I got new iPod Touch was so I could listen wirelessly on Bluetooth headphones and speakers but until Apple fixes this disaster – it’s not worth the stress.

  12. Yes, it follows they are not that interested.

    I updated to 8.2 yesterday 3/12, and had about 98 GB music on my iphone 6. This morning, my audio filed had all switched to Other, and I couldn’t access my music from the Music app.

    I restored my phone, added about 6 GBs of music (all downloaded from iTunes), tried to sync more albums on, after which all the files moved to Other, and were again inaccessible from the Music app.

    Repeated restore, added 5 GB music, and it happened again.

    I’ve had sync problems for years with iOS devices, but this takes the cake. I have to think this 8.2 update has worse bugs than the supposed fix.

    I have never had a problem syncing my old trusty iPod classic.

    • So true Charles and I still have my trusty old iPod Classic and just may go back to it! The only reason I got new iPod Touch was so I could listen wirelessly on Bluetooth headphones and speakers but until Apple fixes this disaster – it’s not worth the stress.

  13. My music slowly disappeared after I updated my phone in December. I’ve tried everything to download it on my phone and still nothing. Spent 2 hours on phone with Apple until it was finally escalated to a senior operator and still no fix.

  14. My music slowly disappeared after I updated my phone in December. I’ve tried everything to download it on my phone and still nothing. Spent 2 hours on phone with Apple until it was finally escalated to a senior operator and still no fix.

  15. I never had an issue adding a playlist to my iPhone 5s until I updated to iOS 8.2. After the update several playlists were missing. Now, it will not sync any playlists, and only allows me to remove them. I tried several times to sync my playlists. I made new playlists after I converted all songs as a Moderator suggested on another thread. We had a lot of music that took a long time to convert. It still didn’t sync my playlists. (Yeah I wanted to swear like a pirate.) Another thread suggested opening to Music app, tap ‘More’, tap ‘Shared’ then select ‘Library’. That allowed me to choose any of the playlist, of which our family has a multitude. I thought the point of buying a CD and downloading it was so I would have only my music available anywhere, anytime.

  16. I never had an issue adding a playlist to my iPhone 5s until I updated to iOS 8.2. After the update several playlists were missing. Now, it will not sync any playlists, and only allows me to remove them. I tried several times to sync my playlists. I made new playlists after I converted all songs as a Moderator suggested on another thread. We had a lot of music that took a long time to convert. It still didn’t sync my playlists. (Yeah I wanted to swear like a pirate.) Another thread suggested opening to Music app, tap ‘More’, tap ‘Shared’ then select ‘Library’. That allowed me to choose any of the playlist, of which our family has a multitude. I thought the point of buying a CD and downloading it was so I would have only my music available anywhere, anytime.

  17. 8.2 fixed nothing from my experience. Syncing is still abysmally broken. New songs won’t transfer. Album artwork gets wiped. Only a restore has any hope of fixing things. It’s the same old same old.

    The most frustrating thing for me is that the whole reason I own an iPhone 6 (and the iPhones 5C, 5, 4S, 4 and 3GS before that) is because I’ve been a long-time avid user of iTunes and several iPods. My entire music collection (~10,000 songs, many of them purchased from Apple, the rest of them ripped from CDs I actually own) has been meticulously managed using iTunes. I suspect there are many iPhone users out there like me. I feel like Apple is ignoring the very people who helped make the iPhone what it is today. iTunes, iPod and the iOS music app were all the foundation of what is today known as the iPhone. Apple has forgotten its roots, and in doing so, has sent the message that they really don’t care about their earliest adopters and fans.

  18. 8.2 fixed nothing from my experience. Syncing is still abysmally broken. New songs won’t transfer. Album artwork gets wiped. Only a restore has any hope of fixing things. It’s the same old same old.

    The most frustrating thing for me is that the whole reason I own an iPhone 6 (and the iPhones 5C, 5, 4S, 4 and 3GS before that) is because I’ve been a long-time avid user of iTunes and several iPods. My entire music collection (~10,000 songs, many of them purchased from Apple, the rest of them ripped from CDs I actually own) has been meticulously managed using iTunes. I suspect there are many iPhone users out there like me. I feel like Apple is ignoring the very people who helped make the iPhone what it is today. iTunes, iPod and the iOS music app were all the foundation of what is today known as the iPhone. Apple has forgotten its roots, and in doing so, has sent the message that they really don’t care about their earliest adopters and fans.

  19. Upgraded to 8.2 now it saying it’s syncing but nothing syncs. Also over half of my cover art is now blank. Apple should be ashamed!

  20. Upgraded to 8.2 now it saying it’s syncing but nothing syncs. Also over half of my cover art is now blank. Apple should be ashamed!

  21. Syncing deleted music off my iphone6+,but ehen i plug into vomputer snd open phone in itunes it shiws all the music as being there even if it isn’t. So since it thinks its sll there, it wont sync yo my phone.

  22. Syncing deleted music off my iphone6+,but ehen i plug into vomputer snd open phone in itunes it shiws all the music as being there even if it isn’t. So since it thinks its sll there, it wont sync yo my phone.

  23. Just picked up an iPad Air 2 today. Updated it to 8.2. Restored my settings, all my apps, and background, etc came over fine

    Then the drama. Tried to sync my photos, music and videos. Photos worked fine.

    I did eventually get it to sync books and movies, but music, forget about it. Looks just like the screenshot you have in the article. Shows my playlist names on my device, though they aren’t actually there, then it says it’s going to sync. The data usage bar in iTunes loads up, I see it flash something like determining songs to sync across the top, then waiting for changes. And nothing. The storage usage bar goes back down to nothing.

    Worked okay on my iPad 4.

    Things I have tried:

    1. Manually manage
    2. Only sync checked songs and videos
    3. Nothing checked on the summary screen.
    4. WiFi – Sync – nope.
    5. Logged into the app store from the new iPad and bought a song. Dunno, just in case.
    6. Rebooted computer a bunch.
    7. Did a reinstall of iTunes.
    8. Edit preferences – devices – reset synch history. (I think this is when my books and vids started working)

    Still nothing for getting my music on there. Very frustrating. Only thing I can do it go into the default purchased playlist in the music app and told it to download them all. Alll 3000+ of them. Meh.

  24. Just picked up an iPad Air 2 today. Updated it to 8.2. Restored my settings, all my apps, and background, etc came over fine

    Then the drama. Tried to sync my photos, music and videos. Photos worked fine.

    I did eventually get it to sync books and movies, but music, forget about it. Looks just like the screenshot you have in the article. Shows my playlist names on my device, though they aren’t actually there, then it says it’s going to sync. The data usage bar in iTunes loads up, I see it flash something like determining songs to sync across the top, then waiting for changes. And nothing. The storage usage bar goes back down to nothing.

    Worked okay on my iPad 4.

    Things I have tried:

    1. Manually manage
    2. Only sync checked songs and videos
    3. Nothing checked on the summary screen.
    4. WiFi – Sync – nope.
    5. Logged into the app store from the new iPad and bought a song. Dunno, just in case.
    6. Rebooted computer a bunch.
    7. Did a reinstall of iTunes.
    8. Edit preferences – devices – reset synch history. (I think this is when my books and vids started working)

    Still nothing for getting my music on there. Very frustrating. Only thing I can do it go into the default purchased playlist in the music app and told it to download them all. Alll 3000+ of them. Meh.

  25. Can we even think that someone at APPLE is listening to all our woes and distress? Do they no longer care about what has got them where they are today!!?

  26. Can we even think that someone at APPLE is listening to all our woes and distress? Do they no longer care about what has got them where they are today!!?

  27. Pisses me off. Updated my shiny new iPod touch twice within a couple of weeks, and BOTH times my playlists on there magically disappeared shortly afterwards. Get your sh!t together, Apple, I need my music, and especially when I am angry and need to shut out the world and avoid people …

    • Mine started working with the latest update! . I basically updated my phone then a quick message came up on it to connect my phone to iTunes on my computer. I did that and bang started working!!! Finalyyyy

  28. Pisses me off. Updated my shiny new iPod touch twice within a couple of weeks, and BOTH times my playlists on there magically disappeared shortly afterwards. Get your sh!t together, Apple, I need my music, and especially when I am angry and need to shut out the world and avoid people …

    • Mine started working with the latest update! . I basically updated my phone then a quick message came up on it to connect my phone to iTunes on my computer. I did that and bang started working!!! Finalyyyy

  29. It is not updating the changes I made to a playlist. I have done a manual iPhone sync with a cable and still the playlist is not updated. I also have had problems with smart playlists. I will try disabling match on the iPhone deleting all music and updating again.

  30. It is not updating the changes I made to a playlist. I have done a manual iPhone sync with a cable and still the playlist is not updated. I also have had problems with smart playlists. I will try disabling match on the iPhone deleting all music and updating again.

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