If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, the iCloud Music Library feature helps you sync your music library across your Apple devices where you’ve signed in with the same Apple ID. While it’s a useful feature, it also has some downsides. For instance, if you’ve got a massive music catalog, downloading and syncing music across your Apple devices consumes a lot of time and data. If this syncing doesn’t suit your needs or you have no plans to stick to Apple Music in the long term, you can simply turn this feature off. Read on to learn how to stop the iCloud Music Library from syncing to your Apple devices.
What Happens If You Turn off iCloud Music Library
When you disable iCloud Music Library, it will stop syncing your Apple Music library and playlists across your devices where you’ve signed in with the same Apple ID. Additionally, any music that was previously synced will be removed, including your Apple Music downloads. You can only access songs that are locally stored on your device.
Bear in mind that you have to turn off iCloud Music Library for each Apple device individually. This means that if you own multiple devices, you’ll need to repeat the process on each one to ensure that the syncing is completely disabled.
Turn Off iCloud Music Library on iPhone or iPad
To disable iCloud Music Library on your iPhone or iPad, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and select Music. If you’ve installed iOS 18, go to Settings → Apps → Music.
- Under Library, turn off the Sync Library toggle.
When you do this, you will receive a warning indicating that this action will remove all Apple Music content and downloads from your iPhone's music library. Simply tap on Turn Off to confirm your action.
Turn Off iCloud Music Library on Mac
To turn off the iCloud Music Library on your Mac, follow these simple steps:
- Open the Music app on your Mac.
- Click on Music from the top Menu Bar and choose Settings.
- In the new pop-up window, navigate to the General Tab and uncheck the box next to Sync Library.
- Finally, click on Ok to save the changes.
You can easily turn on Apple Music syncing again by checking that box if you change your mind later.
Turn Off iCloud Music Library on Windows PC
Besides an iPhone, iPad, and Mac, you can also disable the iCloud Music Library on a Windows PC. If you use iTunes to listen to music, follow these steps:
- Open the iTunes app on your PC.
- From the top Menu bar, click on Edit and select Preferences from the dropdown menu.
- Uncheck the iCloud Music Library option.
- Finally, click on OK to save your changes.
That’s how easy it is to disable the iCloud Music Library on your devices. If at any point you feel that Apple Music syncing doesn’t suit your needs, you can go ahead and disable it. If you ever change your mind, you can easily re-enable it using the same steps. Remember, if you don’t have an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription, you won’t see the option to turn off iCloud Music Library on your device.
