iPhone XS Max How to download music to iPhone without iTunes

[desktop]

I am looking for a way to download songs to the actual phone itself without using iTunes. I have searched the web, but haven't been able to find anything useful. Tons of tips for using iTunes to do it, but I want to bypass that and actually have the songs on the phone that I can listen to anytime without using up my data.

Is there a way to do this?

 

[Puppuccino]

I’m about 95% sure you can’t. You need iTunes (Mojave or earlier) or Finder (Catalina) to manage music on iPhone.

 

[desktop]

I figured out how to do it with Evermusic.

 

[now i see it]

Not true.
First, you need to get your music out of the iTunes prison on your Mac. Your music needs to be individual AAC (or whatever) files that you can copy & move around just like any other file.

Move your music files to a folder you created on your Mac.

Next you need an app that can connect wirelessly to your Mac from your iPhone via wifi.
FileBrowser works for this.

Once the music files are copied over to FileBrowser on your iPhone, you can play the music files within that app or send them to another app that can play them (Goodreader etc).

You won't get any artwork or graphics associated with your music, just the music and file name, but you'll be free of the Apple Music & iTunes prison.

I don't know what happens with DRM protected music that was purchased from the iTunes Music store. It probably won't play this way.

 

[mjschabow]

I figured out how to do it with Evermusic.

What’s that?

 

[desktop]

Evermusic is a music player you can get on the Apple app store. It's pretty awesome and it enables me to download the songs onto my phone for offline listening.

 

[Super Spartan]

I’m about 95% sure you can’t. You need iTunes (Mojave or earlier) or Finder (Catalina) to manage music on iPhone.

Sure you can, using iMazing, it's as simple as dragging/dropping the files you want.

 

[Puppuccino]

In fairness to me, I was 5% sure you could so...

 

[mjschabow]

Evermusic is a music player you can get on the Apple app store. It's pretty awesome and it enables me to download the songs onto my phone for offline listening.

That’s awesome! I still prefer to sink with iTunes so it shows in Apple Music, but this is great for those situations where I want to listen to something right away.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

In fairness to me, I was 5% sure you could so...

That’s the spirit, you found a way to deflect criticism from a 95% wrong answer!

 

[Super Spartan]

In fairness to me, I was 5% sure you could so...

 

[Puppuccino]

That’s the spirit, you found a way to deflect criticism from a 95% wrong answer!

Always have a backup!

 

[Phillyphil0302]

In fairness to me, I was 5% sure you could so...

Is that you, Donald?

 

[Puppuccino]

Is that you, Donald?

Greta Thornberg: HOW DARE YOU!

 

[Lexpar]

Waltr

 

[Rare455]

There's two solutions you can use for sure – WALTR 2 or iMazing

 

[alFR]

Tons of tips for using iTunes to do it, but I want to bypass that and actually have the songs on the phone that I can listen to anytime without using up my data.

If you use iTunes Music Library via iCloud I think it downloads them as needed / streams them (not 100% sure on that as I don't use it), but when you sync songs to the phone using iTunes (by connecting to your computer with a cable or over wifi), they are on the actual phone itself so you can listen to them offline. Not sure why you need an alternative to that?

 

[Jack Neill]

I just tried EverMusic and it works fantastic. Thanks!