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Music source on Apple Watch

S

spkurtz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 30, 2015
7
1
I often go running without my iPhone. I only have select songs downloaded to my watch. However, when I am paying music (on my watch) it shows all the music on my phone. And since I don't have the phone with me, those songs are unplayable. I thought there was a way to change the music source so it would only show music on the watch. Older instructions say to hard press "On iPhone" to change the source but it isn't working...maybe Apple took it out on a recent release?

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iPhone is the music on iPhone

Library is the music stored on the watch - press that and select your music and it will play directly from the watch - no phone needed :)
 
G.McGilli said:
iPhone is the music on iPhone

Library is the music stored on the watch - press that and select your music and it will play directly from the watch - no phone needed :)
Click to expand...

I wish that were the case, but it's not. Even if my phone is turned off, the library on my watch shows everything on my phone. Perhaps it's because I have the Apple Music "sync library" setting on. If I add an album to the music library on my laptop, it immediately shows up on my phone as well as the watch under library. That being the case, I haven't figured out a way to only show the music that is downloaded to my watch. The workaround has been to build a playlist I know will be downloaded to the watch and just use that. But sometimes I want to shuffle all the songs in my library, but because it shows everything - downloaded or not - that action won't work without having my phone with me.

I hope that all makes sense.
 
spkurtz said:
I hope that all makes sense.
Click to expand...
Totally makes sense - as I don't use any sort of syncing/icloud sync for music on any devices then it does sound different.

Hopefully, someone else who uses those features can chime in! Good luck!
 
Older help articles like the below show an option to choose music source, but I don't have that.

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spkurtz said:
I wish that were the case, but it's not. Even if my phone is turned off, the library on my watch shows everything on my phone. Perhaps it's because I have the Apple Music "sync library" setting on. If I add an album to the music library on my laptop, it immediately shows up on my phone as well as the watch under library. That being the case, I haven't figured out a way to only show the music that is downloaded to my watch. The workaround has been to build a playlist I know will be downloaded to the watch and just use that. But sometimes I want to shuffle all the songs in my library, but because it shows everything - downloaded or not - that action won't work without having my phone with me.

I hope that all makes sense.
Click to expand...

Synching music to your laptop will not put it on your watch. Could you be thinking the music is there because your phone is within range of your watch and paired? You have storage space on your watch and the music needs to be onboard to play it without your phone.
To get music there just google ‘download music to  watch’. I go to the gym and leave my phone in the locker and just pair my heaphones to the watch and play watch content. S
 
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Could you show us your Music page in Watch app? What does it show?

Like here, I can see all my 3 albums and 1 playlist right on that screen you originally posted. No need to get to Library at all.
 

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spkurtz said:
Even if my phone is turned off, the library on my watch shows everything on my phone. Perhaps it's because I have the Apple Music "sync library" setting on.
Click to expand...

I suspect Apple Music is causing the problem. Does your watch have cellular? Anything happen if you turn off all connectivity?

In my case I don't use Apple Music and when I select library I see just the music which has been loaded into the watch via the watch app.
 
bumbo said:
Which OS are you on? I have music synced to my Watch but don't have the 'Downloaded' option...

Unless you've got this from Apple Music on your LTE watch?
Click to expand...

I have LTE and I don’t have that. (I connect through WiFi though)
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HDFan said:
I suspect Apple Music is causing the problem. Does your watch have cellular? Anything happen if you turn off all connectivity?

In my case I don't use Apple Music and when I select library I see just the music which has been loaded into the watch via the watch app.
Click to expand...

It‘s not about “problem”. I believe it’s a misunderstanding. The Library on the Watch, I suppose, is for playing on the watch. There are situations you can play music on the watch without having to download first such as when the watch connect through known WiFi for example and in this case for Apple Music users what’s in Watch library is what’s in Apple Music because you can play them all.
The downloaded music should be right there on the first screen, not in library. Just scrolls down.

I believe having Downloaded section in Watch library would reduce confusion. Maybe I don’t have that section in my watch because I don’t have any music downloaded to my watch.
 
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I've figured out some of the UI on the watch app. On the main screen shows:

On iPhone
Now Playing
Library

If you keep scrolling, the artwork shows only the albums and playlists you have downloaded to the watch.

What I was initially trying to do is go to Library > Songs and play only what's been downloaded to my watch. But it shows all the songs, albums, and playlists I have in my Music / iCloud library.

It would be nice if you could change the source from iPhone to Watch like some older Watch OS seemed to allow.
 
To answer some of the questions above. I have the wi-fi only version. Series 4 running Watch OS 6.2.6.

I have Apple Music with sync library turned on, which means the desktop app, the mobile app and the watch app all show the exact same library, whether it's downloaded to that device or not.

1593792579187.png. 1593792621719.png 1593792646344.png

That being the case, I'm now realizing I can't shuffle through all the songs in my watch library without my phone because most of those are in the cloud and not downloaded.
 
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matrix07 said:
It‘s not about “problem”. I believe it’s a misunderstanding. The Library on the Watch, I suppose, is for playing on the watch. There are situations you can play music on the watch without having to download first such as when the watch connect through known WiFi for example and in this case for Apple Music users what’s in Watch library is what’s in Apple Music because you can play them all.
The downloaded music should be right there on the first screen, not in library. Just scrolls down.

I believe having Downloaded section in Watch library would reduce confusion. Maybe I don’t have that section in my watch because I don’t have any music downloaded to my watch.
Click to expand...


Correct. On my watch I don’t look in Library, I just scroll down. This shows what has been downloaded to my watch and is hence, playable without the phone. S
 
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