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How to create or delete a playlist on Apple Music

Make a playlist for any occasion!
By
May 17, 2022

If you have many music tastes stretching across multiple genres, you will most likely want to curate them into specialized playlists. For example, a sad soulful playlist for when you’re feeling melancholy, and a mad rocking, head-banging playlist for when you’re in the mood to let your hair down. Here’s how to create and delete playlists in Apple Music.

Read more: Apple Music — is it worth it?

QUICK ANSWER

To create an Apple Music playlist, go to the Playlists sections and select New Playlist. Give it a title and save. To delete the playlist, right-click on it and select Delete from Library.


JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

How to create an Apple Music playlist on a Mac or PC

To create your Apple Music playlist on a desktop computer, start by opening either the macOS Music app or iTunes for Windows. The method is identical, no matter which one you use. Then go to File–>New–>Playlist.

macos create new playlist

This opens up a new playlist window, which is naturally blank at this moment in time. Give your playlist a title, and an optional description. The description is only really necessary if you plan to make the playlist public and let other people listen to it. A description with search keywords helps people find the playlist more easily.

macos new playlist title

Once you’ve saved the playlist, it will now appear in your playlists in the sidebar.

macos playlist list

To add something to the new playlist, right-click on a song in Apple Music and select Add to Playlist. It will open a drop-down menu of your created playlists, and just choose the one you want to add it to.

macos add to playlist apple music

How to delete an Apple Music playlist on a Mac or PC

To delete an Apple Music playlist on the desktop app, right-click on the playlist in the sidebar. Then select Delete from Library. However, the song will remain. Only the playlist is deleted.

macos apple music delete playlist

How to create an Apple Music playlist on an iPhone or iPad

It’s just as easy to create an Apple Music playlist on an iPhone or iPad. First, go to the Library tab and tap Playlists.

ios apple music

At the top, you will see an option to create a new playlist. Tap it.

ios apple music new playlist

Give your new playlist a name, an optional description, and whether you want to make the playlist publically available. The iOS app also lets you add music to the playlist during the playlist creation process. You can also add custom artwork, but if you leave that alone, album artwork from added songs will be used instead. Click Done to save everything.

ios apple music create playlist

To save a song to your new playlist, tap the three-dot icon next to a song and select Add to a Playlist.

ios apple music add to playlist

Your new playlist will be at the top of the list. Tap it to add the song.

ios apple music add to new playlist

How to delete an Apple Music playlist on an iPhone or iPad

To delete a playlist on the iOS Music app, go to the playlist. Click the three-dot menu in the top right-hand corner, and in the drop-down menu, select Delete from Library. The song will remain, only the playlist will be deleted.

ios apple music delete playlist

FAQs

Yes. When you make the playlist, click the box that says Show in my profile and in Search. You can then send a direct playlist link to someone, and the playlist is also searchable for anyone looking for that type of music.

There is no official way to restore a deleted playlist, so think carefully before doing so. However, if you sync your Apple Music to another Apple device, it’s possible that the other device has the playlist if it hasn’t been synced to the latest version yet. Put that device into Airplane Mode to stop it from syncing with Apple Music servers, and check to see if the playlist is still there. If so, export the playlist.

If you like to use Apple Music’s star rating system, you might be interested in creating a playlist based on the tracks you gave the highest ratings to. Good news: you can do this by creating a Smart Playlist that includes songs you’ve given a high rating to, so you see your top tracks all at once with no skips.