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How to Delete Playlists from iPhone without Deleting Songs

How to delete a playlist on iPhone without removing the songs are quite challenging for many users. Therefore, we gather three safe ways together with detailed steps to help them remove duplicate or unwanted playlists from iPhone, with & without using iTunes.

By Rico Rodriguez to iPhone Troubleshooting Tips｜Last updated on Nov.22, 2023

Sometimes we create playlists to help us find music easily, but sometimes we create too many playlists and finally one day we need to rearrange the playlists and delete some unnecessary ones. Then the problem comes:

- "I'm trying to delete a playlist folder on my iPhone but it's impossible for me to do so. I deleted the folder from iTunes on my macbook but it doesn't remove the folder from my phone. I tried updating my iTunes library but I'm still stuck with quite a few empty folders!"
- "I ended up removing everything."

If you need to remove a playlist from iPhone but don't know the right way to do it, check this post. This guide works for iPhone XS/XS Max, iPhone XR,iPhoneS/6, etc. running on iOS 17 or earlier.

#1 How to Delete a Playlist on iPhone

Removing one playlist at a time is simple on iPhones running iOS 17 or later. Deleting playlists won't affect the songs stored on iPhone. Before you start, make sure you have downloaded all the songs you want to store on your iPhone. Undownloaded songs will be removed from iTunes library when you delete the playlist from iPhone. To save the songs to the library, go to Settings and tap Music, then toggle on the button Add Playlist Songs.

1. Open the Music app on iPhone and select Playlists at the top. Here are all your playlists, go to the playlist you want to delete.
2. Next, tap the playlist and you will see a red circle button with three dots in it (…) near the top-right corner of the screen. Tap it.
3. Next, tap Delete from Library button from the menu and then Delete Playlist. If the songs are saved on your iPhone, you'll still be able to access the songs when the playlist is deleted from iPhone music library.

#2 Delete Multiple Playlists from iPhone in One Click

Rather than delete playlists on iPhone one by one, there is an easier way to remove all unwanted playlists in one click. This method requires a third-party tool named MacX MediaTrans. The iPhone manager is able to:

* Massive remove songs and multiple playlists from iPhone with simple clicks;
* Create and edit playlists, add new songs to a playlist, sort songs by albums & playlists easily;
* Transfer songs & playlists between iPhone and computer freely with fast speed;
* Back up and transfer music, photos, videos, books, iTunes purchases, other iPhone data;
* Super fast data transferring speed - 8s for 100 4k photos (4-10 times faster than others).

Step 1. Free download the program and install the program and plug iPhone to computer. To avoid any accidental data sync, disable the auto iTunes syncing first. Then run the iPhone manager and several different feature modes on the main interface. Click Music Manager to make changes to the playlists.

Step 2. Run the program and click the "Music Manager" button. Then you will see all your music playlists listed on the left panel. Then hover your mouse cursor over the playlist you want to remove from iPhone and you will see an X icon saying "Delete Playlist". Click it and confirm. Apply the same steps to all the iPhone playlists you may want to delete.

Step 3. Now click the big blue Sync button on the right lower corner and sync the deletion to iPhone. Then you can go can check on iPhone that the playlists are removed from iPhone without affecting the songs stored on the device. Besides, you can also add computer songs to iPhone to update music library or backup iPhone songs to the computer to free up iPhone space, or create new playlists, add songs to existing playlists or albums or transfer iPhone playlists, etc.

#3 How to Delete Playlist from iPhone using iTunes

The third way to remove playlists from iPhone is using iTunes. You can adjust the sync selections so that the playlist in question is no longer selected for syncing. After sync iTunes playlist to iPhone, the unselected playlist will be removed from iPhone. By the way, deleting a playlist directly on the device doesn't change the stored sync selections. You should note iTunes' auto sync, or you may find duplicate playlists or unwanted playlist show up again on iPhone.

1. First open iTunes and disable automatic iTunes syncing. Then connect your iPhone to the computer with the help of USB cable.
2. You will see your iPhone icon on iTunes, select it. Then click on Music on the left sidebar.
3. Check the box Sync Music and checkmark Selected playlists, artists, albums and genres and thereafter only select the Playlists that you want to keep on your iPhone and then click on Sync button.
4. Wait for the sync to complete and then the unwanted playlist will be deleted from iPhone.