How to Delete and Remove Playlists You Made in Apple Music Library

Apple Music allows you to create custom playlists to organize your music library. However, you may eventually want to delete a playlist you created. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to delete and remove playlists you made in your Apple Music library, based on my 10 years of experience using Apple Music.

On iPhone/iPad

Deleting a playlist on iPhone or iPad is very simple:

1. Open the Music app
2. Tap on Library
3. Tap on Playlists
4. Swipe left on the playlist you want to delete
5. Tap “Delete from Library”

This will delete the playlist while keeping all the songs in your library.

Alternatively, you can also:

1. Tap and hold on the playlist
2. Tap “Delete from Library”

On Mac

To delete a playlist on Mac, do the following:

1. Open Music app
2. Right-click on the playlist in the sidebar
3. Choose “Delete from Library”
4. Click “Delete” to confirm

On Apple Music Website

If you want to delete a playlist on the Apple Music website:

1. Go to music.apple.com
2. Click on “Playlists” in the sidebar
3. Click on the “More” button next to the playlist
4. Choose “Delete from Library”

Important Notes

• Deleting a playlist only removes the playlist itself, not the songs in your library
• If you delete all songs in an album from a playlist, the empty album will still be in your library
• You can’t delete playlists created by Apple Music or other users
• Smart Playlists update automatically based on rules so you’ll need to delete the rules to fully remove

Removing Songs from Playlist Without Deleting

If you only want to remove some songs from a playlist but keep them in your library, do the following:

On iPhone/iPad

1. Open the playlist
2. Swipe left on the song
3. Tap “Remove from Playlist”

On Mac

1. Open the playlist
2. Select the song and press Delete key
3. Choose “Remove from Playlist”

This removes the song from the playlist only, not your library.

Recovering Deleted Playlists

Unfortunately, once you delete a playlist, there is no way to recover it. Your best option is to recreate the playlist and add back all the songs manually.

To make this easier in the future:

• Create playlist backups: Export your playlists occasionally so you have a backup copy
• Use collaboration: Collaborative playlists stay in other collaborators’ libraries even if you delete it
• Use playlist folders: Store similar playlists in folders so they are easier to find and recreate if accidentally deleted

Summary

• Playlists can be deleted easily while keeping songs intact
• Removing songs from playlists is also straightforward
• Accidentally deleted playlists can’t be recovered, so create backups
• Use folders and collaboration to make playlists deletion-proof

With this guide, you should now feel comfortable deleting any playlists you created in your Apple Music library across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web. Let me know if you have any other questions!