How to Turn Off iCloud Music Library on iPhone, Mac, and PC

Part 1. What Is iCloud Music Library?

iCloud Music Library is Apple's built-in tool for keeping your music organized and available on all your devices. It comes as part of Apple Music and iTunes Match, so you don't need extra software to use it. If you subscribe to either service, it's usually turned on by default.

When it's active, any track you add to Apple Music or iTunes—whether you bought it, uploaded it, or streamed it—appears on all your devices signed in with the same Apple ID. You can listen to those songs online or download them for offline listening.

Part 2. What iCloud Music Library Does

iCloud Music Library updates automatically in the background. On some devices, like a Windows PC running iTunes, you may even see this process in action, with messages such as "iCloud Music Library – sending information to Apple" appearing near the Search tool. Add a song on your Mac, and it will show up on your iPhone or iPad without you having to do anything. If a song matches Apple Music's catalog, it's replaced with Apple Music's AAC 256 kbps version, the same format used for music streamed or bought from Apple's stores. If no match is found, your original file is uploaded instead, so nothing is lost.

iCloud Music Library works like a private music cloud that connects all your Apple devices. Here's what you can do with it:

• Access across devices: Add a playlist on your iPhone and see it appear automatically on your Mac or iPad.
• Upload music: Import tracks from CDs or other sources and upload them to iCloud. They'll be ready to stream or download on your other devices.
• Keep offline copies: Download a song on one device and have it available offline on your other devices too.
• Match songs: If Apple Music has the same track, you'll get the high-quality streaming version. If it doesn't, your own copy is stored online.
• Merge your music library: Subscription songs and personal uploads—like tracks stored in your computer's library—appear together in one place, so you don't have to manage them separately.

Part 3. How to Enable iCloud Music Library (Sync Library)

By subscribing to iTunes Match for $25/year or Apple Music for $11/month (or $109.99/year), you can store up to 100,000 songs in iCloud, across up to 10 authorized devices (including up to 5 computers). Songs purchased from the iTunes Store do not count toward this limit, but files from other sources must be smaller than 200 MB and shorter than 2 hours. If you require additional iCloud storage for other purposes (like backups), you can purchase more storage for an additional fee.

Subscribing to Apple Music or iTunes Match

Here's how to subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match and enable iCloud Music Library:

Subscribing to Apple Music

1. Open the Music app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
2. Tap on Listen Now at the bottom of the screen.
3. Tap Try It Free or Subscribe. Apple Music usually offers a 1-month free trial for new users.
4. Choose your subscription plan: Individual, Family, or Student.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete your subscription.
6. After subscribing, iCloud Music Library will be automatically enabled.

Subscribing to iTunes Match

1. Open iTunes on your Mac or PC.
2. Click on Store in the top menu bar.
3. Scroll down to find iTunes Match and click Subscribe for $25/year.
4. Sign in with your Apple ID and complete the subscription process.
5. Once you've subscribed, iCloud Music Library will automatically sync your music library across all devices.

Note: Apple Music allows you to stream and download millions of songs, while iTunes Match focuses on uploading and syncing your personal music collection.

Adding More Storage to iCloud

If your iCloud storage is running low, you can easily upgrade to a higher storage plan. Here's how to add more storage:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad, or go to System Settings on your Mac.
2. Tap your name at the top, then tap iCloud.
3. Tap Manage Storage.
4. Choose the plan that fits your needs (starting at $0.99/month for 50GB).
5. Follow the instructions to complete the upgrade.

This extra storage can be used for backups, photos, and files, alongside your music in iCloud Music Library.

Part 4. When to Turn On or Turn Off iCloud Music Library

iCloud Music Library—also called Sync Library—can be switched on or off at any time, depending on how you like to manage your music. The right choice comes down to how you use your devices, your storage space, and whether you want Apple to keep your music in sync automatically.

Part 5. How to Turn On iCloud Music Library

For iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch:

1. Open the Settings app from your Home screen.
2. Scroll down and tap Music.
3. Under the Library section, toggle Sync Library to turn it on. If you subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, iCloud Music Library will automatically sync your music across all devices.

For Mac (macOS Catalina or later):

1. Open the Music app on your Mac.
2. In the top menu bar, click Music, then select Preferences.



3. In the General tab, check the box next to Sync Library.



4. Click OK to save your changes, and iCloud Music Library will begin syncing your music.

For Windows PC (or Mac running macOS Mojave or earlier):

1. Open iTunes on your PC or Mac.
2. In the top menu, click Edit (Windows) or iTunes (Mac), then choose Preferences.
3. In the General tab, check the box next to iCloud Music Library.
4. Click OK to save your changes.

Part 6. How to Turn Off iCloud Music Library

If you prefer to manage your music manually or want to free up iCloud storage, you can turn off iCloud Music Library on any device. Here's how:

For iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch:

1. Open the Settings app from your Home screen.
2. Scroll down and tap Music.
3. Under Library, toggle Sync Library to turn it off.
4. Confirm your choice - this will stop syncing your Apple Music library and remove any music that was not locally downloaded.

For Mac (macOS Catalina or later):

1. Open the Music app on your Mac.
2. In the top menu bar, click Music, then select Preferences.
3. In the General tab, uncheck the box next to Sync Library.
4. Click OK to apply your changes. Your music will no longer sync, but locally stored songs will remain on your device.

For Windows PC (or Mac running macOS Mojave or earlier):

1. Open iTunes on your PC or Mac.
2. In the top menu, click Edit (Windows) or iTunes (Mac), then choose Preferences.
3. In the General tab, uncheck the box next to iCloud Music Library.
4. Click OK to save your changes. Your library will stop syncing with iCloud, but music stored locally on your computer will remain.

Part 7. How to Sync Apple Music With or Without iCloud Music Library

How to Sync and Match Apple Music Library with iCloud

When you enable iCloud Music Library, Apple takes your existing music library and tries to match your songs to its vast database. The way this works is simple: iCloud Music Library scans your songs and checks if they are already available in the Apple Music catalog. If it finds a match, it links your song to the AAC version available in Apple's database (256kbps). However, if Apple can't find a match for a particular song, it uploads your original file in its current format to iCloud.

Once your library is matched or uploaded, you can access all your music across any of your Apple devices simply by signing in with your Apple ID. It also keeps everything synced in real-time - so if you add or remove songs on one device, those changes reflect on all your other devices.

What Happens if a Song Isn't Matched?

For songs that aren't matched, iCloud Music Library will upload the original version of your song, so you won't lose any of your music. But keep in mind that uploaded songs may take up some of your iCloud storage, especially if your music library is large. Also, if the file is too big (over 200 MB or longer than 2 hours), it won't be uploaded to iCloud.

If you want more detailed information on tracking the matching process with iCloud Music Library, you might want to check out another post we've written:

How to Start/Stop Apple Music Matching Songs (Mismatches Fixed!)

Wondering how to match your songs with iCloud Music Library on Apple Music or looking to stop Apple Music from matching songs? Explore now! If Apple Music mismatches songs, we've got you covered!

This guide helps break down the process and helps you decide to start or stop Apple Music to match songs.

How to Backup Apple Music Library Forever without iCloud

Due to the restrictions of Apple Music, Once you turn off the iCloud Music Library, you will lose all your Apple Music downloaded songs and you won't be able to play Apple Music offline anymore. So, if you still want to listen to Apple Music songs offline on your devices, you can do some tricks as below to back up Apple Music without the iCloud Music Library by downloading and converting Apple Music songs.

Here's a tool called ViWizard Apple Music Converter which can help you easily back up your Apple Music and iTunes playlists. ViWizard Apple Music Converter is a tool that aims in converting Apple Music to MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, and other open formats. This tool supports converting Apple Music at 30X faster speed and keeps the lossless quality. You can also open the format window to adjust the parameters of the output audio, such as sample rate, bit rate, channel, and volume.

Key Features of ViWizard Apple Music Converter

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• Convert Apple Music songs, albums, playlists, and artists into MP3 for easy access
• Preserve lossless audio, high-resolution lossless, and Dolby Atmos quality
• Strip DRM from Apple Music for unrestricted offline listening
• Save converted audio files while retaining full ID3 tag details

Part 8. iCloud Music Library FAQs

Conclusion

If you want to turn off iCloud Music Library, you'd better know what it brings to you and what will you lose after the disabling. To summarize, you can only manually sync the Apple Music songs to other devices and cannot listen to Apple Music offline. So, you need a tool like ViWizard Audio Converter to convert Apple Music so that you can easily listen to Apple Music offline and sync to other devices you like.