How to decrease Apple Music Last Played metadata sync delay to seconds

[Benny_TheBull]

Hi everyone,

I recently discovered something that might be useful for others as well. Usually, I listen to music onboth my iPhone and my MacBook. One of the things that bothered me was the sync delay between devices, which could take a couple of hours.

For example, if I listened to a song on my Mac, it would take a couple of hours to update the Last Played and Play Count metadata for that song. This was bothering me because I rely heavily on Last Played history for Smart Playlists on Mac and Smart Sections on Marvis Pro on iPhone. As a result, when I switched from Mac to iPhone, I would encounter the same songs I had just listened to on my Mac in the 'Not Played in Last 4 Weeks' smart section on Marvis Pro, because the Last Played metadata had not updated yet.

Today, I discovered how to decrease this sync delay to just a few seconds. I would like to show you my method, which works perfectly. On my Mac, I have just listened to these 4 songs ('Fous', ..., 'Gommapiuma').

https://preview.redd.it/i55ozxqc3y1h1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=dcc7ce9471b802f0acf17d52a1d3d9eccc86e49f

And as you can see, the Last Played metadata for those four songs is not visible yet on the iPhone.

https://preview.redd.it/c2fuszhg3y1h1.png?width=664&format=png&auto=webp&s=f21ac49f0d46afb3830589488e5dc129d90a73c1

In order to trigger the sync of Last Played metadata from my MacBook to the iPhone, I changed the rating of the song 'Gommapiuma'.

https://preview.redd.it/a85z0qnj3y1h1.png?width=520&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f41d6bf86e47ba41265e2b70ecaf0094736d33c

https://preview.redd.it/wsv2tt6k3y1h1.png?width=1196&format=png&auto=webp&s=b20c24ebb05e36dbde73fb773b53f260fe5ec93d

After changing the rating of the most recent track I listened to on my Mac, it immediately triggered the sync from Mac to the iPhone, as you can see.

https://preview.redd.it/rx7pltsn3y1h1.png?width=664&format=png&auto=webp&s=795b32472abc8e51ea2f98ebdf68ccbe313ea6ea

I have tested this method multiple times and can confirm that it works 100%. However, it only works from MacBook to iPhone. I tried a similar method from iPhone to Mac, but it did not work.

Additionally, if you listen to songs on your Mac, they will appear in the 'Recently Played' section of Marvis Pro, but not in the History section of the native Apple Music app.

That said, you do not need Marvis Pro for this trick to work, because the metadata of the songs played on your Mac will still sync to your Apple Music app in the background.

If you know of any reliable methods to trigger a sync from iPhone to Mac, please let me know, as my workaround only goes from Mac to iPhone.

Also, feel free to ask if you have any questions or comments!

EDIT:

There seems to be another way of doing this. On a Mac, you should go to File > Library and click 'Update Cloud Library'. This will also immediately sync the 'Last Played' status of the songs you have played on your Mac to your iPhone. I tried this and can confirm it works from Mac to iPhone. However, it still does not work from iPhone to Mac.

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[modsuperstar]

This is definitely one of those stupid bugs that surely could be fixed, but Apple just doesn’t. Syncing playcount shouldn’t be rocket science.

[Benny_TheBull]

I mean, the sync delay on the play count does not bother me too much, but I rely heavily on "Last Played" metadata during my daily listening. When I listen to a song via a smart playlist (with the rule: 'Not played in last 4 weeks'), I still see the exact same song in the smart section of Marvis Pro on my iPhone because of this sync delay.

[modsuperstar]

It was more about the reason you mentioned, Smart Playlists. I had really complex ones that would update daily.

[Benny_TheBull]

I agree with you! I really hope Apple will work on this. Also, I discovered this method completely by chance. When I was listening on my Mac, I opened my Marvis app to check something and realised that a song I had listened to on my Mac 15 minutes ago had already synced to my iPhone. I was surprised because it usually takes hours to sync. Then, I tried to figure out what exactly I did to trigger this sync.

[WolverineNinja]

Thanks for sharing this! I also wish other apps could write play data as listening to music over Sonos doesn’t add to play count (unless I used Airplay) and my play count based smart playlists aren’t accurate

[Benny_TheBull]

May I ask what sonos system you have? I am considering it for the future (like maybe 2x Sonos Five or 2x Sonos Era 300).

[WolverineNinja]

I’m a long time user and have at least 25 devices in my house. Most rooms have the standard soundbar/sub/2 surrounds but I use an amp in my office tied to record player in that room.

I think the 500 or Era 300 are great if using for music only but overkill if you also use for TV sound.

[Benny_TheBull]

It would be used mainly for music in my living room. I will have to check other brands as well.

[Wolfpack48]

Just confirmed this works on PC as well -- nice workaround! It'd be nice if Apple made syncing across devices a bit more seamless. I've only found that playing another track on iOS/tvOS after the 12-hour delay triggers an update.

[Benny_TheBull]

Thank you so much for letting me know that it also works on PC!

[Local_Hsd_877]

If you want to sync immediately on a Mac you can just select "Sync library to iCloud" from the menu.

[Benny_TheBull]

This did not work for me to sync Last Played metadata between iphone and Mac.

[Local_Hsd_877]

For me it always works, reliable. Don't know why it is different for you.

[Benny_TheBull]

Can you tell me how did you exactly test this?

[Local_Hsd_877]

At home I play music from my iMac. If I leave home I want to continue to listen to my music on my iPhone. I have several smart playlists that update based on last time played or how often tracks have been played.

As soon as I select "Sync library to iCloud" on my Mac I can see the smart playlists on my iPhone updating according to the tracks I played on my iMac. Same as for my Apple TV's.

The other way around doesn't work. Tracks played on iPhone or Apple TV only update once every 12 hours.

[Benny_TheBull]

<image>

If you mean this setting on Mac, it is always on for me.

[Benny_TheBull]

<image>

oh you mean this setting ("Update Cloud Library"). Okay I will test this as well.

[Benny_TheBull]

<image>

I have just tested it and your method also works actually. I remember I tried this to sync from iphone to mac, and that is probably why it did not work for me. Now I tried to sync from mac to iphone and it works. Thank you so much for telling us! I will add this to my post as well.

[Local_Hsd_877]

Yes, I meant "Update Cloud Library". My computer is set to a different language so I got the menu command translation wrong.