Why Your Apple Music Recommendations Are Bad (And How to Fix Them)
You listen to jazz and indie rock. Apple Music keeps suggesting that EDM album you added three years ago and a K-pop playlist your friend shared. The 'For You' section feels like it belongs to someone else.
It is not random. Your recommendations are bad for specific reasons - and you can fix them.
How Apple Music recommendations actually work
Apple Music builds a taste profile based on three signals: what you listen to, what you have in your library, and what you explicitly love or dislike. Every song you play, skip, or add teaches the algorithm something about your preferences.
The problem is that the algorithm weighs your entire library, not just recent listening. Songs you added years ago still influence what gets recommended today. If 40% of your library is music you no longer enjoy, 40% of the signal the algorithm receives is noise.
Three things that ruin your recommendations
First: songs you outgrew. Your taste changes, but your library does not clean itself. That reggaeton phase, the gym playlist from 2020, the soundtrack album you listened to once - they are all still whispering to the algorithm.
Second: songs you never played. These are the worst offenders. You added an album for one track, a playlist for the vibe, or Apple Music's 'Add Playlist Songs' setting imported hundreds of songs automatically. Songs with zero plays still count as 'things you chose to have in your library.'
Third: bulk imports. Every playlist you add, every shared album you accept - they all dilute your taste profile. Ten songs from a friend is fine. Two hundred songs from a collaborative playlist is a problem.
The quick fix: Love and Suggest Less
Start with the songs you care about. Open Apple Music, find songs you genuinely love, and tap the heart icon. This is the strongest positive signal you can send. Do this for 20-30 songs you truly enjoy.
Then go the other direction. Long-press songs you dislike or have outgrown and tap 'Suggest Less Like This'. This tells the algorithm to back off from similar recommendations. Even doing this for 10-15 songs makes a noticeable difference.
The challenge: this works great for a handful of songs, but if your library has hundreds of problematic tracks, doing it one by one is impractical.
The thorough fix: clean your library
The most effective way to fix recommendations is to clean the source. Go through your library systematically and sort out songs that no longer represent your taste. When the algorithm has clean data, it gives clean recommendations.
SongSweep makes this practical. Smart Filters find songs you never played or forgot about. The swipe interface lets you process hundreds of songs in minutes. Every song you sort out gets automatically marked as 'Suggest Less' - fixing your recommendations in bulk.
Most people see noticeably better recommendations within a few days of sorting out their library. The 'For You' section starts feeling like yours again.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long until my recommendations improve after cleanup?
Most people notice changes within 2-3 days. Apple Music updates recommendations based on recent signals, so marking songs as 'Suggest Less' and loving your favourites has a quick impact. A full improvement takes about a week.
Does 'Suggest Less' actually work?
Yes. 'Suggest Less Like This' is Apple's official way to train the algorithm. It reduces the influence of that song and similar songs on your recommendations. It does not remove the song from your library.
Why does Apple Music suggest songs I have never liked?
Usually because of songs in your library you never listened to. Albums added for one track, shared playlists, or auto-imported songs all count as preferences. Cleaning out unplayed songs removes that false signal.
