How to Clean Up Your Apple Music Library
You have been adding songs for years. Albums from a phase you moved past. Playlists someone shared that you never really listened to. That one artist you tried once and never came back to. Now your library has thousands of songs, and half of them you skip every time they come up.
Sound familiar? Here are four ways to take back control of your music library - from quick fixes to a complete overhaul.
Why your Apple Music library gets messy
Most people don't add songs one by one. You add entire albums because you liked one track. You add a friend's playlist because it had a good vibe. Apple Music's 'Add Playlist Songs' setting auto-imports songs into your library that you never asked for.
Over a few years, that turns a curated collection into a graveyard of forgotten music. Songs pile up. Your 'For You' recommendations get confused because the algorithm thinks you still love that EDM phase from 2019.
The worst part? There is no 'Select All > Delete' button. Apple Music does not give third-party apps the ability to remove songs from your library. So you need a strategy.
Method 1: Remove downloaded songs you never play
The quickest win. Go to Settings > Music > Downloaded Music on your iPhone. You will see a list of artists and albums taking up space. Swipe left on anything you have not listened to in months and tap Delete.
This does not remove songs from your library - it just removes the download. They will still show up in your library and play via streaming. But it frees up storage immediately.
Good for a quick cleanup. But it does not solve the real problem: the hundreds of songs cluttering your library and messing with your recommendations.
Method 2: Sort your library month by month
Instead of staring at 4,000 songs and feeling overwhelmed, break it down by time. When did you add these songs? What were you listening to in March 2022 vs. January 2024?
Going month by month makes a huge library feel manageable. You can process 50 songs from one month in a few minutes. And you will rediscover music you completely forgot about - some of it genuinely good.
The challenge: Apple Music does not have a built-in 'sort by date added by month' view. You can sort by date, but scrolling through thousands of songs on a small screen is tedious.
Method 3: Use Apple's hidden 'Suggest Less' feature
Most people do not know this exists. Long-press any song in Apple Music and tap 'Suggest Less Like This'. This tells the algorithm to deprioritize similar music in your recommendations.
It is the closest thing to 'removing' a song's influence without deleting it. Your library stays intact, but Apple Music stops using that song to shape what it recommends to you.
The downside: doing this for hundreds of songs one by one takes forever. You need to find each song, long-press, confirm. For a library with thousands of songs, this is not practical by itself.
Method 4: Swipe through your library with SongSweep
This is where it gets efficient. SongSweep turns library cleanup into a swipe-based flow. Pick a month, a playlist, or use Smart Filters to find never-played songs. Then swipe: right to keep, left to sort out.
Every song gets a preview so you can actually listen before you decide. Songs you sort out get moved to a dedicated playlist and marked as 'Suggest Less' automatically. Your recommendations start improving immediately.
The app breaks your library into manageable chunks - months, playlists, or filtered views - so you never face the entire library at once. Most people sort 50-100 songs in a single session.
What happens to sorted-out songs?
Here is something important: Apple Music does not let any third-party app delete songs from your library. Nobody can. It is an Apple API limitation.
What SongSweep does instead: sorted-out songs get moved to a dedicated 'Sorted Out' playlist and rated as 'Suggest Less'. They stay in your library technically, but they stop appearing in your recommendations and you never have to scroll past them again.
Think of it as putting old clothes in a storage box instead of throwing them away. They are still there if you ever want them, but they are not taking up space in your daily life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I delete songs from my Apple Music library?
You can remove songs from your library manually in the Music app, but third-party apps cannot delete songs due to Apple's API restrictions. The best alternative is marking songs as 'Suggest Less' and moving them to a separate playlist so they stop affecting your experience.
How do I remove songs I never listen to?
Go to Settings > Music > Downloaded Music to remove downloads. For a deeper cleanup, use Smart Filters to find songs with zero plays and sort through them. Marking unused songs as 'Suggest Less' also improves your recommendations.
Does cleaning my library improve recommendations?
Yes. Apple Music recommendations are based on your listening history and library. When you mark songs as 'Suggest Less' or love songs you enjoy, the algorithm adjusts. Most people notice better recommendations within a few days of a thorough cleanup.
How long does it take to clean up a music library?
It depends on your library size. A library with 1,000 songs takes about 2-3 sessions of 15 minutes each. Larger libraries (5,000+ songs) might take a week of casual sorting. Breaking it into months or using Smart Filters makes it manageable.
