Apple Music Users Report Seeing Other People's Playlists in Their Libraries

Apple Music appears to be sparking serious privacy concerns for some users, with multiple complaints on Reddit about other people's playlists randomly appearing in their music libraries in the Music app.

music strange playlists 2
Redditor adh1003, who contacted MacRumors about the issue, has compiled several reports from users complaining about the appearance of strange playlists in the app that they do not recognize. MacRumors has since found other posts on Reddit from users reporting the same behavior.

In some cases, unknown playlists have been merged with users' existing playlists. In other cases, users' playlists have gone missing or been replaced by unrecognized ones.

Some users have expressed concerns that their Apple accounts have been hacked, but the more likely cause of the issue is an unspecified problem with Apple's iCloud server. Unsyncing and then re-syncing iCloud for the Music app (Settings -> Apple ID -> iCloud -> Show All) has worked for a handful of users, but not all.

Based on reports, the appearance of unrecognized playlists is only occurring in the Music app for iPhone, with the Music app for macOS remaining unaffected. User reports regarding the issue date back to mid February, suggesting the problem could be related to the release of iOS 16.3.1, which included a bug fix for iCloud settings.

Some users have contacted Apple support to resolve the issue but none have reported success. We've contacted Apple about the problem and will update this article if we learn more.

The issue is reminiscent of another iCloud bug that occurred last year in which some users reported videos and images from strangers appearing in their Photos library.

Top Rated Comments

Burger Thing Avatar
9 months ago
As long as i don’t see a playlist with U2, I am cool with it…
Score: 95 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
9 months ago
At Apple, our top priority is your privacy and security...
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chester Stone Avatar
9 months ago
I wonder if this has to do with older devices being reset and sold, without completely erasing device linkage to the original owner's iCloud account. (just a theory)

This hasn't exactly happened to me in Music, but I've seen it happen where even after erasing an old device, the new user can see certain remnants even after restarting, such getting a 2FA notice, a random notification/password request, or having access to an iCloud Shared Photo Album until linking/creating anew. It's clear that a factory reset doesn't completely nuke the device of all traces of old account, with some pointers still server-side. (i.e. the device is reset, but it's still linked to an iCloud account from the user's iCloud page, or server-side device list.)
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
neuropsychguy Avatar
9 months ago
This could be a fun way to get exposed to new music. (I know it's a bug but it seems like it's relatively harmless).

On a bug note. I have not seen this but there have been a few times I have not received pictures people send through iMessage.

Although, if we're talking about iCloud bugs, one time a few years ago my spouse sent me a picture of something through iMessage and I ended up with a random photo of someone’s child. I tried to figure why she sent me a random photo of a random child but quickly realized it was an iMessage/iCloud error. Bits crossed in the sending. Someone else likely received the image she sent — a picture of something at a store. That was the most random iCloud-related bug I've ever seen. It's mostly just funny because it was harmless (cute child playing and I quickly deleted the image) but it could have been a major issue if the crossed images had been more sensitive or private.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ApplesAreSweet&Sour Avatar
9 months ago
Nothing strange happening in my Music library. And it is all synced to iCloud.

Well, plenty of odd playlists and strange albums. But I’m to blame for all of it.



Attachment Image
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bryan Bowler Avatar
9 months ago
I have been dealing with strange syncing issues for about a month now and it’s driving me crazy. I have not noticed it in Apple Music yet, but no matter how many times I change notification settings in Find My and Weather, weird synching issues keep changing things back.

It’s become a major annoyance because I get anywhere from 40-60 Watch notifications a day that I left an Item behind and I cannot stop the notifications from happening.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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