--- description: Apple's recent iOS 4.2 software update has seemingly wiped out entire music collections for certain users. Not to worry, your music hasn't been deleted. Here's... title: How to Get Music Files Back After Updating Your iPhone image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Business](/section/business/) * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) # How to Get Music Files Back After Updating Your iPhone by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Nov 23, 2010 4:30 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Nov 23, 2010 4:30 PM CUT Apple’s recent [iOS 4.2 software update](http://http://techland.com/2010/11/22/update-for-ipad-brings-wireless-printing-apple-tv-streaming/ "undefined") has seemingly wiped out entire music collections for certain users. Not to worry, your music hasn’t been deleted. Here’s how to get it back.  1\. Connect your iPhone to your computer and open up iTunes. 2\. Under the DEVICES heading, click iPhone > Music. 3\. Double-click one of the available songs (maybe a soothing one) to play it. 4\. Synchronize your iPhone using iTunes. That’s it. When you open the iPod app on your phone the next time, all your songs should be there. Funny story: A similar glitch happened to me during a past update wherein I could still see all my music, but trying to play a song would cause the iPod app to crash. I was on vacation and had no access to a computer with iTunes on it, so I couldn’t fix the problem until I got back home. Fun, hey? **More on Techland:** [Update for iPad Brings Wireless Printing, Apple TV Streaming](http://techland.com/2010/11/22/update-for-ipad-brings-wireless-printing-apple-tv-streaming/ "undefined") [How to Free Up Space in Gmail](http://techland.com/2010/10/13/how-to-free-up-space-in-gmail/ "undefined") [How to Quickly Tune Up Your PC](http://techland.com/2010/06/30/how-to-quickly-tune-up-your-pc/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7244292/how-to-get-music-files-back-after-updating-your-iphone/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7244292/how-to-get-music-files-back-after-updating-your-iphone/"},"headline":"How to Get Music Files Back After Updating Your iPhone","datePublished":"2010-11-23T16:30:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T10:53:54.702Z","description":"Apple's recent iOS 4.2 software update has seemingly wiped out entire music collections for certain users. Not to worry, your music hasn't been deleted. Here's...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7244292/how-to-get-music-files-back-after-updating-your-iphone/","keywords":["Tech","iPhone","iTunes"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7244292/how-to-get-music-files-back-after-updating-your-iphone/","name":"How to Get Music Files Back After Updating Your iPhone"}}]}] ```