How to Manually Add Songs to Your iPhone through iTunes

Written by: CBumeter • Edited by: Simon Hill
Updated Jul 20, 2009 • Related Guides: Hard Drive Space | Hard Drive | Music

iTunes, by default, will sync all of your media with your iPhone. You can also manually pick and choose which files to sync with your iPhone.

How Automatic Sycning Works

Many iPhone owners may notice that when they plug in their iPhone to their computers, that it syncs to your library. What this means is it adds all of the media such as photos, music, videos and so on that you have in your entire iTunes library. This would be a great feature if your iPhone had an unlimited amount of space.

Problems with the Automatic Sync Feature

All of the benefits of having your iPhone automatically sync to your computer, as you all know, are not always a benefit as the iPhone is limited to either 4GB, 8GB, 16GB or 32GB . Thus, users who have very large libraries of movies, music and pictures may exceed those limits.

So what can you do if you only want a couple songs from an album instead of the whole thing? Well that's where selecting the manual option to manage your iPhone feature comes into play.

Here we'll go through the steps you can take to disable the automatic sync option on your iPhone/iTunes so that you can manually manage which songs are added to your iPhone to conserve precious hard drive space.

How to Disable the Automatic Sync Option

Your first step to setting this up is to plug in you iPhone to your computer. When this is done you will see that it will show up as a device in iTunes. When you see it show up click on the name of your iPhone, for example, mine is called Chris's iPhone. When you click on it it will show your overall menu for your iPhone, things like the info, ringtones, music, photos, but the very first tab should say summary. This

click to enlarge

is where you will select the option manually manage music and video.

You will see three boxes in the lower half of the menu, it's technically located under the "options.

The default box checked is normally the "automatically sync when this iPhone is connected. Deselect that box and then check the manually manage music and videos. This will ask you if you want to erase and sync, approve that.

Continue reading on the second page to find out how to manually add songs and videos to your iPhone.

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retarded Nov 18, 2011 11:31 PM

RE: How to Manually Add Songs to Your iPhone through iTunes

how come i can't click and drag? it shows the plus sign but nothing happens. on windows os

Devilhatez03 Nov 16, 2011 8:16 PM

any one awake!!! plis help mhe!!!! i want to know pliss

Devilhatez03 Nov 16, 2011 8:15 PM

how to delete movie in iphone 2g

Allancal Nov 5, 2011 9:26 PM

convert to mp4 then drag them in to itunes on to your phone, you need a iphone video converter program.

saima Aug 17, 2011 2:38 PM

plzz tell me how could i insert video songs in iphone 4 by using itunes??/plz tell me

Sumit Rana Apr 4, 2011 12:04 AM

Unable to sync songs through i tunes

Hi, i am using i phone 2g but the problem now is this that now i am unable to sync songs through i tunes, whenever i connect, initailly it supports and shows sync but after a few second it disconnects automatically but it shows that it is charging.
What should be done in this context?

Billiegene Apr 3, 2011 5:27 PM

Thanks so much! my mam and I are sitting here ages trying to figure this out! then we found you :D .. thanks again! great help! .

Peter Feb 14, 2011 9:00 AM

iPod

thanks

Dexter Feb 4, 2011 3:43 AM

great

That was so easy to do but I spend like 1 day to get it but haven't found it
Thank you soooooooo much !

Meediva Jan 26, 2011 6:47 AM

Updates

I want to deactiavte updates on my iphone because it consumes my credits alot and also i want to access the memory of my iphone inorder to know the memory used and the memory remanining. Thank you

CBumeter Jan 24, 2011 3:17 PM

@Anonymous: No it will not erase your texts or data just music or videos. The only time it will erase texts and contacts is if you choose to "RESTORE" your iPhone.

@Mete: You should still be able to add and remove songs/videos even without service. You won't be able to download any games or music without service unless you're on a WiFi connection but if you have those in your iTunes library already you should be able to add them regardless of service.

mete Jan 24, 2011 3:04 PM

help

if i dont have service can i still add games/music plzz tell me if their is a way

Anonymous Jan 13, 2011 12:21 PM

if a window pop ups that itune wants to erase my iphone while doing that, does it mean also the text and contact too ??

im afraid of loosing all my text from my friend
;(

CBumeter Jan 8, 2011 12:47 PM

@Daiei and Coach Chum - Yes if you click erase and sync it will erase all of the songs on your iPod/iPhone and add the files that are checked on that current computer. This is why I choose manually add songs because i have multiple computers with music on them so I like being able to plug my iPhone into each one and just drag and drop the songs onto my iPhone. I hope this answers your question, if not let me know I may not have totally followed what you were asking, but I'm glad to help!

CBumeter Jan 8, 2011 12:45 PM

More Help Replies

@Raymond - Make sure your movies and music videos are .MP4 files, they may be AVI files which can't be added to iTunes, so just google software to convert AVI to MP4. Once that is done you can import the videos into iTunes and then from there you can manually drag the videos to your iPhone if you follow the steps in my articles to manually add and remove files. As for adding games and files, the best that I know, go to your iPhone and click on the applications tab, here you can check which apps you want to use and then from there just click sync. It will not sync music or videos just the applications. This is also done in iTunes. Hope this helps but further questions let me know and I'll make sure to response much more quickly from now on.

CBumeter Jan 8, 2011 12:41 PM

Sorry for the delayed responses

Hey guys sorry for the delayed responses to your comments, I appreciates your comments and questions, I'll try and knock out some questions below:

@Lariss - I do not have an unlocked iPhone, a bit of a chicken to do it, but when you plug it in and open iTunes, do you see your iPhone appear on the left hand side at all? If so then just click on "Larissa's iPhone" or whatever it is named and you should see the options to change it to manually add and remove your songs. You shouldn't have to worry about authorizing your computer I don't think.

@Novice - If you are using a Mac you can import your videos using iPhoto. Once imported into the application you can actually drag the videos onto your desktop I do believe. From there if you go to iTunes you may be able to just import the video. Your videos files need to be .MP4 to import into iTunes so maybe just try googling "Converting AVI files to MP4" Once they are they'll be able to import your videos. As for sending them to another iPhone 4 user simply pull up the video on your iPhone then click on the icon in the bottom left, looks like an arrow coming out of a square and you can choose to either "Email Video" or MMS(text message it) Hope that helps!

Raymond Amponsah Jan 5, 2011 6:35 AM

how can I add games and other application on iphone?

I will like to add games and other application on iphone.And my safari browser is really slow.Any convenient steps or advice.Thanks

raymond amponsah Jan 5, 2011 6:17 AM

how can add videos or movies to my iphone using itunes?

I have been trying day and day to movies add movies and music videos on my iphone by using itunes but i cant.any available steps to help me.Thanks

Larissa Dec 27, 2010 6:38 PM

adding songs to a unlock iphone

I have a unlocked iphone using a mac. I plug my phone into my mac nothing pops up?? I really would like too add songs!! :(
I've tried going to itunes but I cannot find authorize computer?? Need step by step help :(

Rosa Dec 16, 2010 2:23 AM

RE: How to Manually Add Songs to Your iPhone through iTunes Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/mobile/iphone/articles/6129.aspx#ixzz18G20mQfj

OMG!!! I have been trying for months, and in less than 3 minutes I got it! thank you so much!!!!

bimbo Dec 4, 2010 2:36 AM

:))

thank you very much..helps a lot..god to all.

Novice Aug 20, 2010 9:49 AM

NOVICE!

I have some videos recorded on my iphone 4. How do I put them onto itunes, and how do I send them to other iphone 4 user? I'm sure this topic has been covered somewhere online, but I need an "idiots guide" please!!
Thanks!!

complete beginner

sherri Jul 25, 2010 1:30 AM

syncing music to iphone

Thanks for the step by step detailed and easy to understand and follow directions! I have had an iphone over a year and have 2056 songs in my itunes library plus videos photos and apps, but I never can remember how to add a song at a time to my phone with out syncing the entire library! Thanks again

daiei Jul 8, 2010 9:24 AM

Same question

I have the same question as coach chum. I would assume only the music would be erased and resynced, but the message doesn't rule out erasing the entire iPhone. Anyone know?

coach chum Jun 23, 2010 12:17 PM

erasing and syncing

If I press the erase and sync button, will it also erase all of my photos and aps? If this is the case, the would i have to redownload all of the aps I currently have? what about the photos?
would it also wipe out my calendar and contacts?

dellon Jun 17, 2010 12:55 AM

howw???

how do you do it without it syncing your iphone
to the computer and erasing all of its content?

Matt Jun 4, 2010 8:18 AM

forced erase all just to add some tracks? everytime you want to change machines?? Despite some nice features iTunes is fundamentally wrong. Let people manage their own music how the want to! Dont tell them want they want!!

Ben Bernanke Feb 18, 2010 4:30 AM

How do I upload movies

Why is this so hard for me I'm not a stupid man but I am starting to question my mental capacity.
Why doesn't the movie go where I want it to go? I don't see the movie on my phone at all!

John Feb 12, 2010 7:16 AM

Add songs to iPhone without iTunes

Actually, you can add songs to iPhone without iTunes

http://www.iphone-without-itunes.com

Enjoy!
John

Eric Nov 21, 2009 11:33 AM

Thank you for explaining this! You;re directions were very clear and precise.

CBumeter Nov 7, 2009 1:04 PM

RE: Thank You

Ryan R-
I'm glad this was helpful, I personally like the manual song adding method over syncing because I have some music in my iTunes that I don't want on my iPhone. I also like to pick and choose select songs without having to check and uncheck things. Again, I'm glad it helped you out!!

CBumeter Nov 7, 2009 1:03 PM

RE: How to add applications and games from CD to iPhone through iTunes

As far as I know the only way to add applications is from downloading them from the store. I say this from a standpoint that I did not jailbreak my iPhone. I know the possibilities are endless once you jailbreak it, but I am just too big a chicken to do it. Like I said though, I think for a standard iPhone, iTunes will not let you import the games from a CD due to certain restrictions. Has anybody else had success doing this without jailbreaking their iPhone?

CBumeter Nov 7, 2009 1:01 PM

RE: How to Transfer music from iTouch to new iPhone

Evan-
If you have all of your iTouch songs in your iTunes library then you should be able to just do the same thing with the iPhone. If you don't have the files on your computer, you can actually rip them from your iTouch to your iTunes using an application called TuneAid.

Hope this helps!

Ryan R. Nov 7, 2009 10:10 AM

Thank you

Most helpful article I have found for synching music on my iPhone. Seriously. Thank you.

Jastin Oct 28, 2009 8:57 AM

How to add applications and games from CD to iphone through itunes?

How to install Games n Applications from CD to iPhone through iTunes?

Evan Aug 23, 2009 12:51 PM

how to transfer music from itouch to new iphone

how can I transfer my itouch library to my new iphone

How to Manually Add Songs to Your iPhone through iTunes

How Automatic Sycning Works

Problems with the Automatic Sync Feature

How to Disable the Automatic Sync Option

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