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Ian Gordon
User level: Level 1 (111 points)

Apple Watch Ultra music playlists not syncing reliably

I’m having an incredibly frustrating time trying to reliably sync music playlists to my Apple Watch Ultra 4. There doesn’t seem to be any consistent pattern to what will and won’t sync.


  • some playlists sync fine – usually smaller around 25 songs
  • longer playlists only partially sync – maybe 80 of 100 songs
  • Some playlists refuse to sync at all


I've done some pretty extensive testing over the last few days and I can't find any rhyme or reason to why certain songs or certain playlists either sync or not. I'm just wondering at this point if other people experience these same sort of issues or if it's just me. I'm really just trying to get two nice long playlists for the gym so I don't have to have my phone with me. One for weights and one for cardio. Each playlist in a perfect world would have 400 to 500 songs and I'd listen to them on shuffle so I heard they ever get any repeats.

Posted on Oct 2, 2026 11:32 AM

2 replies

WheelieNick
User level: Level 9 (74,110 points)

Oct 11, 2026 8:24 AM in response to Ian Gordon

Hi there


try this


Instead of pushing a massive 500-song playlist from the iPhone's Watch app (which frequently fails), open the Music app directly on your Apple Watch Ultra (while connected to Wi-Fi or cellular) and search for or navigate to your playlist, then tap the download icon (three dots / download button) directly onto the watch.

Ian Gordon Author
User level: Level 1 (111 points)

Oct 14, 2026 11:58 AM in response to Ian Gordon

Hey there. Sorry for the delayed response, just getting back from a trip. I had already tried that solution previously, but I figured I would try it again today. Once again, on a playlist of 431 songs only 385 copied over. And once again, no real rhyme or reason to which songs did or did not copy. It's still a pretty good size playlist, but it really makes me miss the old days with my iPods. Much better syncing and smart playlist integration back then.


Thanks anyways though.

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256369207