Google Music: Songs are synced, but playlists are empty. Sync Experiencing Problems

[kdorvil]

I know there's another post out there, but I submitted it as a guest and wasn't sure if that was why I wasn't getting a response (and I couldn't delete that one):

I got a Moto X Pure Edition and all of my apps and accounts synced successfully from my old Moto X 2nd Gen except for my Google Play Music app. In the accounts settings on my phone, it shows that everything is synced but when you look at the Google Play Music App it says "Sync is currently experiencing problems..." When I go to the app, all my music is there, but my playlists are empty, and some are even missing. I spoke with an Android support rep and we tried signing out of google on my phone, clearing data, uninstalling the music app's updates, refreshing the library, forcing a sync (resetting the time and date on phone) and nothing has worked. Again, I can still play my music, but my playlists are gone and it took a while to get them organized.

I've switched to new phones before, and I have never had this problem. The playlists on the web app are still there and have all the music, so I know it's not because playlists can't transfer from phone to phone. Before I switched phones, the playlists were there. Then I gave my old phone to a friend and we factory reset it and when I tried to log into the app on the old phone, it had the same problem.

My Moto X Pure Edition is running Android Marshmallow 6.0
Can anyone help me? Or does anyone know if the music app is currently experiencing problems for all phones?

 

[crispoe]

I am having the exact same issue today I think something is up with Google's servers. I called support but they were unaware of any issues

 

[crispoe]

I have confirmed this is also happening on a multiple Android phones that I tested tonight. Very weird

 

[satanicballerina]

Same thing happening to me!

First noticed all playlists missing from play music app on my s5 Saturday night (7/16). I had recently done a factory reset on that phone since it had been having many other issues after marshmallow update.

Sick of all that, I finally decided to upgrade to the s7 edge and the "sync is currently experiencing problems" error is still happening on the new phone but only for play music.

All the rest of Google services sync with no problem. It says last sync happened 7/17 which is the day I got the new s7 edge but neither playlists or recent activity has actually synced over.

When I check Google play music through browser on any computer, all my playlists and activity are still there so at least they didn't dissappear completely. But it's super annoying that I can't get any of that stuff on my phone since that's the only place I actually use Google play.

Just for fun I checked on my super old 3rd gen iPad. I updated the Google play music app for ios, signed out then back in to make sure I could trigger it to do a fresh sync. It took a while but it synced and all playlists/recent activity show up no problem so it's definitely not an issue with Google servers or my account. So apparently Google supports super old version of ios more than their own android os?!

Back to my new s7 edge, under system update it says I'm up to date and about this phone says it's on Android version 6.0.1. Google play music app even updated earlier today and it still won't sync.

If play music was just a free app/service I might be fine waiting a few days for a fix but I pay for the unlimited plan so I can sync all my music/playlists. It's literally like the only thing it's supposed to do and it won't do it. Super frustrating

 

[ally7751]

Just wanted to pop in and mention I have the same issue. Moto X pure, 6.0, and while my songs show up, the Playlist don't. I have at least 15 of them. Two showed up, empty. I tried all the fixes you did.

Edit: wanted to add that this issue does not happen on my other phone, a moto x 2013. Can't recall what OST the phone is running but it's probably not 6.0.

 

[Jxp79]

Glad it's not just me. I ugraded my Xperia Z3 to Android N Developer Preview, then went back to stock Marshmallow and found about half of my playlists are empty and the ones that are there only have a handful of songs. No problem on my Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro (rooted running Cyanogenmod 13), just my phone.

No amount of resetting / uninstalling / repairing seems to have fixed the issue. Has anyone found a fix?

 

[rgarcia900]

Galaxy Note 4 on AT&T and having the same issue. It is not device specific. This is a problem on Google's end. Either the app or the servers.
Can stream but my playlists are empty. No problem on my iPad Air or iPhone5.
Phone was factory reset already and was told by Google to try these steps (Which I had already done).
I have some troubleshooting steps I'd like you to try. You may have performed some of these with a previous agent, but it is important that you complete them in the order listed below.

First, I want you to remove your Google account from your device.

Removing your Google account from your device may delete some local settings and locally-stored in-app content if this data hasn't been synced to Google servers or elsewhere.
You won't lose your apps (your purchases are associated with your Google account) or any data stored on Google servers, such as email in Gmail, Google contacts, etc.
Please note that you will be required to enter your password again when you re-add your account, so make sure that you remember what it is!
To remove your Google account:

Touch Menu > Settings > Accounts
Touch "Google" and then the name of the account you wish to remove.
Touch the three vertical dots in the top right corner.
Touch "Remove account."
Next, I would like you to clear the cache and data of a few apps. Here's how:

On your device, open Settings.
Scroll down to "Device" and touch "Apps."
Swipe left to see the All tab.
Scroll down and touch "Google Play Music," "Download Manager," and "Google Play Services.”
Please note: You'll need to complete the following steps separately for each of these applications.
Touch “Force stop.”
Touch “Clear cache.”
Touch "Clear data," then touch "OK."
Now, reboot your device by holding down the power button on your device for 5 seconds and selecting "Power Off." After 30 seconds, please turn your device back on by depressing the power button until you see the boot logo.

Finally, add your account back to your device:

Touch Menu > Settings > Accounts.
Touch "Add Account" and select "Google".
Enter your account information.
Retest.

Well, still not working...

 

[Scratch4]

Anyone able to fix the problem? I just encountered this yesterday; I tried almost all the fixes I could find on the web but still having syncing issues! My playlist names show, but they are all empty. So frustrating!!! My music looks fine when accessing through the browser, and looks fine on my old Moto X. I'm having this issue on my brand new Galaxy S7.

 

[Jxp79]

I've been in touch with Google over the past couple of days, and none of the 4 people that have replied so far have fixed the problem. It's just been the standard "reboot your device", "clear your cache" suggestions. Not hugely impressed with their service.

 

[Scratch4]

So at least for me, it's a syncing issue where the phone is not able to sync up with contents in the cloud. But if I were to create a new playlist on my phone, the cloud would sync it up (ie. it's a one-way sync). I also did another test of signing out of my Google Account, and using a different Google account on my new phone, and GPM works exactly as it should. So I've concluded that it might not be the phone, but rather something going on in Google.

I think what I'm going to do is write down all my playlists (insane to do all, so will only do the ones I like), completely reset and erase all playlists in GPM, and start fresh. I feel like the existing playlists that are showing up empty on my phone are bad or something.

 

[Jxp79]

So at least for me, it's a syncing issue where the phone is not able to sync up with contents in the cloud. But if I were to create a new playlist on my phone, the cloud would sync it up (ie. it's a one-way sync). I also did another test of signing out of my Google Account, and using a different Google account on my new phone, and GPM works exactly as it should. So I've concluded that it might not be the phone, but rather something going on in Google.

I think what I'm going to do is write down all my playlists (insane to do all, so will only do the ones I like), completely reset and erase all playlists in GPM, and start fresh. I feel like the existing playlists that are showing up empty on my phone are bad or something.

Did this work for you? I've tried creating a new playlist through Chrome but it doesn't appear on my phone, so I'm not sure I want to nuke my existing ones and start again in case they don't appear either.

I've now been back and forth with Google for a week, they finally tried to fob me off to Sony as they said it must be a problem with my device. Sony have [predictably] said it's a Google issue and it needs to be raised with them.

 

[Abay Tadesse]

I also own a Galaxy S7edge, and after a receiving a warranty replacement I'm having the same issues. I've deleted the app, even deleted and re-added my goggle account, but I still can't access any of my playlists on google play music. I can access them perfectly fine online, but I can't get them to work on my phone. The playlists are still there, but they are all empty. The songs that the playlists would have contained are sill in my library under the songs tab, but all the playlist contents are gone on my phone. Its real strange that I can access everything fine on the computer, but not my phone.

 

[snake02_78]

Has anyone found a fix for this yet?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[PriorMarketing]

I have been having this issue since early July when I upgraded to the S7 Edge. I also have a backup S7 Edge that has the same issue.

I have my ticket with the Level 3 support. 23 messages with them later nothing resolved.

I only got it to them because their support completely was clueless (even blaming Samsung and Verizon for clearly an app issue).

I'm losing my mind over this. These are one of the most popular devices & is a pre-installed app (I think). If I were them this would be priority #1 for the Google Play team.

 

[pleachchapel]

Having the same problem on a '13 Nexus 7. It only started after resubscribing to All Access. Works fine on the web and on iOS, and playlists created on the Nexus sync to the web--the 'one way sync' mentioned above. Tried everything mentioned above to the same frustrating result, even factory reset it last night & set it up as a new device. Nothing. Tech support is clueless on this (clearly not just my) problem.

Frustrating enough that it's swaying my new phone purchase toward Apple, for real, because this is just completely unacceptable.

 

[Jxp79]

I've been asked to submit bug reports with reference numbers etc. but heard nothing back. Apparently they're "presently investigating". I'm pretty stunned by how badly Google have handled this.

Does anyone know whether you lose your playlists altogether if you cancel your subscription? Google won't answer that directly and I don't want to start from scratch if and when they finally fix it.

 

[Scratch4]

Did this work for you? I've tried creating a new playlist through Chrome but it doesn't appear on my phone, so I'm not sure I want to nuke my existing ones and start again in case they don't appear either.

I've now been back and forth with Google for a week, they finally tried to fob me off to Sony as they said it must be a problem with my device. Sony have [predictably] said it's a Google issue and it needs to be raised with them.

Sorry for the late reply, but yes so far so good. I completely erased my library (there was an option to reset and start a new), and re-created a whole bunch of playlists on Chrome and on my Galaxy S7. No issues thus far!

My theory is that there were songs in my playlist or library that were corrupt and was killing the overall sync between my phone and the cloud. Therefore, when the sync is halted, anything that wasn't able to be synced doesn't get synced. So if my theory is correct, then the reason that you're not seeing the new playlist on your phone is because a unsyncable song is halting your sync to GPM before it gets to the new playlist you created on chrome. Think of it this way, you have 5 songs: songs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Song #2 is corrupt. So when the phone syncs, song #1 syncs, but when it gets to song #2, it craps out and songs #3-5 doesn't get synced. Subsequently, if you add a song #6, that won't get synced. In this case, song #6 is the new playlist you created in Chrome.

I would suggest try using a different and fresh Google account and seeing if it works on your phone. If it does, then you can rule out the possibility that your phone is the issue, and conclude that the GPM app works fine.

 

[Scratch4]

I've been asked to submit bug reports with reference numbers etc. but heard nothing back. Apparently they're "presently investigating". I'm pretty stunned by how badly Google have handled this.

Does anyone know whether you lose your playlists altogether if you cancel your subscription? Google won't answer that directly and I don't want to start from scratch if and when they finally fix it.

I don't think you lose your playlists, but only the songs that you added that you don't own. So yes, I guess you're essentially losing your playlist if it's all subscription music.

 

[ghostly86]

Same issue here. Tried everything. Cleared all caches, uninstalled app updates, removed and re-added google account, factory resets and much more. Hoping they fix this soon, its infuriating.

(LG G3)

 

[brianscottmc]

same issue on my device - started on my Note 5 and continued on to my Note 7 that I just bought ... everything works great on chrome on desktop, but all my playlists are empty on my device; tried the refresh, cache clear, app uninstall and reinstall and a series of other steps provided by Google with no resolution.

Here are the options Google provided to me:

Refresh your library

Open the Google Play Music app.
In the upper left corner, touch the Menu icon.
Make sure the Downloaded only switch is off. The switch is gray when it's off.
Touch Settings > Refresh.
Wait two minutes, and view your library again.
Check your account

Check that you're signed in to the same account you used when buying or uploading your music.

Open Google Play Music.
In the upper left corner, touch the Menu icon > Settings.
Touch Google account to use a different account.
If you recently changed the password for your Google Account, you may need to sign in again using your new password to update your library. If you don't know your username or password, go to Google Account Recovery for help.
Check the sync settings on your device

Go to your device's main Settings menu.
Touch Accounts > Google.
Touch the account you use with Google Play Music.
Make sure the checkbox next to Google Play Music is checked.
If you don't see a Google Play Music option, you may be viewing a different Google Account than the one you use on Google Play Music.
Clear the Google Play Music app data

Important: Keep in mind clearing your app's data erases your Google Play Music settings. This means songs you have previously downloaded to your device will be deleted, and you will need to download them again.

Open your device's main Settings menu.
Touch Apps or Application manager (depending on your device, this may be different).
Select the Google Play Music app.
Touch Clear data.
After you've cleared your data, sign in to your Play Music app. The Play Music app may take a few minutes to update.
If you're using 2-step verification on your account, you may need to remove an App Password and create a new one. Learn how in the Google Accounts Help Center.

If you're still experiencing an issue, I've listed a few more steps you can try out below:

Reboot your device

When a device is behaving strangely, the first thing to try is a reboot. Power off your device, then turn it back on.

Check date and time settings on device

Sometimes, an incorrect system clock can cause issues like the one you’re experiencing, by throwing off the way your device syncs with Google Play. To check the date and time settings on your device and make sure they’re accurate, follow these steps:
Navigate to Settings.
Scroll down to System and touch Date & time.
If the phone has the following choices, please un-check them:
Automatic Time Zone
Automatic Time Updates
Manually change the date and time, so that they are incorrect.
Touch the Home Screen button.
Go back to Date & time settings (Step 2).
Manually change the date and time, so that they are correct.
Re-check the boxes for "Automatic Time Zone" and "Automatic Time Updates."
Give your device about 15-30 minutes to sync with Google Play, then check to see if your issue is fixed. If the date and time settings were causing the issue, it should be resolved automatically.
Clear cache of Google Play Store app

Go to your device's Settings.
Under "Device," touch Apps.
Swipe to All.
Touch Google Play Store.
Touch Clear cache.
Wi-Fi Connection

If you're using Wi-Fi, ensure firewalls are not blocking access to ports required for Google Play (TCP and UDP 5228).
Confirm that there is strong connectivity on your device, and contact your mobile service provider if you aren't connected.
Uninstall updates to the Google Play Store app

Go to your device's Settings.
Under "Device," touch Apps.
Swipe to All.
Touch Google Play Store.
Touch Uninstall updates.