How to Fix Apple Music “Item Not Available” Issue

Unless you have been living under the rock, you would know what Apple Music is. It is an online music streaming service like Spotify that allows you to purchase and listen to various music tracks on your devices. The service has garnered a lot of users lately and is becoming popular every passing day. However, there are still some issues with the service and one of them is the item not available in Apple Music on iPhone.

If you purchased a music track and the app shows it is not available, you will likely feel frustrated as you can’t access something you have paid money for. The following guide aims to resolve this issue for you so you can get access to your content. Let’s see how:

How to Fix Apple Music Item Not Available Issue

There could be various reasons as to why the iPhone music is not available on your device and so we have several fixes available for you. Keep trying each and every fix we have for you below until you find one that does the trick for you. We are sure at least one of the below methods will resolve the music issue for you on your device.

Fix 1. Toggle the iCloud Music Option on Your iPhone

If your music content syncs to your iCloud account, you may try toggling the iCloud Music option on your device to see if that helps resolve the item not available issue for you. It is pretty easy to apply this fix and the following shows how.

Step 1: Open the Settings app from the springboard on your device.

Step 2: When the settings app launches, scroll down and find and tap on the option that says Music. It will open the music settings panel for you.

Step 3: On the music settings panel, you will find an option saying iCloud Music Library. Turn the toggle for the option to the OFF position.

Step 4: Wait for a few minutes and then turn the toggle back to the ON position to enable the option. The option has been successfully toggled and see if you can now access your music tracks in the Music app on your device.

Fix 2. Update Music Library in the iTunes App

Sometimes the service requires you to update your music library in the iTunes app on your computer. It should reflect changes on your iOS device as well. Updating the library ensures you have all of your recently purchased content in your account and on your devices. The following is how you do it.

Step 1: Launch the iTunes app on your computer using the way you prefer.

Step 2: When the iTunes app launches, click on the File menu at the top and then select the option that says Library followed by Update iCloud Music Library.

Wait while the iTunes app updates your iCloud music library. Once it is done, you should be able to access your music content without the item not available issue.

Fix 3. Deselect Apple Music in Music Settings on iPhone

Just like how you toggled the iCloud music option on your iPhone, you may want to toggle the Apple Music option as well but with a twist on your device. It should hopefully resolve the issue for you and let you access your content without throwing over the item not available error. Here’s how you can do it:

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

Step 2: When the app launches, find the option named Music and tap on it to open it.

Step 3: In the Music settings panel, turn the toggle for the Show Apple Music option to the OFF position.

Step 4: Launch the iTunes app on your computer and access your music content.

Step 5: Get back to your iPhone, head to the Music settings panel, and turn the toggle for the Show Apple Music option back to the ON position.

You may now launch the Music app to access the content that was unavailable to you before.

Fix 4. Re-add Songs by Searching Them in the Music App

Some of the users over at the Apple forums say they were able to fix the issue by re-adding the songs that they were not able to access in the Music app on their iPhones before. Re-adding basically means re-downloading your purchased music on your device. The following is how to do it.

Step 1: Launch the Music app on your iPhone.

Step 2: When the app launches, search for the song you were not able to access before.

Step 3: Tap on the cloud icon next to the song and it will be downloaded to your device.

You should be able to play the newly downloaded copy of the song on your device.

Fix 5. Change the Country for Your Account

Some of the music content is only available in specific countries and if you have recently made changes to your geographic details, you will have issues accessing your content and Apple Music will show item not available.

To fix the issue, what you can do is change the country to what it was when you purchased the music. Open your account settings and change the country to the original one and you should be fine.

Fix 6. Remove and Add the Album Back from Apple Music

If the author of music tracks has made any edits to the files, you will need to first remove the album from your device and then add it back again from the Apple Music catalog. The following shows how you can do it.

Step 1: Launch the Music app on your device.

Step 2: When the app opens, find the album you can’t access and tap and hold on it.

Step 3: Select the Remove option from the options available on your screen.

The selected music item will be deleted from your device and then you can re-download it from the Apple Music catalog with the new changes the author has made to it.

Fix 7. Disable Restrictions for Specific Music on Your Device

If you have enabled restrictions on your device, they may be affecting your Apple Music tracks and thus you may be getting the item not available error on your device. If this is the case, you can disable restrictions on your device and that will resolve the whole issue for you. It’s fairly easy to remove restrictions and the following is how you do it:

Step 1: Launch the Settings app on your device and tap on the Screen Time option.

Step 2: On the following screen, choose the Content & Privacy Restrictions option followed by Content Restrictions.

Step 3: Disable all the restrictions for your music content.

There you go. If the issue was caused due to restrictions, it should be gone now as all the music restrictions have now been lifted up.

Fix 8. Deauthorize and Authorize Your Computer

iTunes sometimes cannot recognize your device and so you will be required to deauthorize and then re-authorize your computer to access your files. These options are built into the app and the following is how you can access them.

Step 1: Launch the iTunes app on your computer.

Step 2: Click on the Account option at the top and select Authorisations followed by De-authorise This Computer.

Step 3: Once your computer is de-authorized, click on the Account menu once again and this time choose the Authorise This Computer option. You should now be able to access your content.

Fix 9. Check Apple Music Server Status

While not too often, Apple Servers sometimes face a downtime and amid that duration, you will not be able to access your content. Apple has put on a webpage that tells you if their servers are down and you can access it from any of your web browsers.

Head over to the Apple Server status page and check if the Apple Music server is down. If it is, it’s likely the cause of your issue. You can’t do anything about it but wait while Apple gets the server back up.

Fix 10. Reach Out to Apple Support

If you haven’t had luck with any of the methods mentioned above, you may want to get in touch with the Apple Support team as they should be able to figure out the cause of your issue and help you fix it on your device.

The Bottom Line

If you ever face the item not available issue in Apple Music on your device, you have plenty of fixes available to get rid of the issue as shown in the above guide. Use all the fixes and you will certainly have luck with at least one of them.