How to Remove Duplicate Songs From an iPhone

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The Apple iPhone 5, 5c and 5s sync music from the iTunes 11 library, so if you have duplicate songs on your iPhone, you also have them in iTunes. Using iTunes' Show Duplicate Items feature, you can locate and manually remove duplicate songs on your iTunes music library. Once the library is cleansed, you need only sync iTunes with your iPhone to remove duplicates from your iPhone as well.

  • USB data/charging cable

1 Connect your iPhone

Connect your iPhone to your computer using the USB data/charging cable and open your Music library in iTunes.

2 Click View

Click "View" and then click "Show Duplicate Items" to display duplicates based only on the song title and artists. This option might display nonduplicate items, such as different song versions that appear in different albums. For greater precision, hold the "Shift" key, click "View" and select "Show Exact Duplicate Items" to check that the duplicate songs also come from the same album. Either option shows both copies of the song, so you can't simply delete all the songs you find.

3 Hold the Ctrl key

Hold the "Ctrl" key and click each duplicate you wish to delete.

4 Click Edit

Click "Edit" and then "Delete." Confirm your selection if necessary.

5 Click your iPhone from the device list

Click your iPhone from the device list, click "Music" and select "Sync" to sync your library using your existing sync settings.

  • Information in this article applies to iTunes 11 and iPhones running iOS 7. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions or products.

C. Taylor embarked on a professional writing career in 2009 and frequently writes about technology, science, business, finance, martial arts and the great outdoors. He writes for both online and offline publications, including the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Samsung, Radio Shack, Motley Fool, Chron, Synonym and more. He received a Master of Science degree in wildlife biology from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Arts in biological sciences at College of Charleston. He also holds minors in statistics, physics and visual arts.

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