With the latest iOS upgrades it’s become possible to create playlist on iPhone without first creating one on iTunes and then syncing to your phone. And no, you don’t need to use the “On the go” feature. You can now make a playlist wherever you are, directly on your iPhone. There are two ways to create playlist on iPhone:
Add Playlist feature
- Tap on the Music App on your phone. (Unless you have moved it, it’ll be in the dock.)
- The App usually opens with the Playlists screen. If that doesn’t happen you can tap on the Playlists icon which can be found on the bottom left of the screen.
- This will show you a list of your existing playlists. Near the top will be the option to “Add Playlist…” Tap on it.
- Enter the name of your playlist in the popup box and hit Save.
- You’ll be presented with your entire song list with a + next to each song. Hit the + button for every song you want to add to the list. The songs which have been added will be grayed out. Hit the Done button on the top right when you’re finished. Note: A song will added as many times as you tap the + button.
- The new playlist will now appear on your Playlists screen. Tapping on it will give you the option to Edit, Clear or Delete it.
- By choosing the Edit option you can delete a song or rearrange the songs. You can also add new songs by tapping on the + button on the top left corner in the “Edit” mode.
Using Genius feature
Some of you may have “Genius Playlist” appear on the top of your Playlists screen, next to the “atom” sign. Those who don’t have this can get it by turning it on via iTunes on your PC and syncing with your phone. Genius Playlist allows you to create playlists of similar songs. (On iTunes Store, this feature recommends songs based on your current collection.) This is how it works:
- Tap on Genius Playlist. This will open up your song collection.
- Tap on a song that you want to create a playlist for. If there are “similar” songs to the one you have selected, a playlist of those songs will appear on the screen.
- You get the option to Edit, Refresh or Save at the top.
- Hitting Save will save the playlist which will now appear on the Playlists screen with the “Genius” icon next to it.
- Refresh will add new songs similar to the songs you’ve based the playlist on.
- Edit allows you to rearrange and delete songs in the playlist.
- Once the playlist has been saved, tapping on it will give you the option to delete it. Note: Just like a usual playlist created using iTunes, a Genius playlist which was added via iTunes cannot be deleted from your iPhone. You can only delete it through iTunes.
Be aware that it’s not always possible to create a Genius playlist based on a song. You must have similar songs in your collection for this feature to work.
