How to set up and use iTunes Match

November 16, 2014

iTunes Match allows you to stream purchased music from iTunes along with any other music you have saved in your iTunes library to any of your registered iOS devices. That means you can listen to your tunes — any purchased music + up to 25,000 songs from your personal library — anywhere you have a data connection, without taking up tons of storage space. To get started, all you've got to do is subscribe and enable iTunes Match on all of the things!

iTunes Match limitations

There are a few limitations to iTunes Match that you should be aware of before subscribing.

iTunes Match isn't available everywhere in the world quite yet. Check your iTunes Match availability by country before attempting to subscribe.
iTunes Match supports uploading up to 25,000 songs from your personal library (purchased songs excluded). If your library is bigger than that, iTunes will flat-out refuse to match it. To get around this, you can create a new iTunes library on the same computer with a subset of your songs — no more than 25,000 — and use that library to set up iTunes Match, though it's a bit of a pain to do. (Just make sure you don't choose the option to copy your original library's music into new folders — leave it in its existing location or you'll waste a lot of disk space duplicating files.)

How to subscribe to iTunes Match on Mac or Windows

Launch iTunes on your Mac or PC.
Click on Store at the top and then Turn On iTunes Match.
Click the Subscribe button.
Enter your Apple ID when asked and confirm your purchase.

iTune Match will now start scanning your music library to pair what it can with iTunes. This cuts down on storage and upload cost all around, as iTunes doesn't have to upload a song you own if it already exists on its central servers. If it can't find a version of your song on the iTunes Store, however, it will upload it to your iTunes Match repository.

If you have multiple computers that you'd like to use with iTunes Match, you can go to the Match tab under Music on additional instances of iTunes and click on Add This Computer like shown below. (This is a great way to unify a music library if you've been accidentally building separate collections on your personal and work machines, for instance.)

How to subscribe to iTunes Match on iPhone and iPad

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Scroll down and tap on iTunes & App Store.
Tap on Subscribe to iTunes Match. Note that you'll only see this option when you're signed into your iTunes account with your Apple ID. If you aren't, do that first.
On the iTunes Match menu, tap on the Subscribe button that shows the price for your country.
A popup will appear asking you to confirm your subscription. Tap on Subscribe.
Type in your Apple ID password when asked.

This method automatically pulls in anything that you have purchased from iTunes; that said, you'll still want to enable iTunes Match on your computer via iTunes's Store > Turn On iTunes Match menu in order to pair and upload your iTunes library's non-purchased content.

Once you've subscribed either via your computer or iOS device, you can now enable it on all your other devices.

How to enable iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Tap on iTunes & App Store.
Turn On the option for iTunes Match.

How to enable iTunes Match downloads over cellular

If you want to stream iTunes Match songs over your cellular data connection as well as over Wi-Fi, you can do so by following these steps.

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Tap on iTunes & App Store.
Turn on Use Cellular Data.

Keep in mind that this option not only enables iTunes Match over LTE or 4G, but also turns on cellular data for automatic downloads and iTunes Radio. If you'd rather avoid that, you can disable automatic downloads on your devices, or only enable the Use Cellular Data switch when needed.

How to view and play all your iTunes Match music on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Tap Music.
Turn On the option for Show All Music.

This ensures that your Music app displays every song in your iTunes Match library, whether or not you've downloaded it to your device. If you turn this option Off, you'll only see music that is physically downloaded to your device.

Troubleshooting iTunes Match

If you're running into any iTunes Match problems, here are solutions to some of the most common problems. Still have a question? Let us know in the comments.

(Originally published 04/2012; updated 11/2014)