How to Transfer Music from USB to iPhone
Quick Navigation:
- Method 1. How to Transfer Music from USB to iPhone Without iTunes
- Method 2. How to Transfer Music from Flash Drive to iPhone Using iTunes
- Method 3. How to Transfer Music from USB to iPhone via Dropbox
- The Bottom Line
Have stored lots of music you like on your USB and now want to transfer music from the flash drive to your iPhone?
When it comes to transferring music from an external storage device like a USB flash drive or external hard drive to an iPhone, it's actually quite similar to transferring music from computer to iPhone. Thus, the ways to put music on iPhone from computer are also applicable to transfer music from USB to iPhone. Whether you want to use iTunes or not, you will find the solution you need from the methods below.
Method 1. How to Transfer Music from USB to iPhone Without iTunes
No matter you are using a PC or Mac, you can use it to transfer music from USB to iPhone with the help of the iPhone transfer software - Qiling MobiMover. It supports the data transfer between an iPhone/iPad/iPod and a computer/external storage device or between two iDevices. Other than music, it also supports photos, videos, contacts, books, ringtones, and more.
Thus, whether you want to transfer music from USB to iPhone or transfer photos from iPhone to external hard drive, it will help.
Besides, unlike iTunes that will replace the existing media files on your iPhone with the newly synced item, Qiling MobiMover will transfer songs from flash drive to your iPhone safely without data loss.
To transfer music from USB to iPhone:
Step 1. Connect your USB and iPhone to the computer and run Qiling MobiMover.
Allow Qiling MobiMove to access your phone by clicking the Allow button on the program and tapping "Trust" on your phone.
On the PC to Phone section, click "Select Files" and move to the next step.
Step 2. Select the saved music files on your USB and click "Open" to allow Qiling MobiMover to transfer them.
Step 3. Click "Transfer" to move USB music files to your iPhone.
If you want to add more files, drag and drop the items to this window and click "Transfer" to start the transferring.
When the process finishes, you can check music files on your iPhone by opening the Music app.
Other than being an iOS data transfer tool, Qiling MobiMover also works well as a video downloader that helps to download online video or audio files to a computer, external storage device, iPhone, iPad, or iPod. For example, you can download a YouTube video to a flash drive or save Facebook videos to a computer using this tool.
Also read how to download music to MP3 player from YouTube.
Method 2. How to Transfer Music from Flash Drive to iPhone Using iTunes
iTunes could also help when you need to transfer files from a USB flash drive to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. However, as mentioned, if you use iTunes to transfer music from USB to iPhone, you will lose the existing music, movies, TV shows, books, and tones on your device. Thus, if there are media files on your iPhone, data loss is inevitable.
If you don't mind data syncing, using iTunes is also a workable choice to transfer music from USB to iPhone. While if you don't want to lose your precious data, follow the alternative ways to transfer music from USB to iPhone without iTunes.
To sync music from USB to iPhone using iTunes:
Step 1. Connect your USB flash drive and iPhone to your computer and wait for iTunes to launch automatically.
Step 2. Unlock your iPhone and trust the computer.
Step 3. In iTunes, go to "File" > "Add File to Library" to add the music files from your USB to the iTunes library.
Step 4. Click the "Device" tab and choose "Music".
Step 5. Check the "Sync Music" option. In the popup, click "Remove and Sync" to continue.
Step 6. Select to sync the "Entire music library" or "Selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres", and then choose the items.
Step 7. Click the "Apply" > "Sync" to start adding iTunes music to iPhone.
Step 8. When it has done, go to "Music" > "Library" > "Songs" on your iOS device to check the music.
Method 3. How to Transfer Music from USB to iPhone via Dropbox
If you want to copy music from USB to your iPhone wirelessly, using cloud-based services is recommended. Cloud storage services like Dropbox, Amazon Music, Google Play Music, and more are allhelpful to put music on your iPhone from a USB. Here I will take Dropbox as an example.
To copy music from USB to your iPhone:
Step 1. Download and install Dropbox on both of your devices and sign in with the same account.
Step 2. Connect your USB to your computer and launch Dropbox.
Step 3. Upload the music files from the USB to Dropbox.
Step 4. Open Dropbox on your iPhone and you will see the items you uploaded. You can access and download them to your iPhone according to your needs.
The Bottom Line
If you are willing to use a computer to help, it will be quite easy for you to transfer music or other types of content from an external storage device, be it a USB flash drive, SD card, or external hard drive, to your iOS devices.
All the three tips above are also applicable to transfer photos and videos from computer to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. Command these tips and apply them when necessary.
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