Using Genius on iPhone

Genius finds songs in your iTunes library that go great together. A Genius playlist is a collection of songs that are picked for you to go with a song you choose from your library. A Genius Mix is a selection of songs of the same kind of music. Genius Mixes are recreated each time you listen to them, so they’re always new and fresh.

You can create Genius playlists in iTunes and sync them to iPhone. You can also create and save Genius playlists directly on iPhone.

Genius Mixes are created in iTunes. iTunes creates different mixes depending on the variety of music you have in your iTunes library. For example, you may have Genius Mixes that highlight R&B songs, or Alternative Rock songs.

To use Genius on iPhone, first turn on Genius in iTunes, then sync iPhone with iTunes. Genius Mixes are synced automatically, unless you manually manage your music and choose which mixes you want to sync in iTunes. Genius is a free service, but requires an iTunes Store account.

Genius Mixes require iTunes 9 or later. When you sync a Genius Mix, iTunes may select and sync songs from your library that you haven’t otherwise chosen to sync.

Browse Genius Mixes: 

Tap Genius. The number of dots at the bottom of the screen shows the number of mixes you’ve synced from iTunes, and indicates which mix you’re viewing. Flick left or right to access your other mixes.

Portion of the iPod screen showing a Genius Mix.

Play a Genius Mix: 

Tap the mix or tap Play icon.

Make a Genius playlist on iPhone: 

  1. Tap Playlists and tap Genius.

  2. Tap a song in the list. Genius creates a playlist with additional songs that go great with that song.

    You can also make a Genius playlist of songs that go great with the song you’re playing. From the Now Playing screen, tap the album cover to display additional controls, then tap Genius icon.

Save a Genius playlist: 

In the playlist, tap Save. The playlist is saved in Playlists with the title of the song you picked.

You can make and save as many Genius playlists as you want. If you save a Genius playlist created on iPhone, it syncs back to iTunes the next time you connect.

Refresh a Genius playlist: 

In the playlist, tap Refresh.

Refreshing a playlist creates a playlist of different songs that go great with the song you picked. You can refresh any Genius playlist, whether it was created in iTunes and synced to iPhone, or created directly on iPhone.

Create a Genius playlist from a new song: 

In the playlist, tap New, then pick a new song.

Delete a saved Genius playlist: 

In a playlist that you saved directly on iPhone, tap Edit, then tap Delete Playlist.

Once a Genius playlist is synced back to iTunes, you won’t be able to delete it directly from iPhone. You can use iTunes to edit the playlist name, stop syncing, or delete the playlist.