How to Add a Song to an iPhone Without Syncing

By Christina Shaffer

Manage the iPhone's sync settings directly in iTunes.
i Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images

iTunes automatically syncs your iPhone with your current iTunes library each time you connect the device to your PC. Depending on the size of your music collection, however, the process can be inconvenient and take several minutes to complete. To add songs to the iPhone without synching your entire library, access the program’s settings and disable the automatic sync option. After switching the sync setting, you can manually transfer songs to the device each time you connect it to your computer.

Step 1

Connect the iPhone to the computer. If iTunes doesn’t launch automatically, open the program manually.

Step 2

Click your iPhone in the Devices section of the navigation pane on the left.

Step 3

Click the “Summary” tab.

Step 4

Enable “Manually manage music and videos.” Click “Apply” to enable manual synchronization for the device.

Step 5

Click Music in the Library pane and select your preferred song. Click and drag the highlighted song to the iPhone icon to transfer the file to the device.

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