In short: Sign out from your Apple ID and then sign back in. You can also go through the motions of subscribing to Apple Music, but cancel at the final payment step. Apple Music would often recognize the subscription.
So, you’ve made a successful payment but Apple Music is not recognizing your subscription. Here are some of the things you can do when the Apple Music subscription is not working.
Check your purchase history
The first thing you should do is to make sure the purchase was successful. There’s no point in troubleshooting your subscription when there is no subscription to begin with.
You can easily find your purchase history online, where you can see the list of the apps, subscriptions, music, and other content that you bought recently.
To see your purchase history, go to reportaproblem.apple.com, then sign in with your Apple ID and password. The list of your recent purchases should appear on the window.
Alternatively, you can also check your purchase history on your iOS device.
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap on your name, then tap on Media & Purchases.
- Tap on View Account.
- You might be asked to sign in.
- Tap on Purchase History.
You can also open the Music app from a Mac computer to check your purchase history.
From the Account menu, choose Account Settings. On the Account Information page, scroll down to Purchase History. Next to Most Recent Purchase, click See All.
Your purchase history should appear on the window. If you have more than one Apple ID, you might have been signed in with a different Apple ID when you bought the music subscription.
Sign in with the other Apple ID and check your purchase history again. If you don’t see an active Apple Music subscription, then your payment might not have gone through.
I’d recommend contacting Apple Support and asking for their help to see whether you have an active Apple Music subscription or not. They can check it from their end.
Sign out then sign back in
The first thing you should do when Apple Music is not recognizing your subscription is to sign out of your Apple ID on your device, and then sign back in.
On your iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app. Tap on your name, then tap on Media & Purchases. Then, tap on Sign Out. Go back to Media & Purchases again to sign back in.
On macOS, launch the App Store. From the Store menu at the top of the screen, click Sign Out then sign back in. This should solve any issues with the Apple Music subscription not working.
Sometimes, it takes quite a while for Apple Music to recognize your subscription. By signing out and then signing back in, you force Apple Music to “refresh” your subscription status.
Trigger the subscription by buying the plan (but don’t confirm)
Through trial and error, I’ve managed to find a workaround whenever Apple Music is not recognizing the subscription. Give it a shot because it might work for you.
Open the Apple Music app, then go to Listen Now or For You. If Apple Music doesn’t recognize your subscription, you should see a trial offer that is valid for one person or family.
Tap on the offer, then choose the subscription you want. Purchase the service but don’t double-click or thumb-print to confirm your payment. Don’t complete the purchase.
Cancel the purchase and magically it recognizes the Apple Music subscription. You don’t have to go through the hassle of restarting your device or signing out and back multiple times.
Basically, go through the motions of subscribing to Apple Music, but cancel at the final payment step. Then it would start working correctly on your iPhone or iPad.
Clear the Apple Music app’s cache
If you’ve done all of the above but your Apple Music subscription is not working, then I suggest you clear the cache of the Apple Music app. You can learn how to do it right here.
A full cache needs a lot of memory. It can cause problems within the app. This is why you’ll need to clear the Apple Music cache to speed things up and fix certain issues.
Once you’ve cleared the cache and junk files from the device, your Apple Music subscription should be showing. Clearing the cache often solves common problems within the app.
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