SEVENCLICK
Mobile Technology Evangelists

After few days using one of our new iPhones, here is an interesting tip: How to delete songs in the iPhone.

But, why is this tip so interesting?

• There is no user guide inside the iPhone box.
• The iPhone user interface is very intuitive, but not the synchronization and the iTunes (Apple have to work so hard in it)
• It is a common question that you can find in forums and I couldn’t find great answers.

So, how you can delete songs in the iPhone? Discover how to do it after the jump.

Well, you really can not delete songs directly in the iPhone. Apple hasn’t implemented a delete function in their user interface for songs and synchronized pictures (something surprising in my opinion).

• When you are playing a video and it ends, the iPhone ask you if you want to delete it to increase free space.
• If you take a picture with the embedded iPhone camera and you play it, you will see an option in the lower right side to delete it.
• But, you can not delete synchronized pictures and songs from the iPhone. You have to do it through iTunes, and in this case, it is not as intuitive as we have expected.

Maybe, you are at this point right now.

• You connected your iPhone with iTunes, tried to drag&drop songs and discovered that it is not possible. (iPhone only allows you to sychronize)
• Then you clicked the Sync buttom and all your songs were copied to the iPhone.
• After that, you tried to delete songs directly in the iPhone music list, but you were not allowed to do that.

Ok, those steps would be the intuitive ones. But instead, you have to do the next.

• Connect your iPhone with iTunes.
• Create a new playlist
  (File - New Playlist) and name it, for example, iPhone. (This step is not obligatory, but it is interesting).
• Select in your computer main music library the songs you want to copy to your iPhone.
• Add them to the new playlist that you have just created
  (Click mouse right buttom or similar - Add to Playlist - Select your playlist).
• Select the iPhone icon in the left panel.
  You could see on the lower section one option called “Sync only checked songs and videos”.
  Mark this option as selected.
  
• Now, while the iPhone icon is selected, click on the music tab.
  Check on Sync music - Selected playlist - Your playlist.
  
• Apply changes and click the Sync buttom. Now iTunes will copy the songs that you included in your new playlist. You can check it.

Time to delete songs.

• Select in the iTunes left panel the playlist that you have created.
• Select songs that you want to delete in your iPhone.
• Unmark them
  (Click mouse right buttom or similar - Uncheck selection) or
  (Click the check buttom of the songs you want to uncheck)
  
• Connect your iPhone and click the Sync buttom.
• Now those songs will be deleted from your iPhone.

If you want to delete all the songs of your iPhone, create a new empty playlist, and in the music tab select it. The click the Sync buttom, and your iPhone will be empty.

As you can see, the sync method is not as intuitive as everybody expected, and more complex that the windows mobile ones.
We are sure that Apple is working hard trying to improve this question,… Aren’t they? ;-)