How to download your Apple Music play history

What is Apple Music's play history?

When you ask Apple for a copy of your data, the Apple Media Services information category includes a folder called Apple Music Activity. The most useful file in it is Apple Music Play Activity.csv, a spreadsheet with a row for each time a song started or stopped. It records the song, the album, when you played it, how many milliseconds you listened, how the song ended (finished, skipped, paused) and which device you used.

Next to it are a day-by-day summary and a few smaller lists. depth.fm reads the play activity file first and uses the others to fill in gaps.

Before you start

• Use the right Apple Account. Sign in with the Apple Account you use for Apple Music, which may not be the one on your work computer.
• Have your devices nearby. Apple checks that you're the account holder before preparing anything, and signing in may ask for a code sent to one of your Apple devices.
• Only tick what you need. Apple Media Services information is much smaller than categories like iCloud Photos, so it arrives in fewer pieces.

How do I request it?

1. Open Apple's Data and Privacy page

   Go to privacy.apple.com in a web browser and sign in with your Apple Account. On an iPhone or iPad, use Safari.

2. Choose Request a copy of your data

   On the page that opens, find Get a copy of your data and choose Request a copy of your data.

3. Tick Apple Media Services information

   Apple shows a list of data categories, each with a tick box. Tick Apple Media Services information. This category holds your Apple Music, App Store and other media history. Leave everything else unticked, then press Continue.

4. Pick a file size and press Complete request

   Apple asks for a maximum file size: 1 GB, 2 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB or 25 GB. This only decides how the download is split. You get all of your data whichever you pick; a bigger size means fewer parts, and a smaller one is easier to download on a slow connection. Then press Complete request.

5. Wait for Apple's email

   Apple says preparing your data can take up to 7 days. It first checks that the request came from you, then gathers the files. You can sign in to privacy.apple.com at any time to see the request's status.

   When the files are ready, Apple emails the address on your Apple Account. The email says when you made the request and which categories you asked for, and warns you if any of them couldn't be collected.

6. Download the files

   Press Get your data in the email and sign in again. Next to each file there's a download button. Download Apple Media Services information. If Apple split it, you'll see names like Apple Media Services information Part 1 of 2; download every part.

   You have 14 days from the email. After that Apple removes the files and you'd need to request them again.

7. Upload the zip to depth.fm

   Go to depth.fm/upload and drop the zip on the page, or choose it from your files. Don't unzip it first. Your music history is inside a second zip within the download, and depth.fm opens that for you.

   If you have several parts, you can drop them all at once. depth.fm reads the one with your music history and tells you which parts it skipped.

What's in the file?

The download is called Apple Media Services information.zip, or Apple Media Services information Part 1 of 2.zip and so on if Apple split it. Inside is another zip, Apple_Media_Services.zip, and inside that, a folder called Apple_Media_Services/Apple Music Activity/ with:

• Apple Music Play Activity.csv: one row per playback event. This is the file depth.fm mainly reads.
• Apple Music - Play History Daily Tracks.csv: one row per song per day, with the date, the hours you played it in and a play count.
• Apple Music - Track Play History.csv: a list of songs with columns Track Name, Last Played Date and Is User Initiated.
• Apple Music - Recently Played Tracks.csv: a short list of recent plays.
• Apple Music Library Tracks.json: the songs in your library.

Folders for the App Store, Apple Books and other services sit alongside it. depth.fm ignores them.

The play activity file has dozens of columns. The ones depth.fm uses include:

• Event Start Timestamp and Event End Timestamp: when the play started and ended.
• Play Duration Milliseconds: how long you listened.
• Media Duration In Milliseconds: how long the song is.
• Song Name and Album Name (older exports say Content Name instead of Song Name).
• End Reason Type: how the play ended, such as NATURAL_END_OF_TRACK or TRACK_SKIPPED_FORWARDS.
• Event Type, UTC Offset In Seconds, Store Front Name (your store country) and Offline.

Columns depth.fm never reads include Client IP Address, Device Identifier and Apple ID Number.

Apple has renamed and reordered columns between exports, so depth.fm reads them by name and knows the older and newer spellings.

What it doesn't include

• Reliable artist names. Recent exports often leave the artist blank in the play activity file. depth.fm fills it in from the Track Play History list and your library where it can.
• A clean one-row-per-play record. Scrubbing within a song can split one listen into two rows, so a few plays may be counted twice. Listening time isn't affected.
• Exact times in the daily file. If your export only has Play History Daily Tracks, times are to the hour and several plays of a song on one day share its total listening time.

What depth.fm does with it

The zip is read on depth.fm's server. IP addresses and account identifiers are dropped while it's read, so they never reach the database. The uploaded file is deleted 24 hours after it's been processed. Your plays stay until you delete them from Settings.

How long does it take?

Apple's stated maximum is 7 days, and many requests are ready sooner. There's no way to speed it up.

Troubleshooting

Apple sent me several zips

Apple splits large exports into parts named like "Part 1 of 3". Only one part has your music history: the one that contains Apple_Media_Services.zip or a folder called Apple Music Activity. Upload that one. If you're not sure, upload all of them; depth.fm will tell you when a part has no Apple Music data in it.

I can't find Apple Music Play Activity.csv

It's inside Apple_Media_Services.zip, which is inside the zip you downloaded, so you won't see it straight away. You don't need to find it: upload the download and depth.fm looks inside. If depth.fm says it only found the daily summary, your export didn't include the play activity file. You can still use it, with times rounded to the hour.

depth.fm says nothing was found inside the zip

Unzip the download once and upload Apple_Media_Services.zip on its own. If that doesn't work either, check that you ticked Apple Media Services information when you made the request, and that you signed in with the Apple Account you use for Apple Music.

Apple says it couldn't retrieve some items

Sometimes the page or email says Apple could not retrieve a category and will notify you when it becomes available. If Apple Media Services information is listed, the music history isn't in this download. Wait for Apple's follow-up email. If none comes, make a new request with only Apple Media Services information ticked. If it keeps happening, contact Apple Support.

The email never arrived

Check your spam or junk folder, and the inbox for the email address on your Apple Account. Then sign in to privacy.apple.com to see whether the request is still being prepared or already ready to download. The files appear there even if you missed the email.

The download link expired

Apple keeps the files for 14 days. Request the data again from privacy.apple.com and wait for a new email.

The upload says the file is too large

The limit is 99 MB. If you ticked other categories such as iCloud Photos, the zip can be far bigger. Request again with only Apple Media Services information ticked.