How to Shuffle Songs on the iPhone

This article explains how to use the shuffle feature in the iPhone's built-in Music app if you're not sure what song or album you're in the mood for. Shuffle randomly plays songs from your music library and lets you skip or replay songs.

How to Shuffle All Music on the iPhone

To get the most variety, shuffle all of the songs in your Music library. Here's to do it.

1. Open the Music app, then tap Library.

2. Select Songs, then tap Shuffle.

3. Your randomized playlist starts automatically. Use the forward arrow to skip to the next song or the back arrow to return to the last one.

4. To turn off song shuffling, tap the playback bar to view the full album art. Swipe up and tap the ​Shuffle button so it's not highlighted.

5. After you turn off Shuffle, the song list will revert to play alphabetically by artist.

View and Edit Your Upcoming Shuffle Queue

The Music app lists upcoming songs. From this list, you can change the order and remove songs you don't want to hear. Here's how:

1. When listening to songs on shuffle, tap the playback bar at the bottom of the app to view the full-size album art and playback controls.

2. Swipe up to reveal the Up Next menu, which contains the list of upcoming songs. To change the order, tap and hold the three-line menu at the right of the song. Drag and drop the song to a new location in the list.

3. To remove a song from the list, swipe from right to left across the song, then tap Remove.

   This option only removes the song from this list. It doesn't delete the song from your library.

4. The playlist generates when you tap the Shuffle button, so you can start changing the whole thing as soon as it starts playing.

How to Shuffle Music Within an Album on iPhone

You can also shuffle just the songs within a specific album. To do that, go to the Library page, tap Albums, tap the album you want to listen to, then tap Shuffle.

How to Shuffle Music in An iPhone Playlist

Even though the point of creating a playlist is to put songs in a certain order, you may want to mix up that order sometimes. Shuffling a playlist is almost identical to shuffling an album. Go to the Library page, tap Playlists, select the one you want to listen to, then tap Shuffle.

Other Options on the Library Screen

The Library screen has more ways to filter the music on your iPhone. Using the same steps as above, you can also create random playlists based on artists, genres, and songs you downloaded.

If you don't see one of these options, tap Edit, then tap a circle next to one of the options to make it red. Tap Done to save your changes.